WhiteMouse,

I believe that the "Lakemba" mosque incidents were
driven by an extremist imam who finally lost his job
and went overseas.

There were incidents of Muslims being
accused of "rape gangs" who turned out to be Lebanese
Christians.

We have to be careful of tarring people in certain
groups with the one brush.

We have to allow for individual differences.

As for my reaction to the middle east conflict? I proudly
stand by my posting record . It appears from what I've
read that there is to be a ceasefire. Let's hope
that this does happen. That it gives people a chance to
finally recognize that there is no military solution to
a political problem.

WhiteMouse,

As for my "pollyanna" view of things?

I was raised to ask - "Why?" and question things.

And I've also learned that most people are decent
human beings.

I try not to pre-judge. Christian, Jew, or Muslim. We're
all human beings. Very few of us are "card-carrying
fundamentalists".

If you think that I have a "pollyanna" attitude - perhaps
you need to move in different circles?

Cheers.

WhiteMouse,

Israeli educational psychologist Haim Ginot wrote about
a letter that teachers would receive from their principal
each year:

"I'm a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what
no person should witness: gas chambers built by learned
engineers, children poisoned by educated physicians.
Infants killed by trained nurses, women and babies shot by
high school and college graduates.

So I am suspicious of education.

My request is this. Help your children become human. Your
efforts must never produce learned monsters,
skilled psychopaths or educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important
only if they serve to make our children more human

We lived in Los Angeles for close to ten years.
I had all of Ginott's books and was greatly
influenced by him in raising my children.

I've just received a telephone call from a close
friend in Los Angeles. She could barely talk she
was so emotional. She desrcibed the current
conditions in LA due to the fires that are raging
and the conditions under which people are currently
living. "Hell on earth," were just one of the terms
she used.

I won't go into details. Suffice to say - it made me
realize how lucky we are, and that we should be grateful
for what we hvae - having worked so hard for it.

She also pointed out that - it made her realize that you
work hard all your life - acquire so many material things
and it can all disappear over night. So what's it all
for? I realize that she's terribly upset. But it does
make you think. What is it all for?

I remember my father trying to teach us the importance
of education. Telling us that material things can disappear
overnight. But what's in our minds will survive and help us
to survive.

Hi Foxy,

We are indeed a lucky people, not all, but most, for that we should be truly grateful. Be positive, yes your father was right, education is the key to a bright future. Not only in terms of a formal education, that is important of course, but schooling in the positive ways of life, which come with a decent family upbringing, and hopefully stay with us until the very end. Material things come and go, and I am sorry about the devastation that folk in California have been suffering.