A Poignant and Demanding Plea for Peace--from my Daughter, Susan--Se Speaks for Me!

War dehumanizes every single one of us. ** I respect and am grateful for our armed service members. I am. I am not in agreement with the war the US is fighting in Iran. I am not. ** People in Iran are just like us. They are dealing with the same challenges of human frailty that we all encounter at some point in our lives: aging, raising and educating our children while working, chronic illness, caring for a loved one—birth and death. When you think about it, getting a hot meal on the table is a feat: you’ve got to have access to a food source (like a garden or for most of us, a grocery store), you need a heat source (like gas or electricity) to cook with, and you need a water source in order to both prepare and clean up the meal. In a war zone, the feasibility of any one of these steps could easily be compromised. The people of Iran try to deal with all of the same human challenges we do while bombs fall across their cities, plumes of smoke fill their skies, and soot coats their homes (in areas near bombed oil fields). They have to risk being in harm’s way to go out and do the business of everyday living. They don’t know if a trip to the doctor or work or the grocery store might cost them their lives, if a bomb explodes--as they do--without warning. I don’t know what it’s like to live in a war zone. But, from afar, I think of these people who are just like me—trying to do their everyday in the midst of chaos and blind destruction. ** I Do Not Celebrate When Pete Hegseth boasts that today will be most the intensified strikes yet, I do not celebrate. When the lives of at least 13 American service members are lost and hundreds more wounded, I do not celebrate. When houses, hospitals and infrastructure of Iranian towns and cities are demolished, I do not celebrate. When over 1300 Iranian civilians have been killed, I do not celebrate. When the US blows up oil refineries and black plumes of smoke fill the skies- making it difficult for civilians to breath, I do not celebrate. When a school is targeted by US tomahawks- 168 young girls and 14 of their teachers Perish in the explosions- Their remains buried in rubble, I do not celebrate. When ancient cultural sites- Emblems of human civilization Are not spared from warfare, I do not celebrate. When 773 people are killed in Lebanon 100 of whom are children, I do not celebrate. In less than 2 weeks, When 4 million people are displaced in Iran and Lebanon alone, I do not celebrate. When the American and Israeli bombs and missile strikes end, I will be grateful. When the US restores its balance of powers, I will be grateful. When democratic processes and the rule of law lead to the instillation of the next US president, I will be grateful. When people living in the Middle East, especially Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, experience peace, freedom and revitalization, I will be grateful. When the people of Israel who suffered through the atrocities of October 7 find healing, I will be grateful. When the world is such that an assault like October 7 is an impossibility, I will be grateful. When citizens and immigrants in the US who are struggling receive the resources they need, I will be grateful. When the US prioritizes education, health, science, arts and infrastructure at home, I will be grateful. For any mercy, forgiveness and goodwill the United States receives, I will be grateful. When parks and gardens grow in the place of rubble and concrete, I will be grateful. When alliances across all nations, protect and care for . every child, every human, every living thing. I will celebrate. How about you?

We Are Losing Our Moral Moorings

We Are Losing our Moral Moorings Everywhere I look, I grow more concerned that we as a country and as a world are losing our moral moorings. Admittedly, imperfectly, we left World War II committed to putting in place a set of controls, a set of limits, a commitment to international law, a set of moral understandings, that would limit, if not prevent, the spread of war. We committed to recognize national boundaries. We committed to avoid needless civilian deaths. We committed, in one Presidential inaugural address after another, to respect the way other people lived, while defending our most important national interests. What has followed is that we have begun incursions into one country after another, in the first instance to combat terrorism but, in the end -- and maybe at the very heart of it from the start--it turned into a misbeggoten all-out campaigns to change the way they live. This was true in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Libya and now in Iran and Cuba. We have a president that undercuts those very institutions (education, law) that have made us the nation we have become. The balance of power, so carefully put in place by our founders, is being neutered because the Congress is stepping aside from its responsibilities, including declaring what is war and what is not. As it has been said, and I have said, in the end, morals begin at home. And I draw hope and confidence from this reality because at home the majority of Americans want the same things: they want security, they want good health and the opportunity to achieve a sustaining livelihood, and they want the freedom to say what they believe. Again and again, I am reminded of the importance of human agency--of the difference that an individual leader can make. I think of the impact of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and of Dwight Eisenhower. Contrarily, I think of the devastating impact of President Donald J. Trump. I believe his presidency will go down in history as the proverbial road that should NOT have been taken. It grew out of voter's frustration that the government was not delivering what people want. So they reached for someone who they thought could be a savior, turn the system on its head and make it better. Tragically, this is not proving the case. So much depends now on the results of the mid-term (2026) elections and the 2028 presidential election. I hope and pray that the outcome will see us with leadership committed to restoring moral guidelines and actions that we are consistent with what we want in our own family and our Nation at its best.