Dr. Carmen, a fictional character on the Fox TV show House, said something in a recent episode that I committed to memory: “When a good person dies, there should be an impact on the world. Someone should notice. Someone should be upset.”

As the conflict in Lebanon and Israel escalates, I realize the fallibility of Dr. Carmen’s statement.  Yes, there should be an impact on the world when a person dies, but does it matter whether that person was good or bad?  And who labels that person as good or bad?

— A daughter, a coworker, or an enemy?

There should be an impact on the world when people die, regardless of the book they call holy, the passport they own, or the flag they wave proudly.

But the more deeds I am accountable for, the more I realize that the value of our life is measured by the passports we carry.

In Canada, a country quickly losing its reputation as a neutral, peacekeeping nation, one of the circulating debates is whether the government should bother saving the lives of “ungrateful refugees”^[1]—a term that has become synonymous with Canadians who carry a Lebanese passport and chose to reside in Lebanon.  The UN is no different.  It also reacts based on the national identity of victims.  The UN will now exert considerable effort to examine whether the death of UN workers in Lebanon was deliberate, rather than launching an investigation to determine whether the killing of Lebanese civilians is a justified “measured response” ^[2].  And the Arabs are equally prejudiced.  Many Arabs wouldn’t care much if any innocent Israeli civilians die in this conflict.  An Israeli passport is enough to condemn its owner to hatred by many Arabs.

Unfortunately, we have been conditioned to take pride in our countries and ingroup no matter their crime.  We don’t employ critical thought when assessing our stances.  On msn, the nicknames of some of my Lebanese friends are emotionally charged against Jews… And well, this is also a time when my Jewish friends remember I’m Arab.

Similarly in the news 8000 Canadian Jews held a rally to support Israel’s indiscriminate killing of civilians and 2000 Canadian Arabs supported the Lebanese plight.  Both stances are troubling, and blindly lending full support to the ingroup.

The so-called central concerns of justice, peace, and human welfare are drowned in a sea of nonsensical fury and absurd nationalism.

If justice and care for humanity were our concerns, we would be marching day and night. First, against the Arab leaders we so despise, and then for Tibetans, Nigerians, and the many others who happen to live on the wrong side of the border.

But I’m realistic.

I don’t believe we will care for those who are not linked to our ingroup.  I don’t believe either side in the Lebanese-Israeli conflict will ever come to understand that “war does not determine who is right – only who is left” ^[3]. Nor will they ever come to understand that when the death count of innocent civilians becomes a measure of success, a war can never be won.  But I do believe the passport an individual owns comes to represent the economic, political, and overall value of his/her life—in its entirety.

So I pray that when a day comes and you and I are oppressed, our passports will deem our lives valuable.  As for the people with the wrong passport, I pray that God hasten their death; may they die swiftly and without a shudder; may their screams never reach our deaf ears or trouble our disabled hands.

Amen.

 References:

1) The London Free Press Opinion page, July 25, 2006.
2) Prime Minister of Canada’s comment on the Israeli attacks
3) Bertrand Russell

Comments (12)

2  Written by Guest, on 02-08-2006 07:53

5  bashar Written by Guest, on 04-08-2006 22:36 very good . every day we see other and large problem .

11  Written by Guest, on 15-08-2006 01:28 thanks for the correction

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