Monday, February 06, 2006
Our Newest Op Ed
Hell Hath No Fury - Women, Hatred, and the Middle East
- By Resa LaRu Kirkland
The conflict in the Middle East-that ancient battle between Jew and Arab-is becoming a source of difficulty in teaching to today’s youth. Don’t believe me? Just try talking about the roots of this conflict without mentioning God and religion! The God of Abraham, the covenant child Isaac, the begetting of Jacob and his 12 sons and the birth of a nation named Israel-pretty near impossible to mention without a single reference to religion. On the lighter side, I suppose it’s become quite humorous to watch one’s teacher sweat it out in history class.
To refresh my memory of the genesis of this now present-day conflict, I re-read the sections in--well, Genesis-about the original five players in this story--Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac--and came to a conclusion: the Arab-hating-the-Jews thing--the loss of life, the hatred, the bloodshed, the suicide--all smack of the kind of energy and fury that you only see in a woman scorned. Knowing my sex as I do, I know that one thing that will make us go mental--to our shame--is being one-upped by another woman, and this ancient story has that in spades. Think about it; out of the five people involved in that story, only one was filled with jealousy, spite, and hatred. Abraham loved Sarah, and she him. They both adored Ishmael and Isaac, and the two brothers did love each other in the beginning. There was only one person in this equation who was filled with rage and hatred: Hagar.
.........
Click HERE To Read On
- By Resa LaRu Kirkland
The conflict in the Middle East-that ancient battle between Jew and Arab-is becoming a source of difficulty in teaching to today’s youth. Don’t believe me? Just try talking about the roots of this conflict without mentioning God and religion! The God of Abraham, the covenant child Isaac, the begetting of Jacob and his 12 sons and the birth of a nation named Israel-pretty near impossible to mention without a single reference to religion. On the lighter side, I suppose it’s become quite humorous to watch one’s teacher sweat it out in history class.
To refresh my memory of the genesis of this now present-day conflict, I re-read the sections in--well, Genesis-about the original five players in this story--Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac--and came to a conclusion: the Arab-hating-the-Jews thing--the loss of life, the hatred, the bloodshed, the suicide--all smack of the kind of energy and fury that you only see in a woman scorned. Knowing my sex as I do, I know that one thing that will make us go mental--to our shame--is being one-upped by another woman, and this ancient story has that in spades. Think about it; out of the five people involved in that story, only one was filled with jealousy, spite, and hatred. Abraham loved Sarah, and she him. They both adored Ishmael and Isaac, and the two brothers did love each other in the beginning. There was only one person in this equation who was filled with rage and hatred: Hagar.
.........
Click HERE To Read On
# posted by Publius @ 2/06/2006 12:00:00 AM 
|
