Why the War in Syria is Suddenly a Matter of Personal Concern to Me

I’ve been following the development of the internal war in Syria ever since it erupted three years ago. Not that I really care because as far as I’m concerned, Middle East has been in wars for as long as I can remember. There’ve been too many wars in that part of the world that whatever is happening there doesn’t surprise me anymore.

I do feel sorry for the people though although many of the problems come from the people themselves. Call it a revolt, or a revolution, or whatever but in the end there seem to be more bad than good that come out of it at least in the years that followed. The prices paid by the people for striving for changes are very high – even at the cost of their own lives.

I really thought that the war in Syria wouldn’t really affect my life in anyway until recently when there’ve been an allegation that the regime is using chemical weapons to strike on its opponents. US is using that as a reason to initiate a strike on Syria since the use of Chemical Weapons has been banned through The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) (which, ironically, Syria has yet to sign on).

Syria on its part has vowed to retaliate should the US intervene in their internal affair. That retaliation includes a strike on Israel – US closest ally in the Middle East.  Now, that is where my concerns are coming in.

I’m all set to go to the Holy Land next month – a trip that I have been waiting to do my whole life. I wanted to go there with my mom at least when she is still alive. Being a Catholic devotee for as long as I can remember, nothing can be more precious a gift than taking her to where it all began – the birthplace of Jesus and the place where most of the things that are written on the bible took place some 2000 years ago.

I have decided to do it this year. This year seemed to be just the right year. I have even paid for the trip. But seems like things are not looking good in that region. Even the people of Israel are on high alert. They have even prepared themselves with masks (I heard they queued up to 12 hours to get one) just in case the Syria goes all out in retaliating against the US and its allies including the use of chemical weapons.

The sentiment among the Israelis is that, if the Syrian government is willing to use chemical weapons against its own people, and then they don’t see why it wouldn’t use them against the people of other nations – moreover over Israel which has long been an enemy.

I love my mom with all my heart and that trip is very personal to me. I have prayed hard for it to materialize and just when it is very likely to happen soon, the things in Syria begin to take its worse turn.

May be I should pray harder.