Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward - Trying to live a life out of the comfort zone

For the last few days I have read in despair the news coming from the Middle East. They cause me a great deal of pain and sadness. After so many years of failed efforts, how can we finally find the way towards Peace?

As Amos Oz wrote in this article that was almost a prophecy, I am convinced that in this conflict there is no way that Peace may come from War. That is why I find it so hard to stomach this Israeli attack. At the same time, I see very clearly that every time there was a truce to try to find a way towards Peace it was Israel that cooperated and the different Palestinian factions that boycotted, starting with the renowned Triple Negative of 1967 (No to Peace, No to Recognition of Israel, and No to Negotiation).

I also oppose this war because I am convinced that, as Martín Varsavsky explains in this post, this war does not serve the long term interest of Israelis to stop the missile rain and the suicide bombings. On the contrary, it gives more fuel to the perverse logic of hate that Islamic extremists need.

This conflict is very complex and cannot be thought as having “villains” and “victims”. And above all, it cannot be analyzed without putting ourselves in the place of those who suffer the pain. For that reason, I feel particularly bad to see the different demonstrations here in Argentina (especially from the left) that, in my opinion in a totally ignorant and dogmatic way, condemn unilaterally the Israeli attack, turning ones into complete villains and others into pure victims.

What is the FUBA (Federation of the University of Buenos Aires) taking part in a demonstration like this, in which there seems to be no reflection, no search for truth before acting? And what can we say of the attitudes and speeches of Luis D’Elia y and the actions of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez?

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In the international corruption rankings, Argentina is very bad located. According to Transparency International we are in the 109th place, worse than the prior year, and have a score of 2,9/10. As a reference, we can compare this situation with that of our nearest neighbors, Uruguay and Chile, who share the 29^th place and have a score of 6,9. How can we understand why are we such a corrupt country?

In my opinion, the answer is simple: you get from people what you recognize and reward, not what you condemn and punish.

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Yesterday night a television channel aired a British documentary called “Right to Die: The Suicide Tourist” showing the process by which Craig Ewert, a U.S. university professor who suffered an incurable degenerative disease, took his own life at the Swiss clinic Dignitas, where he practiced euthanasia .

This generated a wide range of reactions, most of them against euthanasia and contrary to the broadcast of the show itself.

I find it hard to believe that in the 21st century most people oppose to something as basic as the right of every person to decide how and when to die.

In this world where the right to a dignified life is denied to millions of people suffering from hunger and poverty, and millions of victims die from preventable diseases, there are also those who turn the “right to live” into a “duty to be alive”, as long as possible at any price, thereby denying the dignity both in life and in death.

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