Troy University → Troy Campus → Academics → College of Arts & Sciences → Chemistry → King → The Tolerance Zone

So this is Christmas,

And what have you done?

Another year over,

A new one just begun.

--John Lennon and Yoko Ono

The Tolerance Zone

Here’s a quote from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn (published in 1884):

Huck says, " We blowed out a cylinder-head."

Aunt Sally says, "Good gracious! Anybody hurt?"

Huck says, "No'm. Killed a nigger."

Aunt Sally says, "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.”

During the last few days, about 300 people have been killed as Israeli planes bomb sites in Gaza. The attitude of the Israeli people seems to be, “No one was hurt; 300 Palestinians were killed.” The Israelis and Arabs, like African-Americans and Whites of a century ago, have little respect for each other. In America, the most important thing we did to increase mutual respect was to integrate the public schools. When kids grow up together, they tend to see each other as people, no matter what group they belong to.

Perhaps integration of schools can also work in the middle-East. Imagine turning Israel’s “occupied territories” into a “tolerance zone”. Equal numbers of Arabs and Israelis would be allowed to live there, but their kids would be required to attend the same schools. What a project! Which language would they be taught in? Perhaps English, since it is the international language. English-speaking teachers around the world would enthusiastically volunteer for the opportunity to teach kids not just basic skills, but also to respect each other.

What would be done about suicide bombers? The people would have to work together to come up with a solution. Perhaps the border would need to be guarded for years. I suspect other countries would cheerfully volunteer troops to protect the tolerance zone.

If kids are raised together, what would happen if a Jew and a Muslim wanted to get married? Ha! Now you are thinking of the Jew and the Muslim as if they are people. Progress!

Christopher King

December 29, 2008

Opinions expressed here are my own and not those of Troy Univesity