Enough. Stop.

In its war with Hamas, Israel has killed thousands of Gaza residents, many of those noncombatants. Today more thousands in Lebanon and Syria were injured when Hezbollah pagers simultaneously exploded. This latest aggression is pure atrocity. Israel has the right to defend itself, certainly, but not like this. Innocent children are among the few known so far to have died.

If a UN resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the United States should vote in its favor. It should also stop supplying Israel with weapons. Every time innocents die in Gaza, Israel claims it was targeting Hamas. That excuse is no longer believable. Hezbollah used pagers because Israel was too good at hacking their phones. This along with the technical prowess  required to explode pagers on command make me wonder why Israel can't target Hamas without killing innocents as well. Does Israel really care about which Palestinians they kill? It should because the world is watching and thinking that its violent excess must stop.

In Biblical times the Jews made a covenant with God to uphold His laws. One of those laws is, "Thou shalt not kill." Israel no longer keeps its ancient covenant. I am appalled that a people would break its promise to God. Perhaps Israel will come to its senses. Perhaps it can still seek peace. I will pray.

Nine clouds and an illusion

The Nine Cloud Dream (Kuunmong)
Penguin Classics 2019
Fiction 288 pages
Kim Man-jung
Heinz Insu Fenkl (Editor, Introduction, Translator)

Serious spoiler alert. The cheapest writer’s trick ever is telling a tale and then revealing it to was all a dream. Yet the author gets away with it by using reincarnation to obscure his intention.  Toward the end of the novel he introduces the sage who dreamt he was a butterfly and wakes wondering if he is now a butterfly dreaming it is a sage. One questions what is real and what is illusion. The story is fantastical. A master sends a young monk to Hell and then the reborn monk sets off as a poor scholar. Along the way he finds good luck and meets women he promises to reunite with. Eventually he becomes an adopted prince and takes those nine women as wives and concubines. Then in his mature years he becomes disillusioned and seeks an ancient master for instruction. He must now confront the realization that what appears real is actually illusion.

As the hero woos women with poetry and engages in fantastic feats of warfare and diplomacy the reader eagerly comes along. This rags to riches story entices readers until their “suspension of disbelief” hits the inevitable surprise promised by the title.  This drives home the point that we are all victims of the illusions we experience.

Kim Man-jung’s story, Kuunmong, takes place in Chinese and is written in Chinese. Author, Kim Man-jung himself resided in Korea and was active in the royal court. Some scholars believe the Kuunmong was published in 1789, though other scholars question that date.