Throughout my lifetime, I have been a supporter of Israel and its right to exist. At the same time, I’ve on occasion been critical of Israel and its policies and I've never claimed that Israel is perfect   I believe that Palestinians have legitimate grievances regarding their people and I believe it would be in the best interest of Palestinians and Israelis alike to finally sit at a table and come to an agreement that would allow for their future generations to live together in peace. But such an event will never take place as long as groups like Hamas are willing to send deadly missiles into Israel in an attempt to cause death and grief.  

More than a half century ago, the nation of India was striving to have the British Empire allow for India to become an independent nation. India eventually succeeded thanks in large part to the strong and peaceful efforts of Mahatma Gandhi.   The world at large could still learn much from Gandhi’s history, and Hamas, a force that currently sends missiles into Israel and appears to care little for the suffering and dying being experienced by its own Palestinian people as a result of Israel’s attempt to defend itself, could likewise learn much from Gandhi.   Israel became a nation shortly after a Holocaust had taken the lives of six million Jewish people for no other reason than that they were Jewish. Since Israel’s creation, Israel has been forced to often defend itself against people who would eradicate Israel as a nation if they could. I want both Palestinians and Israelis to live, prosper and be well. There must be a way for this to happen, but it will take a lot of effort and hard work from both sides to achieve such a result.

We in America are so quick to condemn those Islamic countries that devalue women by punishing and often killing them for actions that violate their Muslim faith. But we ignore our human history that shows similar inhuman conduct found in the world of so many other areas including that of Christianity and Judaism.  

There was a good reason why our founding fathers called for a separation of church and state through a First Amendment to our United States Constitution that stated: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."   In my view, our present United States Supreme Court has violated this principle with its recent decision permitting public businesses to control the private behaviors of their employees based upon the religious beliefs of the owners of said businesses.   It is one thing for a religious organization to fight for the right of their congregants to behave in accordance with their religious views. It is another thing to enter the world of commerce and then demand that your employees act in accordance with your religious views.  

I have a wife and two daughters. I have sisters, female cousins and many female friends. I believe  all of my female family and friend are entitled to the very same freedoms that are given to men.   It took too many years for my United States of America to grant freedom to people of color and to allow for women to finally be able to vote in local, state and national elections. Let us not continue on a backtrack that begins to deprive women of their most sacred rights. I call on all of us, men and women, to go to the polls in our next elections to vote for people who will work to expand our freedoms. Let us all live up to the wonderful hopes and dreams given to us by our founding fathers.