… I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life - anybody's life; my life. All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where did I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do was sit there and watch him die.”
Many of you will recognize the quotes above from the thrilling 1982 film, Blade Runner. The “blade runner,” in this futuristic film, is one who hunts down and eliminates defective androids. The specific android “defect” is a strong will to live, and not to submit to termination among certain android models. The first quote are the last words of the android, Batty, after the blade runner, Deckard had administered the coup de grace. The second quote was an epilogue by Deckard after his dispatch of Batty. After the deed, Deckard quit blade running, and ran away quixotically with the last surviving android, Rachael, in order to protect and care for her. It seems he had inexplicably fallen in love with the survivor of this “defective” line of androids. There are some profound moral dilemmas in this film, to say the least … so…
In a parallel dimension, in a universe somewhere else in time, Imagine:
Americans were once a nation, a homogenous tribe, surrounded by multiple hostile forces but very few friends. These “neighbors” thoroughly rejected our culture, our language, our ethnicity, our way of life; they were jealous of our achievements and our modern society, and despised our faith. These neighbors ranged in attitude: some were very unfriendly, but most others wanted to eradicate us from the face of the earth … commit genocide. Our friends were erstwhile friends. We never really knew who we could count on in tough times. We came to trust that only our God would save and send His strength to deliver us.
During that time long ago, we were finally ejected from our land, due in part to our own corruption, by a strong and ruthless Empire. Throughout our History as a People we have ever since been a remnant, pilgrims searching for a way to return one day to our beloved homeland. Along the way we have been persecuted and chased from almost every country where we have sojourned. We have been a remarkably talented people in every endeavor that we undertake. We have defined a unique and personal relationship with our creator. In our heart of hearts, we simply want to gather again one day as a nation and celebrate the New Year as Americans once more.
As God has willed it, we, at long last, returned to our homeland after nearly two millennia. We have reclaimed our homeland … [given first to us by God according to our deeply held faith] … out of a barren wilderness given to us by international edict with crudely defined and ill-defendable borders. Ours is a land most recently occupied only by scorpions and spiders. Still, we return in joy and hope. We till and irrigate the desert. We bring to life to the hills, heretofore only traversed by nomadic goatherds and various tribal entities. We build great cities and countless villages and settlements. We welcome and protect all returning pilgrims no matter what their condition. Those who want to live as Americans and work beside us, in peace, as brothers and sisters become citizens.
But hatred and jealousy remain. The old enemies yet linger. Out of jealousy, racial bigotry and misguided religious zealotry, our enemies reject the edict of the world’s nations, and seek once more to eradicate us as in days of old. And, as in days of old, our so-called allies are still only erstwhile friends. After only sixty-two war-filled years of tough survival, our very final existence is at last threatened by religious madmen who want to finish us off, something past persecutions and a world war failed to do. They seek to destroy us as well as our memory. Barely has a generation been born and reached retirement, and we are under assault, not only from our enemies, but also by those we thought were our friends. The situation becomes more dire each day.
What to do? What to do?
O.K. As I snap my fingers, you will return from this parallel universe. SNAP!
I am, of course, describing Israel in my thinly veiled allegory.
If we were to walk a mile in Israel’s shoes what would we see? If murder, chaos, and mayhem were committed daily in our country by terrorists and religious killers, how would we act? How would you handle daily life, an uneasy, constant sense of impending catastrophe, a fatalism that whispers to you each day that the terrorist bomb might go off in a school, on your street, in a restaurant, in the Wal-Mart, in your Church?
How does this shoe fit us America? Do you think we might harden our ethnocentricity out of a sense of self-preservation and become a bit more militant about our self-protection? Would you be willing to stand and fight? Or, and I suspect this is another shoe that fits some, would you prefer to lose language, culture, and faith in order to be assimilated just to gain “peace in our time?” Or, would you once again chose to emigrate and live among foreigners, hoping to be left alone in peace, practicing faith around the kitchen table behind pulled curtains?
Who would want any of these choices? Why would we ever expect this from one of the few truly free democracies in the world community? Israel needs the strong hand of friendship from her friends in the free world. And, American friends of Israel, Jews and Gentiles alike, must look for ways to lend support. Examples of support can be sounding off to elected officials, praying for Israel, donating to Israeli Charities, supporting “Women in Green,” or writing articles.
Please, I desire no lame and lazy comments and accusations. Do not insultingly compare Israel’s life and death struggle to the plight of illegal aliens in the US. This would be a simply ignorant, fallacious and stupid comparison. And, please, do not tell me that Muslims are persecuted here or in Israel. I don’t see Muslims living in Israel or here in the US fleeing to the Arab World anymore than I saw “West Berliners” escaping to the “East Berlin.”
Do your due diligence. Investigate why the national and international media give but scant attention to Israel’s plight while falling all over themselves to identify Israel’s “sins” against who would destroy them? How is it that this tiny country, Israel, besieged from all sides by evil men and capricious governments, can be a villain? Are they all gone mad in Israel? Do you think they have a Death Wish?
Right now, negotiations are ongoing to create a Palestinian State, whatever that means. I believe that it makes no common sense for Israel to come to the table with any concessions when they are being attacked by evil men [who are supported by the ignorant] on a daily basis. How many rockets flying across our borders daily would it take for America to believe they were under attack? This happens all but daily in Israel. The first and primary condition of any agreement with Palestinians and their Advocates must be to guarantee of Israel’s right to exist; free from any and all attacks by its neighbors, and with full diplomatic recognition by all nations.
The nuts and bolts of that final agreement can only come after agreeing to that primary condition. In the meantime: God bless and protect Israel.
“ … Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…”
