Israeli Border
I've seen the promise land, and it lies behind double razor wire. We went out on Thursday to videotape damage from the most recent war with Israel. Damaged buildings litter the landscape of south Lebanon, all the way to the Israeli border. There, at less than two hundred yards, lie the fabled and actual land of Israel. Not too far from there we were greeted by a man that had received food aid from the church we visited. He invited us in for coffee and chocolate. We, of course, accepted.
Seeing bombed out buildings and bridges is more than a little surreal. As an American, I've seen countless hours of TV footage of bombs and bridges actually being blown up – the Gulf Wars Part I and Deux have ensured that. What I have seen little of is the aftermath of war. It is humbling. Buildings ripped apart display half-open rooms with traces of normalcy, though all is beyond the normal. "People lived here, yet will never return." A friend of mine wrote of such conflict in the Sudan several weeks ago on his blog. He finished his description with "and someone somewhere thinks that it is worth it."
Yes, I understand that there are complex political and religious realities that create war. A lot of thinking went in to the who, when, what, where, and why for the bombing. But standing in the rubble now, the question "is it worth it," must be asked, even if after thinking long and hard the answer is 'yes'. Because the answer may be 'no'. And no matter the answer we must stand in the rubble and ask the question so that when (not if) the next time comes to make a similar decision we will know the pain we are causing, even if it is cloaked as an attempt to do a little good.