Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Ryan McCormick, M.D.'s avatar

This is a very helpful article.

Social media is a net negative for most of us. I don’t use it more than once in a blue moon, and I’m happier and less traumatized for that. Substack doesn’t count in my opinion. This is a salon of ideas.

And regardless of political affiliation, anyone giving a fair assessment to the American approach to this terrorism in Israel, and the necessary Israeli response (hopefully as surgical as possible), should give Biden credit. His old age is a major asset here, as is his Senate Foreign Relations committee experience, Vice presidential experience, and commitment to decency and decorum after events that aim to stoke horror. He takes his kids to a Holocaust site as a rite of passage in their education, and he “gets” the lessons of the past 80 years. I find comfort in steady, level-headed leadership from another era, the kind that is not formulated by the reactionary and fearful amygdala.

Cope with the cortex.

Expand full comment
Bob Monsour's avatar

Thank you for this. I read the piece and then decided to comment, but when I saw some of the discussion here, I decided against it and went and deleted the email. I then decided to come back and comment anyway.

Your piece is very timely as I have been struggling emotionally with far too much access and diving into news sources about the ongoing conflict. I am a second generation American of Lebanese and Palestinian descent. I have never traveled to that part of the world. I am an American first and foremost and I love this country. Yet, it is simply unavoidable to have an emotional connection with the homeland of my ancestors. And watching what has taken place and continues to unfold pains me greatly. I will not attempt to discuss my views about the conflict, but I do need to step away a bit from the quantity of what I have been consuming, both on social media and television. I want to keep abreast of developments as the crisis is real, and it is serious. Yet at the same time, I have to maintain a sense of what I can control and the things I can control are things like being here for my family, talking with friends about how I'm feeling about what is happening, and taking care of my own health.

I wish the best for all of you here, and I'll just end here.

Expand full comment
30 more comments...

No posts