To the Editor,
I recently cherished time with a good friend who lives in Palestine, where I once lived years ago. My friend spoke of the struggles and dangers of daily life due to the illegal Israeli military occupation of his land. Despite his life-long struggle to be recognized by the world as a human who deserves peace like you and me, he still has light and joy in his eyes. His freedom of movement is controlled, he spends his days in his olive grove with Israeli drones flying overhead, but he is thankful for his community. Recently, publisher Jason Sethre wrote about the inevitability of data centers, that we depend on them for our modern conveniences of life. I, for one, did not ask for these advancements. I have lived in parts of the world where these advancements are a dream. Where, in fact, the advancements of drones are used against human civilizations to drop bombs and fire missiles at civilians. Despite this, there is utter and true happiness because we humans have family and community, not because we have self-driving cars and drones to deliver our packages. Let’s slow down, appreciate what we do have, cherish each other, and say “no” to the things that we are told we need in order to experience happiness. Let’s work for peace for our neighbors, starting with ourselves, finding what truly brings us happiness, not what brings us closer to our own demise. Let’s say “yes” to humanity and “no” to data centers.
Michael Himlie
Harmony, Minn.
Leave a Reply