Why am I so passionate about the conflict(s) in the Middle East? When the war raged in the Balkans it bored me at the time for I was confused and did not understand. On the other hand, the World Trade Centre bombings caught my attention whilst the boat and train disasters in India and Bangladesh were just headlines in the newspaper.

I have come to the realisation that I am connected with the conflicts that interest me. For instance, one of the most important people in my life lives in Jerusalem and experiences the discrimination whilst seeing at first hand the quiet ethnic cleansing being carried out by the state of Israel, everyday. It is not just about being married to a Palestinian, it is all that she has to suffer as a consequence of their love.

So what about the World Trade Centre? A friend of the family was at the World Trade Center subway station that morning of September 11, 2001 and I know several people who worked on Wall Street at the time. They all survived. However, one didn’t, which I just learned the other day during my IB reunion. David Tengelin, “the only Swede”, was two years above me at IB. I didn’t know him per se but I knew a few of his class mates. It’s strange how incidences like these can come back and haunt you years later and I wasn’t even there to experience any of it.

So what am I really on about? Well, I found a blog by Josef who I can’t say I know, but rather know of. We’re both from Fiskebäck, from the same church and I believe we have mutual friends. He too seems to be interested in theology slash politics slash philosophy slash whatever life throws at you (salt water?) and I like the quote:

“All understanding of reality involves a commitment, a venture of faith. No belief system can be faulted by the fact that it rests on unproved assumptions; what can and must be faulted is the blindness of its proponents to the fact that this is so.” – Lesslie Newbigin