July 9th, 2014 - Is this a
day for the books? Did anything happen that will make us look back in a few
years and say: "This is the day, when..."?
Probably not. Nothing for
the books but some random news that might be recited at some point, yet
again.... but wait! I forgot about soccer! Yes, for us Germans this is the day
after the day for the books! A day to remember, because really: beating Brazil
in Brazil 7:1 in the World Cup Semi finals is something, eh? (<-- alright, I
admit, my time in Canada just came through right there!)
The whole day I hear people
constantly and unnervingly often talk about this one game, everybody analyzing
back and forth this miracle... for the books, of course!
Now as far as I am
concerned, I am interested in soccer but at the same time could not care less
about last night's game. It is not that I am not happy for the team
(admittedly, I do not like our team, still, I can be happy for them)...
however, there is always something that leaves me more thoughtful than others,
I guess. Happiness is great, carelessness not so much. Apparently, most people
do turn quite careless once they can talk about things that are minor in the
big picture. Really, who cares about who wins in the World Cup in times like
this?
No apocalyptic talking
intended here and I really do understand that positive vibes just lift your
spirit and make you feel great. We all love to feel great, we need to feel
great and that not just every once in a while - we want luck, happiness and the
whole gang constantly, just like we want good weather all year around. It is
like the air we breathe and we think, we will die in case we do not get the
happy times all the time.
Sometimes though, in all
this breathing, we smell something that stinks, something uncomfortable, and
believe it or not, we do need this at times. Just imagine a world without any
negativity - it sounds great at first, something really admirable. On the other
hand, the constantly sunny side of life is just like having more money than you
can ever spend: you either crave more (which is senseless!) or you just go
bananas with all your wealth. Admittedly, that is more or less the same. My
point is: you need the bad and the downside in life to appreciate happiness.
It is possible that this is
why I spend more time thinking about serious issues instead of pulling myself
up with the World Cup. The death of more than 30 people last night during a
fire exchange between Israel and Palestine gives me in all this enthusiasm
around me more than just a light feeling of bitterness. There is a certain
heaviness on my heart thinking about the events of the past weeks around the
ever-burning conflict between these two states, these two worlds, like different
planets divided by an ever-growing space called the Gaza Strip. Especially the
first event a few weeks ago that caused this situation made me more than just
think.
All of a sudden, the news
talk about an intifada again. An intifada that could be worse than those in
1987 and 2000. For everyone that is not really aware of the word intifada (and
I was not at first!), it is somewhat like a revolution and involves mainly
protests and with that more aggressive conflicts with the army. In this case, Palestinian
protesters against the Israeli army. Just a few weeks ago, nobody was talking
about the conflicts between Palestine and Israel anymore (not that the conflict
ever disappeared!); then, something happened, something that could be just like
the beginning of an "Oscar"-winning screenplay.
The kidnapping of three Israeli
teenage boys strangely caught my attention from the very beginning. The reason
for this could be that I had recently watched the Israeli TV show
"Hatufim", which is basically the equivalent (or, moreover, the
original version!) of the award-winning TV show "Homeland". In my
mind, I immediately had this strange hope for the boys, that they will be
brought home safe, without the brainwashing and turning into terrorists-twist,
of course! Seriously, sometimes I am really naive enough to believe that the
world could somewhat be like Hollywood. Or fairy tales. Maybe both. "And
they lived happily ever after"...
Eyal Yifrach (19), Naftali
Fraenkel (16) and Gilad Shaar (16) did not get the happy Hollywood ending they
would have deserved. Nor did their families. The news of their deaths shocked
me and left me not understanding why such an act of cruelty is possible. Of
course (or even more unfortunately), this is not the first time that teenagers or
children are killed in the name and in times of war. However, it drew my
attention and it made me sad. Last week then, another teenager was killed -
this time, the Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir, was found dead in a
forest - beaten brutally and then burned to death.
We have all seen the most
brutal things in movies and on TV, still, nothing is more shocking or more
heartbreaking than reality. The knowledge that Khdeir was killed to revenge the
three Israeli teenagers made me extremely sad. Sometimes you have moments in
life when you do not understand the world anymore; to me, this was one of them.
A civilized world with endless possibilities to gain knowledge and all we do is
use medieval methods to make a point. Yes, that was probably this entire killing
was - making a point, taking revenge, showing that one side has more right than
the other. Is it not stupid? Is anyone really thinking that way? Apparently,
more people than you can imagine think that way. Hard to understand for people
living in the "Western World", meaning in a civilized society that is
not solely about religion and the thinking that only one religion can exist.
Still, there is something like "another world" on this planet,
something to distant from our thinking that it makes it hard for us to
understand the ways and methods of these people - and, even harder, to help
create peace in these regions.
Many heads of state from
various countries have miserably failed in bringing peace to the Middle East.
It is still hard to believe that one month back, Pope Francis, President
Shimmon Peres of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas were praying together. A
symbol of peace and a slight hope that one day those two countries might
somewhat live side by side in a state that is something like peace. Again, the
fairy tales. We just cannot stop being naive.
Right now, the situation is
more real, more serious than in a long time. Radicalism on one side as well as
on the other, protests against one another and everything in the name of God,
of Allah, of the Almighty. You name it and it gives them just another reason to
fight, to hate, to raise the conflict even more. No matter how you look at it:
all the West can do is stand there and watch, like spectators at a soccer game.
Inappropriate comparison? Maybe. Still, there is always a hint of truth in any
comparison.
The question for all
readers remains: why am I writing all this? Well, at first it was just
something I had to talk about because after weeks and weeks of talking about
soccer and completely ignoring everything that is happening on this planet, I
feel like I have to speak up. Yes, of course I know I am just a tiny spot in
the vastness and the deepest depth of the Internet. Probably this will not be
read by anyone and even if, who cares about my opinion? The fact remains
though: every opinion is important and, most importantly, having an opinion is
important. I wanted to give some room to express my deepest sympathies for the
families of those four killed teenagers as well as all relatives losing someone
in these times of war. To me, this is not even about the innocence of a soul or
judging who deserves to live or to die... what is important right now is that
everyone starts to learn from the mistakes of the past. The past keeps growing
with more and more information, mistakes and solutions to add to our knowledge.
All we have to do is take the opportunity and make something out of all this.
No matter what we do, we
should definitely stop ignoring the negativity happening around us. It is not
like negativity is going to fade and it is not (like most people claim) that
life gets more bearable when we focus on positive aspects and ignore the
negative. Like I said earlier, lifting our spirits is a great thing and that
not only in the religious sense. However, looking beyond the superficial might
be a solution in order to create something like peace. Let us not fool
ourselves: world peace is an idea of the Hippies that will probably never
really happen. Again, that old fairy-tale thinking. Instead, we should create a
feeling like "living satisfied ever after" that accepts the bad and
works with it turning it into something close to being good.
That said, I wish everyone
who enjoys the soccer World Cup some more great games and a great finale.
Soccer, war and everything
in between - something, I had to get "off my chest" this week.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen