Kerry Gets Botox
Interest in pop culture in America sometimes means that a story on the state of John Kerry’s appearance trumps the real news of the day. (On a more serious note) If this headline stole your attention, perhaps you missed the fact that Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, was killed this morning by Israeli missles. It seems the violence will never end in the Middle East.
I remember the first time I considered the whole Arab/Israeli conflict. (Over 10 years ago) As a freshman in college, someone asked me, “What do you think of the Arab/Israeli conflict?”. I had no opinion. Growing up in suburbia, one does not really see/consider the world’s problems. My response, at the time, was “Why can’t they just set up a representative government and peacefully co-exist?” Of course, I knew very little of the facts and took what we have in America for granted. One of my closest friends at that time was a Palestinian-American named Ted. He shared the Palestinian viewpoint with me and I must admit, I was pretty disgusted with Israel. He explained how, after British withdrawel from Palestine, in the late 1940’s, Israel raised the flag in Jeruselum and said “OK, this is Israel.” He told me how Palestinians were displaced, their businesses and homes confiscated. I understood why the Palestinians were angry.
After a decade of following current events, I have some perspective. One has only to watch western media to get ample input from the other side of the debate. There is certainly enough about the behavior of the Palestinians to understand why Israelis are angry.
And now, with today’s news, in the context of my ten years of observation, I don’t think the conflict will end in my lifetime. Let’s hope I am wrong.
In case you are holding out for information on Kerry and his alleged enhancements, I hope it’s not true. If it is, Kerry should get his money back. (Unless he was going for the melted-candle look.)
Please comment early and often.
