So much Blood

I want to talk about Jerusalem and the Middle East.

I've been watching the news lately, following the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Note that I said Hezbollah not Lebanon.

What is it all about? Real estate and religion.

If there are 2 things on this earth that bring out the worst in human nature, it's those 2 things.

I have also recently watched 3 movies. Yeah, I know they're works of fiction but sometimes fiction can induce thought upon reality. Said movies are Syriana, Munich, & Kingdom of Heaven.

If you've seen any or all of the movies I'm sure you can see the connection.

Jerusalem!
Also known as "The Holy Land"
Why is it holy?
Is there any other piece of real estate on earth that has been the site and focus for so much blood shed in recorded history? Enlighten me if there is!
Why all the blood? Because the human race, (speaking in generalities here) does not share and does not tolerate "otherness".
I say "otherness" in this context. I'm part of group A and we believe in God, my neighbor is part of group B and they believe in Allah, therefore they are "other" than the members of my group.

Let me elaborate upon my senario.

I'm okay with group B (I think they are all crazy and going to hell but its not my problem) until they decide that they need access to a certain piece of property. Problem is that piece of property is considered "holy" in my belief system and they might "defile" it by their very presence. I don't really care that group B thinks it's "holy" also (for different reasons from mine of coarse and that's just wrong!) and they think group A is "defiling" it. Solution : let's all kill each other! Maybe if we are successful we can wipe group B from the face of the Earth! That would prove (at least in our small minds) that our beliefs are the right ones!

Religion and Real Estate.

Can you sense my sarcasm? Holy? How can Jerusalem be holy? I don't care who you think might have been born there, or who preached there once upon a time. Centuries of blood, death and violence have defiled it for me. It holds no mystique, no aura for me. If I were to visit all I would see was the blood. I visited what's left of the Berlin Wall once, and the "kill zone" behind it. I walked away shaken, thinking of those who died there. I imagine Jerusalem would be the same but magnified expodentially.

Humans don't share and we always have to be right especially when it comes to religion. Which is the biggest cosmic irony of all because who will ever truly know which religion is correct? There's nothing to quantify, there's no value to plug into a formula that proves truth. Here's a scary thought! What if there is no correct religion! What if intent and attitude are what matters in the end. Then all that blood was shed in vain. It was shed to make one small minded person feel superior to another.

Jerusalem is tainted, by blood, by violence, by war. By all the horrible dark aspects of human nature. We as humans shouldn't fight over it anymore. We should cordon it off and mourn for every life lost there in the name of religion. It's a giant grave yard, thousands of years in the making by Christians, by Jews, and by Moslems.

Holy? No. Tragic? Yes.