Is there anything greater in this world than the smile and laughter of a child? Is there anything worse in this world than a child's cry of pain, fear, and suffering?

A person is not a person if he or she can watch the terrible images of children in Lebanon and Israel screaming in pain, frightened, wondering where their parents, their safety net, are. Cut up and bloodied, with bandaged arms legs and every other part of their body, the only humanistic reaction is to scream, "STOP IT ALREADY!"

But, it doesn't stop. It never has in the annals of history, and it never will as long as we live in a world where dominance, money, power, and careless endangerment outweigh compromise, negotiation, peace, and understanding. We live in a world of good and evil, and we all have the intelligence and the capability of choosing which way to live. Evil seems to be winning. From Iraq to Lebanon to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Syria, and the forgotten people of Africa, man's inability to feel for those in need and look at things from a different perspective has brought an uncivility to the world today. It doesn't have to be this way!

The blame game is a game no one can win. It's no one country's fault in the middle east. It's every country's fault, even those not engaged. It's useless to say what we each should do. Instead, the world must collectively come to a decision about what must do. And do it immediately!

Iraq is not to blame in the Iraqi-American war. America, as we all know, invaded the country because of George W. Bush's lie about WMDs. Then, the reason was to get rid of the despot, Saddam Hussein, and free the people of Iraq. America haphazardly bombed the entire country, killing well over 100,000 innocent civilians, with millions more displaced, not to mention the tens of thousands injured and maimed forever. We didn't leave after Saddam was captured. We stayed instead to bring democracy to the region. Why? Iraq didn't ask for democracy. We are imposing it upon them, as more and more innocent civilians and more and more Americans are being killed. It makes no sense. Let them decide what type of government they want and let them create it. Instead, the children are suffering. What a travesty!

Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel dealt with it by bombing Lebanon mercilessly. Yes, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and most of the world won't deal with terrorists. They kidnapped those two Israeli soldiers because Israel is detaining 9,000 political revolutionaries, without proof that they are enemy combatants or terrorists. Looking at it from a different perspective, - one country's revolutionary is another country's freedom fighter. It's a no-win situation. Just a political tug-of-war in which the side that kills the most people and destroys the most land wins. Lebanon can't rid their country of Hezbollah because Hezbollah is more powerful military-wise and they are now a part of their government, voted in by the people.

So, Israel, instead of using their and their allies' diplomacy and power of persuasion, have had it once and for all and they began bombing Lebanon indiscriminately. Hezbollah fought back in retaliation, and on and on it goes, and on and on goes the blame game. An eye for an eye, the Bible's worst phrase. What we have are adults acting like children, with the real children being the losers in this fight. How many more children and innocent people are going to die before the world comes in and forces Israel and Hezbollah to put down their weapons. Isn't the world collectively stronger than these two? Then why is the world sitting on the sidelines when they should be over there making them STOP?

We were all taught that it is always better to talk than to fight. How come no one is talking, just dying? Might does not make right! How come no one has come up with a solution, a creative idea on how to permanently establish a Palestinian homeland. In 1948, Israel became a recognized state. It is about time we did the same for the Palestinian people. There is just no other way to stop this non-stop massacre, especially the killing of their children.

The fathers in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran must think of their children, and then and only then will cool heads prevail and terrorism will stop. Remember - the children shall lead them. Without their children, there is no future for the middle east.