Comments on the blog

Okay, so I got an anonymous comment:

"I hope Hezbollah holds you hostage and removes your head, you terrorist sympathizing anti-american/israeli fascist."

Cute.

My sister's all caps response is sweet. Uncle Charlie's is a little more disturbing. They both told me to delete that A-hole, who decided to remain anonymous's, comment.

I gave Diana permission to do so, because I can't keep up with all this. And also she can fix spelling mistakes, missed words, formatting stuff, etc.

But now I don't know if I want her to delete it. It's good for us to see how the people think. And hopefully we can all be civil and first and foremost, trust God. (For those of us who are disposed to such things.)

Don't worry. I'm not too upset by this comment. But of course, I'm curious as to who wrote it?? You can tell me personally, and I won't out you. Because obviously for your safety, some of my family members might come hang you.

Anyways as for Hizbollah taking me hostage. . . .You might find this silly but I actually googled "what to do if you're kidnapped" a couple days ago. Got some good tips.

I don't see Hizbollah as the evil enemy. A friend of mine from church is from a Shia family. 3 of his brothers died fighting with Hizbollah (out of a family of 12, I think). So maybe he's Hizbollah, too. I think he was too young at the time to fight. But he's my buddy. I'm sure I would have more Shia friends if I didn't live in this Druze neighborhood. And probably would know more people who know people who are involved in Hizbollah.

I had three students this year who are Shia. One of whom is Ali, who escaped from Marjayun yesterday. Maybe if he grew up in South Lebanon instead of Canada, he would be Hizbollah. Or maybe if he grew up in Katy, Texas, he'd be going to the youth group on Wednesday night at Kingsland Baptist Church. Or maybe if he grew up in the U.S. and was only exposed to CNN and the local news, he would be so frightened of Arab terrorists he would really believe that those people should be killed because they personally threatened his life.

The hardest thing in the world is developing empathy. Trying to actually feel what others feel. Putting yourself in someone else's shoes. This is the center of my philosophy of education. (But I can talk about that stuff later.)

When Israel and U.S. talk about those evil "terrorists." Who are they talking about? My friend, Muhammad? There are lots of reasons why people join militia forces. And again I would encourage you to look at the "Khiam" entry in the July 2005 archive of this blog for some more background.

But more than anything, these aren't people you should fear.

And the hypocrisy is ludicrous. The state of Israel is right now threatening my life and has kept hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians wallowing in their jails for years. The news keeps reporting about the 8 people who died in Haifa yesterday. How many have the Israelis killed in these past couple days? Isn't it in the 100's?

Terrorist is a stupid word. Believe me, the state of Israel and its backer, the U.S., is terrorizing me and many, many other "innocent civilians" way more than these Shia people who are trying to defend themselves.

I do think the Israeli psyche can be described as psychotic with paranoid features. They made a break with reality a long time ago. That is why reason and logic does not work when it comes to this "Crisis in the Middle East" situation. You can't reason with a person whose delusions are their reality. Pray for them. They really, really think that the whole world is out to squish them, that they are a little speck in a huge mass of Arabs who hate them and want them destroyed. Obviously, we know historically where this comes from.

I wonder if there's healing for this kind of psychosis. They prescribe schizophrenia patients anti-psychotic medications and train them in more functional ways of thinking The Jewish people have been traumatized. They need therapy. They are acting out of their hurt. A crazy person committing murder doesn't justify the murder. But it shows they need some help. Any suggestions??