New Horizons by Max Roy

           Where In The World Are We? Today started out foggy where we live. By the time we organized ourselves to go out walking, our world was bathed in bright sunshine. We completed our chores and brought our bodies, weary from the effort, back home for a late lunch. The day seemed disordered because I had given up my regular exercise session to be home for a promised phone call we considered very important. No phone call! Our lives have already been disordered for the last two months consequent on the barbaric attack by Hamas on our people in Israel. We wake in the night to stare out at the dark thinking on that. Our mental disarray has been compounded by the evidence, at home here in Canada and the U.S., indeed, around the world, that there are many who celebrate Hamas, celebrate these horrors. From the halls of the U.S. Congress, at some of the Universities of greatest repute in the world, to the crowds in major cities, we hear shouts of acclaim and approval for murder and ma

                    The Heroes We Do Be When did you first see them, Images behind your eyes? Waves of anger surging, Black hatred realized. Scenes of mothers weeping The helpless father’s sighs. The stricken child dies. For nothing, words and sympathy, To stifle painful cries. Listen to the uproar, To all the vicious lies! Who will come to rescue? Who will play the role? Who will find the magic, Who will pay the toll? And then you’re forced to realize, Only then you come to see, If you want to find some answers Sole from you they’ll come to be. Here you dream your secret visions, Stumble on your secret missions, Blindly trace internal coding, Motives that your brain is loading, Fates and actions have been cast, Indelibly written in your past. The scene your mind, it thus displays, Whatever path you tread or try, For you a hero’s role portrays Answers, when the world’s awry.

                     Reaching For Justice We dimly remember the quiet times of our days As we relearn the calculus of hate, The fires of blind anger, Burn in us As we pursue, hunger, for vengeance, We thirst for the blood of the guilty and the innocent, The tortures of our own innocents searing our minds. We are heedless of the wailing of our enemies,   Happy in their asserted victimhood, Glorying in new-found cudgels To assault our very existence. We weary of admonitions from friends with good intentions As we seek to slake our hunger for justice. Can cooler heads prevail As we strike the evil guilty With care and grim determination And an appreciation of our burgeoning strengths? We strive to achieve just solutions To our satisfaction, Remembering the untold numbers Of our precious sacrifices On the perilous path to our survival. We must prevail! MR

       How Do I Feel About Gaza? We all live in the world where horrendous events can occur. At the same time for some it may be peaceful, a gentle sun warming the skin, a breeze rustling the hair. What about the other places?   I am in a rage, boiling with anger. Some may be weary of my anger? Why should you, they, care about my anger? The sun mat may still shining around you. You have may things to do, people are waiting. Someone has to make dinner. Someone has to go to class. Someone has to go to work. You may be watching a program, reading a book! You don’t know those people you may have heard about whose throats were cut, or know of the babies whose heads were chopped off, or have seen those women who were raped and paraded around, those old people burned alive in their homes and the youngsters at the songfest fusilladed as they ran. Are those hundreds of hostages taken still alive. How many are dead? The IDF checked the DNA of 200 bodies found in the main Gaza hospital an

         REVIVING THE TRUTH! Palestinians   And Their “Rights” Let’s get real and shake off all the propaganda that we hear. There may be many people who don’t want to hear about this stuff, but sympathizers are spinning fairy tales. We have seen some of that in Gaza recently. The Arab street holds to those tales with rabid enthusiasm. Their agents in the media broadcast those lies. Those lies cost many lives on both sides. Someone must call them to account. The struggle of the State of Israel to survive and prosper has been evident for the past seventy-five plus years. Some Palestinians claim they antedate Jewish presence in the territory. What is the truth? We hear talk of the current Palestinians having ancient roots, trying to rewrite history.   It is historical fact that Jesus, a Jew, lived and preached in ancient Judea and the Galilee during Roman times in a country inhabited by Jews. In spite of this, many Arabs deny Israel’s historic tie to the land. They even cla

                Sunshine In The Early Afternoon What a beautiful day I have been experiencing today. It is the kind of day we wish upon all the people we care for. It was in the early afternoon of my current day. It started off with a sprinkle, and lively winds. But times are more tranquil now with the sun glimmering through the leaves holding on tenaciously in the lively breeze. We thought we should indeed go out for a shpatzir, a walk down to English Bay, and along the Sea Wall,, one of our favorite outings in Vancouver. We joined the throng of walkers stretching their legs, watching the tide still coming in to wash at the foot of the Sea Wall. The air was crisp and calm. The freighters from far-away places lined the harbor area, near and far, giving the prospect a taste of the exotic. Where had those vessels come from with their goods, now empty and waiting to dash off with the loads waiting for them on the quayside? The trees lining the walkway, now lacking their greenery, bare

                   “ A Clash of Civilizations “ We are living through momentous times for some of us. Many of us in Canada may not be noticing it, though, seeing that our lives are undisturbed. The North American world remains essentially pacific, South America is more volatile, Europe facing a war of aggression from Russia, Asia concerned with China flexing its muscles. The days when American power assured the world that anybody stepping out of line would be cowed into submission is over. The U.S. has shown its feet of clay, with political division having weakened its spine. Smaller nations are casting about for alliances they can count on in a more dangerous world. Israel, distracted by internal division, has suddenly found itself under attack. Some countries that were giving some thought to aligning themselves with Israel, perhaps partly because of its military prowess, have faced a rude awakening. Others with longstanding agendas of antagonism have been given new hope by the ea