As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that life gets busier. You gain more responsibilities, you have multiple interests, and you often find that instances of free time are few and far between. I used to despise getting out and being active at first, but now I love it. I love how much there is to do in my life, and I’m trying to appreciate every single day as it comes.

That being said, it’s not always easy to love something. A lot of times, things just don’t make sense. We try to make it work in our heads, but no matter how hard we think about it, the pieces just don’t fit together. That’s life for many of us, and I’m gonna talk about a few things going on right now that don’t make much sense, while giving my thoughts on each one. I apologize in advance if this comes off as rambling, but I’m just in the mood to talk.

Can there be peace between Israel and Palestine?

In case you’ve been living underground in a cage somewhere for the last week or so, the Middle East is going through a lot right now. Hamas walked into Israel and butchered a bunch of citizens, then Israel decided the proper course of action was to start obliterating the Gaza strip, and then the leaders of Hamas declared a “global day of rage” against Jews and Americans. Simply put, there’s a lot of anger in the world right now, and it’s hard to not feel some of your own when you look at some of the pictures from the battlegrounds.

This conflict has obviously been going on for several decades in one form or another, and the age old question of peace is always brought up. Personally, I don’t know if there ever will be peace between Jews and Arabs. I would love there to be, as I’m sure most do, but there’s so many differences between the two groups that I sometimes feel it’s dumb to even consider it. Historically, both groups have always been at war with each other, whether it’s with guns or stones. The dislike is deep rooted in both cultures, and that’s something you can’t immediately wipe out.

Another thing I’ll add, even though it may seem like a cop out, is that both sides in this conflict are at great fault in one way or another for why things are the way they are, and they both need to be scrutinized for their methods. Israel is right to defend themselves against Hamas, but laying waste to Gaza isn’t necessarily the right way to solve the problem. Meanwhile, Palestinians around the world shouldn’t be parading in the streets over innocent Jews being killed by these terrorists. That’s just making your side look even worse in the eyes of the west.

Unless God himself makes waves and radically changes everything in that region, there will always be bickering over the land, over the religions, and over the history. There’s not much that we can do about that, I’m afraid. What we can do, however, is support the innocent Israelis and Palestinians while taking a stance against Islamic terrorism and antisemitism. I don’t think that’s controversial to say.

What’s happening with America?

I’ll be blunt, the United States is a total joke. Ever since 9/11, they’ve gradually degraded into the chaotic mess we see now, and it’s hard to feel bad for them. Very few respect them anymore, their sphere of influence has shrunk significantly, and we are likely seeing the beginning of a once great nation’s collapse. And of course, it’s all to do with their political system. Their bipartisan ways are inherently flawed, and we’ve seen the full extent of how awful it can get with the last few years under Trump and Biden.

While I don’t support Trump as a person, I cannot deny how peaceful the world seemed to be before Covid happened and Biden took over. We didn’t have a botched pullout from Afghanistan, a full-blown war between Russia and Ukraine, and certainly not this new conflict in Israel. Trump may have done a lot of things wrong, but his threats were taken seriously by other leaders, and they knew he would come after them if they tried to do anything he didn’t like. See how he bombed ISIL leaders and got al-Baghdadi killed. That was impressive.

Biden, in the meantime, is a walking corpse. The guy exudes zero energy, constantly makes himself look like a fool, and doesn’t get much respect from his own party. The Hunter debacle is something that will likely be studied for years to come, and I still have no idea how people can still believe that Joe and his family are anything but elitist criminals. The Democrats can’t allow him to run again, especially with all of the baggage he carries with him now. A younger, fresher face needs to take charge in that party, and while it’ll likely end up being someone like Gavin Newsom or one of the young socialists they have coming up, it’s a necessary step they need to take in order to rehabilitate their image.

As I write this in the meantime, the House is in disarray, nobody is truly united, and the government is in danger of shutting down yet again. Neither Jim Jordan nor Hakeem Jeffries seem like wise choices for the role of speaker, and I honestly have no clue how they’re going to resolve this mess. Personally, I would like it if Jordan were the speaker instead of Jeffries, but that’s more because I don’t like the Democrats. Even though I don’t think the GOP is a great party, I do think that they represent my values better than the Democrats do, and so I hope that they come out on top in the end. However, I do have to wonder whether or not it will really matter in the end. America is teetering on the edge, and I don’t think it will survive the fall if it does come to pass. Maybe that’s for the best.

Are we on the verge of World War III?

I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve either been asked this or heard people ask each other this over the last decade. Every year, it seems like some wild event happens, whether it be the killing of a top Iranian general or nuclear tests from the crazy Kims in North Korea, and the resulting discourse is almost always the same: is this the big one? Is this the modern day Franz Ferdinand? I’ll be honest, I was on my toes after Trump had Soleimani killed. I thought Iran was going to start slinging missiles at them, but the potential for that was thankfully averted by fast talking and the pandemic that came shortly afterwards.

However, the world is much different now. Things aren’t the same anymore. Some change has been very good, while a lot of it has, quite frankly, been terrible. New wars have sprung up, there’s rumors all the time about a potential invasion of Taiwan, and now that Iran has openly warned Israel and the US that their “time is up”, I think there’s finally some valid concern to be had. It doesn’t help that the US is moving thousands of troops and much of their highly advanced ships near Israel in order to support them.

Think about it for a moment. Iran, who openly supports Hamas and anything against Israel, now likely has nuclear capability, and probably even a few bombs of their own. They’re ready to lock teeth with Israel with a full-on assault, and even though they may not necessarily be wanting to get involved, Russia will likely support Iran due to their relationship with them. Iran has provided important missile and UAV supplies and training support to the Russian military in its war against Ukraine, and they’d likely feel compelled to repay them in some manner.

If war is officially declared, the outcome, especially in the Middle East, will be nothing short of catastrophic. Millions will die, localized nuclear weapons will probably be used to some extent, and the world will be plunged into a state of fear that hasn’t been seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. While I personally don’t think I would be in any immediate danger where I live, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned at all. When war breaks out, all bets are off.

To end off, I’ll say that even though my sense of idealism wishes that these things weren’t happening, there simply isn’t much I can do about it. When I see a problem, especially if it’s one I know I can’t solve, it bugs me. I pray about these situations every day, wishing for it to finally make sense. But, like I said at the beginning, there are some things which simply don’t make sense. Banging our heads against the wall isn’t going to solve these problems. Only God will. In the meantime, if these issues are stressing us out, and we know we can’t do anything about them… what then?

My advice is to take a step back, admit your lack of power, and go on with your day. If you can’t do anything about it, then why fight it? Let things fall where they should, and just keep trying to live your life.

Let God figure it out. He will.