There is no doubt in my mind that the greatest reward of being retired is the ability to spend one’s time reading and following both the local news and events and the world’s events as well. Sources include the Print Media, T.V. and the modern ‘electronic’ choices and traditional ‘face to face’ conversations. These provide a wealth of information that is often in conflict with each other.

The existence of fake news, mis-information and the like make finding the ‘truth’ a serious challenge that one must navigate; one has to determine what to believe.

I choose to frequent the Public Library and sort thru the offerings of the newspaper section, being an old school type. It was there that I came across a piece in The New York Time Magazine of 11/26/23 that dealt with the current conflict of the Israeli and Palestine peoples in an enjoyable format.

In an effort to be fair, a panel of scholars and experts was assembled and they had a ‘conversation’ with “to help us understand the history of Oslo” as their goal. Three Israelis, three Palestinians and one American.

If you agree that ”’those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” then you can see how their approaching this subject by examining the Oslo Accords and prior events can lead to valid conclusions about today…simply, one cannot separate today from yesterday.

Reading this ‘conversation’ is like sitting there while they talk. Some of the panelists actually took part in the events discussed and all had great credentials. The ‘take-away’ from the conversation is that one can understand the lead-up events that resulted in the horrors of Oct.7 and the events that followed and are still happening.

I, for one, encourage those of you retired or not to find the time to seek out this conversation if the current situation has caused you to ask yourself these questions: WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY?

Richard Phillips

New Iberia