Tienchin Ho

The Gaza Strip

"... I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regarded as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country ... Let the Jews who claim to be the chosen race prove their title by choosing the way of non-violence for vindicating their position on earth..."

    - Mahatma Ghandi 1938

Gaza is a strip of land designated by the United Nations for Palestinians who were displaced during the creation of Israel in 1948. It is bordered by Israel on the east and south with the Mediterranean to its north and Egypt to its west. A wall of barbed wire and concrete along its borders surrounds the 1.5 million people of Gaza. The movement of food, fuel, and medicines to Gaza has been restricted in the form of a siege. The seven mile western border with Egypt is also closed although smuggling occurs through underground tunnels. There is often no electricity or clean water. Many in Gaza are homeless or live in refugee camps. In the last 72 hours, more than 300 people in Gaza have been killed and more than 1000 injured.

Each year the United States grants over 3.5 billion dollars of foreign military funding to the Near East, an area immersed in war for the last century. I am saddened by the violence. No matter what history or politics preceded this, we are connected to each other as people and the tragedy belongs to us all.

Proposition 8 in Kindergarten

Last month Proposition 8 eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. It passed by a margin of 52.3% to 47.7%. Here in Fresno county it passed by 68.7% to 31.3%.

Today I helped in my daughter's kindergarten class. At one point, she and her classmates discussed the idea of girls marrying girls and boys marrying boys. Their opinions ranged from allowing any combination of sexes in a marriage to recognizing only man and woman marriages. One kindergartner was more specific in his assessment. He told me," Girls can marry girls but boys cannot marry boys."

Of course, the same group of children share their plans to marry a different person on a weekly basis.

Extremism

So I am back from Washington DC. What a busy trip! We met up with so many friends and family in the last ten days that my head is still spinning.

The wedding we attended was full of people who were all involved in the military either directly through active service or as civilians contracted to do military work. It was actually quite awe-inspiring. They were all so genuinely and sincerely doing their best at their jobs. I have never been in a room with so many militarily connected people. My curiosity drove me to ask everyone what their opinion was on the presidential election this year. To my surprise, the majority supported Obama rather than McCain.

During this election campaign season, the media has hinted that Obama does not support the Iraq war and therefore does not support our military. So I was stunned to find that the people who are involved in the military would support him. I have been conflicted about this issue because I feel that as a lay person, I have no way of knowing what the best military strategies for our country are. I have to trust our elected officials to do what's best. It was quite eye-opening to find that those persons who are actually privy to the inner workings of our military choose Obama.

It is always refreshing to be around people who do and see different things in their lives than I do. It makes the world such a bigger place and moderates my views of the world. National Public Radio had a bit today on how being around like-minded people tends to make one's views more extreme. The discussion was about the Republican rallies.

Using the Republican rallies as an example, people at the rally express views and ideas that support the same position. This makes them even more sure that they are right and Democrats are wrong. Plus, in order to be the best Republican you can be, people tend to go to the extreme. So a person proves that they support McCain by not only agreeing with McCain, but by demonizing his opponent.

So although it is good for women who value natural childbirth to find each other, it is also good to be open to women who value technology during childbirth and to the many more who are somewhere in between. This keeps us from going to the fringe ends of the spectrum.