In the West Bank and Gaza, Christians are searching for ways to celebrate a subdued Christmas, with festivities canceled for the first time since the First Intifada in 1988.
Directly targeting civilians or exposing them to disproportionate harm in war is wrong for the same reasons that it is wrong to kill or harm innocent people in peacetime. People who pose no threat to others deserve respect and protection from violence regardless of their nationality or group identity. To violate that respect in war is not only a war crime but a moral crime.
And what does gratitude mean or look like? Is it simply an expression of thanks for basics such as food, warmth, transportation, family, friends, etc.? At its heart, gratitude is the recognition of good.
Jewish and Palestinian food was on the menu Sunday at Feast World Kitchen in downtown Spokane to raise money for The Parents Circle, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization that works to promote dialogue, tolerance, reconciliation and peace.
If we nurture blasphemous thoughts of evil and worldly passions of pride, greed, lust, jealousy, gluttony, covetousness and sometimes anger, we destroy that inner peace. Our lives become chaotic and in disarray, and, more importantly, we lose control.
Amid all this chaos, misery and death in the current war in the Middle East, we forget that we are all believers and followers of the Abrahamic faith, worshipping the same one God.