Is destruction in the name of God a right?

Photo by Briana Booker

This was from a December news story. Please note, these are opinions by one individual and not a representation of Fromgirltogirl as a whole.

By Briana Booker

Today I read an article on how the Israeli government bulldozed a Palestinian Mosque in the West Bank. I questioned to myself, was bulldozing a holy site in the name of God a crime against God? In my heart I feel it is a crime. God and Jesus lessons were about love. We should love one another. And any injustices we feel have been done to us, we are told to leave to the Will of God. I have been taking up Middle East studies for the past four years and I still can not grasp why we can not forgive the past and move to the future. On an individual level, I understand the struggle for forgiveness, but I know in my heart spending energy on hating someone and something, makes me weaker than stronger. A few months ago I was thrilled to hear that a decision to start peace talks once again between Israel and Palestine would be placed back on the political table. But then, I was saddened that it took money, which I see as bribery by our government, to bring peace. Real peace does not come with a money figure, it comes from the heart. I feel God is a brilliant artist of logical poetry, if we strive to make our dilemmas with one another to be more simplistic, we can be open to more solutions of peace. It is when we think resolution is not feasible that our dilemmas become extremely complicated. Wild justice rarely gives us the results we want.  I have realized from my own life mistakes and experience that removing ourselves temporarily from conflict can help us reevaluate our priorities and see what we need to do to improve our situation. And above all, communication and respect are very valuable. We must be courageous.

For, “this world, or system of things, will perish just as surely as did the world before the flood.”- Matthew 24:37-9.

    Sometimes to make a stronger foundation of peaceful interaction, we must rebuild our systems of thought and how we perceive our environment. Our present social order is corrupt. We must change this and change this soon, so we won’t be doomed to our own demise. I am a true believer that life is what we make it. I also believe that life is but a dream. What we suffer today will not be what we suffer tomorrow. Everything we experience here on earth is temporary. So we might as well live our best us and learn to love one another. Otherwise, our world will perish.

Can we all just get along? : Opinion on the Gaza Strip Blockade.

By Briana Booker

 Lately the news has been giving me a major headache. What the hell is wrong with the world? What I have to say next will piss some people off,but someone has to do it, right?

 This Israel and Egypt blockade of the Gaza Strip is a bunch of bullshit- point blank, period. It is not benefiting anyone! This blockade has been going on since 2007 and we are now in 2010!  Hamas' power needs to be destroyed  but not by this means!

How the hell did the world watch ( which is starting to be a political and social trend of global crisis) Hamas take over this Palestinian territory and the government? This is ridiculous but I will let myself answer my own question.

This happened because the world allows conflicts to boil to a point of no return. This goes for this oil spill too. There is always some fault in decision making and actions that allows a disaster to happen.

Recently, the news on the oil spill has revealed that the well was in need of repairs and more maintenance monitoring in March. Now, we have a full blown disaster on our hands!

 The Gaza Strip is a full blown disaster on our hands.

 The Gaza Strip is too important for Israel to think a blockade will be the solution to being secure and not  hated in the Middle East. In fact, I do not think Israel cares about that.

It is too busy believing it is the chosen state role model for all humanity ( or so I have been told in a history of Israel class I took up in college) to realize these tactics are not working on a reputable level of leadership and honor.

From individual to state, to be in harmony with ones self and the community surrounding, one must learn to work with others rather than against others. This blockade is not about resolving a problem but increasing a power trip.

The Gaza strip has land borders with Israel and Egypt. Both states mostly keep their borders sealed. This is very problematic for civilians living within the Gaza Strip because there are shortages with invaluable goods. The amount of goods presently going into the Gaza Strip are only 1/4 of the amount of goods before the blockade.

When people are looking to simply survive, every man is for himself.

The Gaza strip is full of poverty, starvation, violence and death. No one deserves or wants to live in that state of mind.

I find it purely selfish of both Israel and Egypt to have sea blockades (Israel) and underground steel barriers ( Egypt) to prevent children and women from receiving basic supplies.

How many lives have to be lost to "prevent" Palestinian rocket attacks? I still see Hamas using weapons.

This story line sounds familiar to the ghettos and concentration camps Jewish people suffered in Europe. Was not that a blockade?

Agricultural productivity down. Economic instability, up.

Everyone is so busy hating each other and desiring an upper hand, that we honestly have forgotten the word of God to love.

Both sides say they believe and live in  the word of God,but their actions are greatly contradicting.

My advice is to lower down those egos, increase in maturity and warm those rotten hearts. It is easier to hate than to love.