Compassion Without Internalization: Hamas' Consequences

New Year resolutions are easily broken; much like people.  We feel too much.  We think too much.  We hurt too much.  A very good friend of mine is making an interesting New Year’s resolution...


“We should live in the NOW and let everything else go.”   


It sounds so easy to do.  It sounds like the perfect solution to all of our heartbreaks and disappointments in life.  Is it easier said than done?  Maybe.  What if we put all of our effort into it?  Are we trying too hard then?   Sometimes when we try too hard to forget about something, all we’re really doing is focusing on it. 


It’s difficult to focus on the positive side of things when our economy is literally sinking, people are being killed senselessly in wars and our world as we know it seems to be shaken up by the devastations that people have turned it into.   I’ve been noticing that a lot of people have been internalizing all these negative things happening in our world into their own griefs - even if they have nothing to do with it.  They absorb more than others. They feel more than others; yet we all feel the effects of the world’s anguish to some degree.  Just because war isn’t happening on our own soil doesn’t mean we can’t still feel the effects.  No, it’s not the same as “being there”, because that’s absolutely traumatizing to the entirety, but as compassionate human beings, even thinking about the thought of other innocent people being killed and slaughtered over mere land is dumbfounding. 


I really didn’t want to make this a political post, however when thinking about all that has happened between Israel and Hamas, I was just saddened by the bloodshed itself.  In the same regard, with the constant terrorist attacks by Hamas into Israel, doesn’t Israel have the right to defend itself?   Don’t they have the moral responsibility to end terrorism on their land once and for all?  How much longer can they take another hit from Hamas?  Their actions come with consequences.  Israel must protect itself and their people.  


"...In Iran on Wednesday, fundamentalist students asked their government to authorize volunteer suicide bombers to attack Israel.”   read more...


Truth: terrorists don’t fight a fair war.  What are the people of Israel to do? Just put up with it and let them bomb Israel again and again, killing more people?  How many more crude homemade rockets does Hamas have to fly over and kill people with in order for Israel to have a backbone? 


Those of you who sympathize with Hamas, I understand that innocent civilians are being killed and injured, but innocent civilians in Israel have been getting killed and injured due to Hamas' actions.  Now, with more accurate weapons that have more range, they can do a lot more damage to Israel.  It’ll only get worse before it gets better. 


And yet, we still keep internalizing it all.   


My New Year’s resolution: compassion without internalization.  


With all that's going on, I wish you peace, health, love and happiness for this coming New Year!