history repeats

as i watch the news daily and the numbers of those killed and injured (on both sides) increases, sometimes by the minute, the details keep repeating. so far close to 600 palestinians have been killed and 1 israeli confirmed dead. the injured are 2500 in gaza and "in the tens" for israelis. it's like a macabric scoreboard. and israel continues saying it's defensive and they won't stop until their military objectives are obtained - to stop the missile launches by hamas. while hamas is trying to defend it's people as well.

each time they record whole families are the latest to be killed or most of families - whole families wiped out, some of the latest were paremedics trying to help the injured. and the injured are dying waiting for treatment. puting it in terms of the injured allows people to dissociate from the impact on their lives, because they are still living. but the injured consists of missing appendages, eyes, brain damage, etc. not cuts and bruises. i saw video footage from a hospital with a young child - wide eyed, in shock as his parents described what they had just witnessed and endured. he had blood spattered acroos his face, as did his brother, his siter had a bloody cloth over her eye that her father held there while holding her in his lap. the mother had both hands in bloody bandages. and this is as israel continues to play the role of defender and saying that it is only targeting military objectives - which now seems to extend to anyone who might grow up to struggle against the cruelty, and those who raise them.

how many times do we have to make the same mistakes. the holocuast, berlin wall, south african apartheid, etc. after the end we are ready to recognize that it is wrong, when are we going to wake up and stop it as it happens and hopefully next time not allow it happen at all. i am also reminded of what happened to the native peoples of america when it was formed. millions were massacred and drove off land to live in small reservations and lose their culture. now we see it for what it was and are saddened by the facts of our history. history is being made now. how is this not the same? they fought and defended the land that another claimed as their own, by a people considered terrorists to the government it broke away and declared freedom from. i would rather our history say that we came back from the brink and truly allowed others to be self-governed.