Carpet bombing loving kindness; a conundrum (Part II)

We can’t carpet bomb “them” unless it’s a new kind of carpet bombing, the kind without actual bombs with warheads unless it’s with truth bombs, f-bombs, and bombs of emotional vulnerability. We can’t hide. We can’t turn away from the hard truths of all sides of this travesty that the world has allowed to unfold at all, let alone been calling for for all these many decades, at least for the forty years I’ve been alive on this planet. 

How do we handle murderers, terrorists, and child abusers/torturers/cold-blooded-killers? We bring back the death penalty and make sure that we leave terrorists, apologists, naive peoples, and those who’ve supported “rape as resistance” (which, as a rape survivor, just sets my triggers ablaze with fury) off the jury. 

Restorative and rehabilitative justice have no place for those who violate the sanctity of life, let alone of a family with their children. Abusers, torturers, and killers all get to face eye-for-an-eye justice. Their families must distance themselves from these people committed to evil and place them in exile, teaching others that there are serious and grave consequences for those who violate the sanctity of life. Their friends must exile these people as well, and any others who know something must come forward without fear of retaliation. This isn’t “one killer gets to go free if they snitch on someone else” here, lest we fall further into the dung pit that is our current situation. 

Workplaces need to fire those who are found to be committing heinous crimes, and no shelter given, until we reeducate and rehabilitate those who have been taught to hate. This goes for all people, not just Palestinians, not just Israelis, not just Jews, but for everyone. A right of equal justice and equal punishment under the law that should govern us all, not just a select few who don’t have the privilege of money or high-level connections. 

My friend Sarah Tuttle-Singer recently posted the following:
“Even in Nazi Germany, Germans saved Jews. We have a whole forest in JLM with their names. But not one single person in Gaza came forward to protect a mother and her children. This is one of the most shattering things of all.” 

We must learn from this. Where are those good people? What are they doing? Why aren’t they helping? Why do we only get worse and worse news, even on days when someone beloved is returned to our nation? There is always another tragedy following that eventually gets ignored for the sake of glorification of our fearless leader and his comrades-in-resistance against nameless, faceless enemies who are doing everything they can to tear us down, and our fearless leader continues to support them behind closed doors. 

Where are the people with power who can bring down our leadership and replace them with others who actually care and can do something to bring about regional peace and prosperity for all who live here? Where are the kindhearted folks to help us all retrieve and unblock our centers of hope? Have they all been murdered, too? 

Where are the peacemakers from “the other side”, and how do we help enable them to help all of us live better lives, with better means, and without cruelty?