The past few days

The news from Egypt is unbearably inhumane for folks who are rooting for security and justice over there as much as for in the U.S. How many more peaceful protesters will die because of social injustice and cultural misunderstanding? How many more innocent bystanders to peaceful demonstrations will be killed, like Andrew Pochter? He is not much younger than my son and grew up near us. He mentored kids in the U.S. His reprinted letter to one of them (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/12/how-to-live-your-life-advice-from-an-american-student-who-was-killed-in-egypt/) brought me to tears as I processed the jury's verdict in the Zimmerman-Martin trial. 

Arabs and Jews want peace. They want inclusiveness, in the governing of Egypt, their most populous state, and through a Palestinian state. I was reminded of this by young people yesterday at an event held by Middle East peace advocacy organization New Story Leadership (http://www.newstoryleadership.org/), again, in our neighborhood. 

David Ignatius wrote for the July 12th Washington Post: "the Arab Muslim world must recapture the inclusive spirit [of its first centuries]....Otherwise, the broken political culture will not mend" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-recapturing-the-arab-muslim-worlds-golden-age/2013/07/12/e21d4bc8-ea68-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html). 

Secularists, co-religionists, all citizens, need to share our stories and yearnings for peace, and figure out how to bring enough Egyptians, Gazans, West Bankers, other Arabs around the region, Israelis, and Americans together to tip the balance of the U.S. House and Senate and demand a Palestinian-Israeli peace treaty for two secure states. We -- in the U.S. and across the globe -- cannot bear the loss of life.