Shana and Friend

Got Hope?

by Shana Ogren Lourey

My two year old son is lately always saying “I put you in a cage!,” and then he eats the invisible key that he locks me in it with. I, of course, highly over-think this fiasco he is running. What does it mean, about his character, or about his desires? Why is he interested in having such power? (This is where you, the reader, tell me - quite simply, Shana, he doesn't have power over his ANYTHING right now, because he is two. That's why he is so interested in power.)

The question is – what will he do with that power if he really gets it and it is no longer invisible?

One of the most terrifying parts of having kids is the realization that they could, and may, turn out wrong. What's wrong? Osama Bin Laden. Adam Lanza. Adolf Hitler. Whether wrong is the result of mental illness or religious cults, we must not forget that each of these 'wrongs' merely started off as babies, coming from a mother. And you could say, somehow spiritually or biologically, that we are all related and connected as human beings. So, we must take on the responsibility of our human family. How did our cousins become so wrong?

When I went to visit Israel in 2006, there was something tangible in the air. The thread of unsolvable problems was clear. During my stay I had a dream one night of two or three terrifying dragon-like monsters, flying at each other in a stormy and blue sky, and always, always struggling. In pain, reaching out and forward and all about, and running into one another; and I'm not sure if they were trying to destroy each other purposefully or accidently. The dream felt like the conflict in and over Israel. Unceasing. Destructive. Hopeless.

I know I am wrong for saying that. We're supposed to hope - to say things will get better and to fight somehow for that to happen.

And now the United States of America fights to defeat or destroy the group with the self-given name of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), as we see them seize land and force a radical Islamist rule. Will we ever win this kind of war? Is it possible to force people to stop being evil? Is that even the goal?

I began to fear terrorism after living in New York City during September 11th of 2001. I had never really thought about it before then. Or at least not thought about it as a real presence in my own life. During September 11th of this last month, I called my buddy that I had shared an apartment with in Spanish Harlem, NY from 2000-2002. I always remember the smell in the air on that night and the next day. It was the smell of fire and burning buildings. It was the smell of flesh.

How do you declare and fight wars over a philosophy of hate and violence?

An organization named the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC) found that ISIS is organizing government-like structures over the territories that it takes over. It is building a system that can give basic public needs, like the availability of possible food or gasoline, to those in it. That is how you start a real state; by providing needed goods for the citizens, even if they are forced citizens.

This news scares me. ISIS seems to be building permanence. I look forward to a day where I may easily find more human on human kindness than humanity self-destruction. I want to hope that this day will exist; whether it is by a change in reality or a change in my ability to see and find it.