We're living in extreme times, yet again. Israel, our only ally in the Middle East, is demonstrating that the best, and sometimes only, defense is a strong offense. And as the liberal media has always done, it has taken Israel to task for the very thought of defending itself.
This is not unlike the response school administrators traditionally give to bullying incidents. The bully rarely, if ever, reveives consequences for their actions, but if a bullying victim retaliates, they are condemned, they are disarmed, they are showered with hearts and flowers and rainbows and told to be good little angels while the bully laughs as their enablement continues.
Applying this way of thinking to a sovereign nation makes no sense to me. As even Secretary Kerry stated today, no country should be expected to just sit there when it is attacked.
My thought tells me that the world is trying to use Israel's status against it. Israel is also known as the Holy Land, since it is home to most of the events in the Bible. It appears that this designation leads to the assumption that Israel must be so charitable and generous as to turn the other cheek whenever threatened. In a way, they are being mocked for being the Holy Land, and for not being like every other country.
We live in a world where people criticize much more quickly than they compliment. It would be a much nicer world if the opposite were true, but it isn't.
The only way to deal with this fact, other than preparing ourselves with our own snappy comebacks, is to truly love ourselves. To know that our strengths are what put us on the map, and not what leave us exposed. To know that we must never apologize for who we are. To know that nobody's opinion of us is more important than that of the one person you see in the mirror.
If Israel was so touchy, apologetic, and dependent on the world's approval that it stopped its defenses, it would have been conquered and renamed a long time ago. If every bullying victim obeyed the directives of school administrators, and allowed their bullies to have their way with them, the suicide rate and the mental hospital occupancy would both skyrocket. If we all did away with our goals, dreams, and identity because someone else just has to run their mouths, there would be no point to life itself.
Beta males are sometimes too willing to appease critics and apologize for being themselves. Someone recently pointed out to me that the notion of not being ruled by criticism, and refusing to apologize for oneself, is the way of the alpha male, and not the beta male. This may be true, but I believe that if betas become self-actualized, and make themselves bold and bulletproof, this changes. I encourage beta males to look to Israel's example. Nobody wants them to defend themselves, because they are expected to be more righteous than other countries, but they defend themselves no matter what. Nobody wants beta males to be assertive, brave, or courageous because we are expected to be more compassionate and sensitive than other men. By the same token, we can make this compassion and sensitivity our strengths by choosing to love ourselves more than we can hate anyone. When we believe in ourselves that much, and are willing to protect ourselves the way Israel protects its citizens, we win. And we win by a landslide.
By the same token, I hope Israel wins this conflict by a landslide. I also hope the moderate Palestinians that do not view Hamas as martyrs or heroes have the courage to speak out and are safe from harm. I also hope that those of us who crumble at criticism and suffer from exposure are able to set up out very own Iron Domes and shoot thoss rockets out of the sky.
I EXIST. I MATTER. I BELONG. I DESERVE.
I AM BOLD. I AM BULLETPROOF. I AM BETA.
PS - Facebook offers all of us our very own Iron Dome mechanisms. I've had to use a few of them, and I encourage you to do the same.
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