A Soulful Journey

‘I haven’t heard too many solutions for the problems in the Mideast deserts….[except] how President Bush was going to send 1,000 women with PMS because not only could they be as mean as snakes but they also could retain water.” – Erma Bombeck  

The "Purity of Arms" doctrine in Israel is illustrated by the following account of an Israeli unit entering Nablus during the Six Day War: The battalion CO got on the field telephone to my company and said, "Don't touch the civilians, don't fire until you're fired at and don't touch the civilians.  Look, you've been warned."  The boys in the company kept talking about it afterwards.  They kept repeating the words...."Their blood will be on your head." 

Two young Israeli soldiers were on miluim (reserve duty).  Their task was to patrol an area where Jews and Arabs lived in the same neighborhood in Jerusalem.  It was a tense area and time.  One of them chanced to see an Arab woman rummaging through the garbage.  He took pity on her and gave her his sandwich. His solider buddy then said to him, "I don't know whether I can go to war with you.  You might shoot too late." The other replied, "I don't know whether I can go to war with you.  You might shoot too soon." This tale also applies to judgments we make without a rifle in our hands.  Every day we make decisions about others.  Those decisions are more of a reflection on us than them.