Former student “M” writes:

My dad is Palestinian and my mom is Syrian and the more I learn about US foreign policy, the more upset and disillusioned I become with the government. It’s strange to think that I exist because of American imperialism and that I am a part of the system that had driven my parents away from their homelands. It makes me feel like, at any moment, my own government might do me harm and it would be okay because they’d label me as a threat to society, especially with the current administration.

I’d like to hear your thoughts as to whether we can change how we conduct foreign policy and why we choose to continue these policies. I guess I wish I could listen to one of your lectures again. You should do YouTube.

…

First, thank you for your kind words, and I apologize for taking so long to answer. I’ve spent the last two months consulting with my advisors, editors, sponsors, and lawyers, and we think we have a draft response. Here goes:

It has been a while. Hopefully, you remember me.

I do. 

I was wondering if you had written anything about the Israel-Palestine conflict in one of your blogs.

Not really. A quick search for “Palestine” yields two results, both for passing references.

We covered a lot of topics during my time in your class, but I don’t remember whether we covered it in-depth or not. It definitely would have been one of the classes I would be awake for haha.

We did not, and suuure you would have been awake. Just like the grads who insist they should have been taught “valuable life skills” would have definitely paid attention to those lessons.

My dad is Palestinian and my mom is Syrian and the more I learn about US foreign policy, the more upset and disillusioned I become with the government. It’s strange to think that I exist because of American imperialism and that I am a part of the system that had driven my parents away from their homelands.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of your family history, but I would neither blame nor credit American imperialism for your existence. Allow that possibility to remain “strange to think about,” same as all the rest of history that led up to your existence. You’ll drive yourself nuts otherwise. You exist because two people– you see, when a man and a woman– ask your parents.

Also, disillusionment with the government is a perfectly normal and healthy response to reality.

It makes me feel like, at any moment, my own government might do me harm and it would be okay because they’d label me as a threat to society, especially with the current administration.

I won’t say you have absolutely no reason to believe this, but you have way less reason to believe this than you think.

If you aren’t trespassing, illegally occupying buildings, breaking windows, burning things, throwing punches, etc., and you’re not planning to do so, and you’re not inciting others to do so, then your government probably won’t come after you.

If you express an opinion without doing anything else illegal, then your government probably won’t come after you.

Those “probablies” aren’t going to make anyone feel better, but 99.99% isn’t 100%, so I can’t say “definitely.”

The legions of lawyers and constitutional scholars who read this blog religiously are salivating at my naivete– which is fair. After all, how many times in American history were people arrested for literal mere non-violent expression?

And yet, this isn’t 1968. Or 1917. Or 1890. Or… you get the idea.

Expression is generally more protected today than before. So is demographic identity, for that matter. If it doesn’t feel that way, then read more history. It might not make you feel better about now, but it’ll make you feel worse about way back when, and hopefully see the progress.

Or, again, maybe I’m naive.

I’d like to hear your thoughts as to whether we can change how we conduct foreign policy and why we choose to continue these policies.

We can change how we conduct foreign policy, we do it all the time, and we do it every 4 to 8 years. If we didn’t, then candidates for office would almost never talk about foreign policy during campaigns, and foreign individuals, companies, and governments wouldn’t try to influence our elections one way or another.

How can we change them? Vote. Run for office. Speak. Write. March. I’m not making suggestions or hoping to inspire any actual action here, I’m just listing what I think are obvious answers. Just remember this, even if you ignore the rest of my blather:

A lot of your political opponents want you to feel powerless so you’ll give up hope and quit.

But a lot of your political comrades also want you to feel powerless so you’ll become desperate and easier to manipulate.

I guess I wish I could listen to one of your lectures again.

Thanks! I appreciate the sentiment.

You should do YouTube.

That sounds like work, so… no.

Today would have been my grandmother’s 115th birthday, so it’s time for this year’s edition of her digital birthday card. Here she is, waving from the back of a train in 1933:

Happy birthday!

Today would have been Grampa’s 125th birthday, so here’s this year’s edition of the digital birthday card. Here he is with his bride:

I don’t know for sure where this was taken, but I’m going to guess it’s their back yard in Elmhurst. Based on the appearances of my aunts in other photographs from this set, I’m pretty certain this was the mid-to-late 1940s. Just a bit after the war. I’ll get corrected soon enough if I’m off.

I’m a few years older now than Grampa was in this photo, and that-plus-ten-years older than Gram. And yet I feel I could live into the next century, as planned, and never be as grown up as them, or anyone else from those times.

Happy birthday!