{"id":970,"date":"2017-01-22T03:03:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-22T03:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/a-letter-to-a-cousin"},"modified":"2019-08-12T01:18:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T01:18:11","slug":"a-letter-to-a-cousin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/01\/22\/a-letter-to-a-cousin\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter to a Cousin"},"content":{"rendered":"

“And you should love God with all your heart\u2026”<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a verse written to the Israeli people by Moses, but the message I think transcends personal destinies.<\/p>\n

I wonder if the Palestinian people would listen to it. They would have to be taught its secret, which is the great human problem: how could my suffering have been for the best?<\/em><\/p>\n

How can a people love their creator when they are always seeing wrongs and hurts? (This is a question for all times and all people).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Who can define another soul? Except insofar as knowing that we all yearn for something that will turn sorrow into glory and joy.<\/p>\n

Each one lives inside their own world.<\/p>\n

But, looking as an outsider across the family tree, I wonder if the Palestinians are the group most able to lead the Arab world from its current turmoil and inner, self-destructive terror.<\/p>\n

The Muslims, most especially the Arab Muslims who are the relatives of the Israeli people, were colonized and recreated in an image that is not their own. The deep cultural emotions that are the frightening blaze in the Arab spirit, are often attributed to the fall of a golden civilization as if it were a matter of insecurity only. Might it also be a matter of freedom to self-create and not be created?<\/p>\n

The Jewish people have yearned to be free in our own land.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t we all have a right to be ourselves?<\/p>\n

The Palestinians were mistreated by their brothers. And brothers hurting brothers is the first sin after Eden. It is an early sin and a hard one because it is easier to blame the world than ourselves.<\/p>\n

The Palestinians are the leftover of an empire that devolved from a caliphate that was segregated amongst foreign empires who cut the lands up further to ensure lasting control and dependency. More than anyone in the middle east whose nationality is a modern myth, they know that to be Muslim is to know that belief is more important than flags, and the rulers are for allowing order, not to be owners of the people. (I believe this because of the Muslim rule of India, but I do not know much history, so different from every other empire that sought plunder and wealth as highest goals).<\/p>\n

The Palestinians have been lied to for too long by leaders who resemble the surrounding nations, and have always been paid by them too. They spoke peace with the Israeli\u2019s and promised their people conquest. They lied to both and tried to dance between the shadows.<\/p>\n

This is an age of information, and there is no more excuse for believers not helping those whom they declare their inspiration. Why do they fight, without caring for the orphans? What is the pillar of Zakat if not that the Muslim care for his fellow believers? How can that be cut down by those who love anger more than their God?<\/p>\n

Leaders are dangerous in every country, to every people. We should fear them more than each other, though we need them for order.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t the Arab street look to Rammala and the Palestinians to spark its hope for change, belief in forcing change? This is well known, all across, from Egypt to Iraq; even to Pakistan.<\/p>\n

This is a letter that is not concerned with anything but this: peace be upon us.<\/p>\n

May we love our creator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“And you should love God with all your heart\u2026” This is a verse written to the Israeli people by Moses, but the message I think transcends personal destinies. I wonder if the Palestinian people would listen to it. They would have to be taught its secret, which is the great human problem: how could my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,103,154,77],"tags":[],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-essay","category-google-drive","category-perspective"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":150,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2013\/08\/16\/believing-that-the-world-is-ok\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":0},"title":"Believing that the world is OK","author":"Pala","date":"August 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There's this belief that the world is OK. How to address this? How about step 1: What is the nature of the constituents of the matter of concern? Or as Socrates might be modernized, \"What is the meaning of each thing?\". Truly ask this, because barely any do. Plato would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":796,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/03\/04\/first-glimpses-of-shame\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":1},"title":"First glimpses of shame","author":"Pala","date":"March 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I have faced the dragon. I have seen the ocean that drowns. I have seen the fires that consume. I have walked and been suffocated and been burnt. Beneath the waters and the flames I have seen the boulder that crushes. It is a wooden board with sharp corners and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Ecce Home II - Sisyphus\" by Polygonist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/ecce_homo_ii__sisyphus_by_polygonist.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1479,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/05\/11\/letter-to-a-jewish-nation\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":2},"title":"Letter to a Jewish Nation","author":"Pala","date":"May 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I could never find an audience in my mind, and so I have invented the unborn child\u2019s face to address. Hello, child of Judah and Benjamin and Levi, sons of Israel, son of the one who was laughed at, son of the Nations. I don\u2019t know what your parents taught\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1191,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/06\/02\/the-day-cupid-dropped-acid\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":3},"title":"The Day Cupid Dropped Acid","author":"Pala","date":"June 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Reflections about drug (and love) experiences, in which emotions and feelings are analysed (\u201cHacking\u201d) that are intensely felt but too changing and formless (as in \u201cchariot mysticism\u201d) to give reliable solid information; \u201cto be studied but not believed; or Hacking the chariot of fire.\u201d The reflections are deeply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1740,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2010\/12\/04\/hide-and-seek-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":4},"title":"Hide and Seek","author":"Pala","date":"December 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Hide and Seek\u00a0is the\u00a0third episode\u00a0of the franchisee show\u00a0Stargate Atlantis[1]. It first aired in July 2004. Spoilers?\u00a0Yes. Synopsis: An energy-feeding\u00a0shadow\u00a0is freed and a shield stone is found. They get rid of the shadow and can\u2019t use the stone any more.\u00a0Fin. DVD Commentary Instructions: (1) Print off this commentary. (2) Hire a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2840,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/03\/29\/to-you-whom-this-concerns\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":5},"title":"To you whom this concerns","author":"Pala","date":"March 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"To you whom this concerns, I don't know where to start. Which reminds me of how I began one of my journals. And so, to quote myself:* There's something satisfyingly indulgent about copying words that had already been finished, but are being given a new meaning in a new context.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-fE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}