Only Love Should Be Unconditional

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

This isn’t the piece I intended to write this week.

I was going to write something celebrating President Joe Biden’s continued infrastructure streak with the administration’s announcement to start requiring the replacement of the country’s lead water pipes within ten years. I was also going to tout the $16.4 billion the administration plans to invest in safer, faster passenger rail service.

These are accomplishments we need to acknowledge and promote as we enter what is likely to be a contentious presidential cycle that will culminate in our either preserving democracy or descending into fascism.

Instead, though, I am going to spend a few minutes on a subject I find uncomfortable to discuss because of its complexity and history.

For over a month now, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has been the focal point of every media outlet and agency concerned with international affairs, with obviously good reason.

I acknowledge the generations-long, complicated machinations that got us here.

I acknowledge I am not even remotely close to being an expert in international diplomacy or have insight into the conversations happening in the State Dept. or the Oval Office.

Fundamentally, though, we all understand morality.