Terrorizing the Terrorist

A good friend of mine said something quite profound about what is going on in Gaza at the moment:

"terrorizing terrorists to teach that terror is wrong only traumatizes the traumatized, and trauma doesn't teach right."

How incredibly true. Even if only 'terrorists' were being hurt by what is going on in Gaza, it still would not solve the problem that it is intended to solve. Indeed... it only fans the flames and makes matters worse.

Of course, many innocent souls are being harmed as the assault on Gaza continues, which exponentially increases the chances for more violence in the future, as more people are wounded (physically and psychologically) and the quest for 'justice' and 'revenge' grows stronger.

If your child kicks another child on the playground, do you go and kick your child to teach them that kicking is wrong and innefective as a means of solving disputes? If your friend drives drunk and gets in an accident, do you drive drunk so you can show them how ignorant that is? If a friend gets involved with drugs and becomes irresponsible, do you do the same, to show them how upsetting it is to see someone go down that road?

Why is waging a violent and bloody assault on a group of people supposed to demonstrate that violence is futile? Seems like it demonstrates that the stronger and more violent you are, the more you can 'get your way' in this world. Is that really the world we want to live in?

War brings war. Violence brings violence. No matter who does it, or how 'right' they feel they are in doing it.

Let's stop being violent in our own hearts and minds, and lets stop supporting violence IN ANY FORM for any reason. Our world can do better than this.