My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones in the Hamas attack on October 6, those who were taken hostage, and those who await their safe return.
My heart also goes out to those who have lost loved ones under the relentless destruction that continues to be visited upon those living and working in Gaza.
It is often difficult to feel compassion for people on both sides of a conflict. It is much easier to simply choose one side, embrace deep compassion for them, and vilify the other; negating their perspective, and disregarding their injury - including that to non-combatants.
This is lazy, and makes us less fully human. More importantly, it lowers our psychological barriers to demagogues and zealots, who exploit the wedges we have allowed to grow in our own awareness. Before you know it, a modern-day Joe McCarthy emerges, to try to clean out government, or academia of any who don't align with their own radical views - and we have voluntarily disarmed ourselves against them.
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