Tag Archives: Social Issues

Local radio hosts visits the Holy Land

Though the conflict between the state of Israel and the displaced Palestinian people is often characterized as a religious one, I found that religion was only one aspect of an incredibly complex and multifaceted issue. The basic premise of Israel — that the Jewish people need a state of their own in order to protect themselves from the possibility of another Holocaust — was first linked to religion when early Zionists (pre-WWII) chose this region to “settle” based on religious text and geographical references in the Old Testament.

On the way home from a trip with my niece to visit her mom (my sister) down in Louisiana in July, we routed back through New Mexico to see the celebrated Anasazi ruins of Chaco Canyon, which has been on my bucket list for some time. Punctuated by wandering cows and bugs languid in the summer heat, the road into the park is a long unpaved bumpy washboard, the result of litigious private landowners unable to reach an agreement with the Park Service on paving. Perhaps this is a blessing, for it keeps visitors to a trickle, limited to those whose curiosity to see the place overcomes worries about the resilience of their vehicle’s suspension.

It has long troubled me that the word "good" has two antonyms: "bad" and "evil." Like there isn't a more potent level of "good" to be the opposite of "evil," to stand against evil. All "good" has going for itself against evil is small, comparatively — yet somehow, not inadequate.

There's evil in the world because we're always unsatisfied.

Because people are hurt by experiences