"We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us."
President Obama
"We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others."
President Obama
"If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible."
Sarah Palin
Blood Libel:
The blood libel is a false accusation that Jews sacrifice Christian children either to use the blood for various "medicinal" purposes or to prepare
Passover Matzoth (unleavened bread) or for vengeance and mock crucifixions. It is one of the central fables of
Anti-Semitism of the older (middle ages) type. The blood libel is a phenomenon of medieval and modern Christian anti-
Semitism, but spread to the Middle East as early as 1775, when there was a blood libel in
Hebron. A second blood libel occurred in Damascus in 1840 and one occurred in Cyprus in the same year. As the blood libel was the subject of folk ballads and literature, it was not simply a religious superstition in Europe, but a staple of popular culture, like most anti-Semitic prejudices.
Blood libels in the both the West and the East were generally occasions for large-scale persecution and judicial murders of
Jews, as well as the basis for expulsions and pogroms. There have been about 150 cases of blood libel that were actually tried by Catholic authorities, and many other rumored cases that never came to trial.
The enduring nature of the blood libel is one of its most remarkable features. It was an invention of the pagans. It was revived and exploited in medieval Christian superstition, later promoted deliberately by the counter-reformation and the
Inquisition, By the 19
th century, much of the "old" anti-
Semitism of the medieval period had passed from the world, but the libel persisted. It has been transplanted to the United States and the belief flourishes in Muslim countries as well.
My husband is often telling me I tend to be Utopian in my ideals...and that I am unrealistic in my hopes. Then I gently and lovingly say to him, hope is just that....hope. I may not see it in my fleeting time on this earth, but hopefully someday peace will prevail. Like one plants a tree not for the fruit one receives, but for the fruit future generations will enjoy, I pray for peace and work towards fostering hope in myself and in those around me. I hope that our better selves can be found. The events of the past days, the tragedy, the noise, the tension and the sorrow...resonate. I hope we find peace with our selves, our loved ones and all being in the world.
