My mom and dad came through on the weekend. We had a good visit. I was wondering how Gaza would come up. My mother read my blog a little during my trip to Gaza earlier this month. It troubled her but she doesn't have the information to counter it. She defers to people who know more than she does about the Situation. Still, it puts us in a funny position because she's not deferring to my knowledge, but to pro-Israel friends.
We had ravioli on Saturday night. After dinner, my wife got down a box of Trader Joe's cinnamon grahams off the fridge. She said, "These are the best cookies I've ever tasted."
My mother said, "Oh I like Trader Joe's. I just found out, They're one of the few companies not to bend to the pressure to boycott Israeli goods."
I said, "Oh boy. That's the last time we shop at Trader Joe's." And smiled at my mother.
"I didn't send you that email," she said.
"No, you were wise not to," I said.
Later I was pleased by the exchange. My mother and I know where the other stands, and we're not going to waste good emotion arguing about it. I can joke about it. I think this is an effect of visiting Gaza: I feel so secure in my view of the situation–it's racist persecution–that no one is going to tell me otherwise. While I'm angry about this, I feel a sense of calm power about it too.
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