For those who are not parents, then I am sure you have seen it. For those who are, than I can guarantee you have experienced it. We have all been there walking down the long supermarket aisles followed by the shrieking cries of an upset toddler, yup I mean that toddler, the one you’re thinking about right now.
But imagine will you, for just a minute, that this 
shrieking toddler is in fact your shrieking toddler. It is yours, because five years ago you made a mistake by not using the appropriate amount of protection in a moment where you were incapacitated from your senses, because, your senses were too focused somewhere else. And so you have to deal with the consequences that have followed you into the future, even into the supermarket.
This child, the one you never planned for is the consequence. It is dependant on you for its every need for food, water, sanitation, permission to play with its friends, you name it, this child needs you for it, even for survival. Yet, for some reason, this child is never happy. It is consistently trying to grab things it wants off the supermarket shelves, and when you turn around and say no, because quite bluntly you can’t afford to say yes, the said object comes flying towards your face, almost always hitting you square in the nose. And the bystanders, as there almost always are, turn and look at you, with those glances to say “what an awful parent, why doesn’t he/she just puck up and pay the price.”
Now you don’t pay the price, because you can’t afford to. And now, though you don’t mean to, you just naturally start resenting this child, proven by your actions. Because, when you can afford to spend the money on the child you created, you don’t, and instead leave it to make do with what it has.
Now, you are in this supermarket, and this is a particularly bad day. You are frustrated at all the previous visits, and guess what, the kid grabs something off the shelf, with a price tag that you are definitely not prepared to pay. But this time, something different happens. The bystanders, that often ignored the private, but very public fight of wills between you and your kid for some reason decide to get involved. They are fed up with the cries the child is making. They drag you through the supermarket, child in toe, towards the checkout. They take, a prepared weapon out of their pocket and force you to pay the cost of this item, believing that this transaction will end all of the problems, because, the child will now have no reason to cry.
The bystanders believe that they are helping you to make a necessary sacrifice, but, it is in fact more like an execution. They have just foolishly bankrupted you. And now, you have no money to feed yourself, or the child you brought into the world, because you have just been forced to pay a price you could not afford to the detriment of both parent and child, because the child still needs you. After all, its only playing in an adjacent room of your home.
You are understandably upset. You now look upon the bystanders as tyrants because they have just killed everything you had going, and now, the relationship with your child is worse than ever because the child has all of your wealth, poured into a simple object. And although, your child’s success is tied to yours, the bystanders won’t ever let you touch that special item, nestled in your child’s arms.
In fact, the sacrifice that you made, wasn’t a sacrifice at all, because it was a payment given unwillingly. At best it can be defined as a dramatic and unreasonable concession faced with overwhelming odds.
I’m sure you will agree with me, that such a forced transaction upon anyone is unfair, it is illegal, and it abandons all standards set aside by out international community. Furthermore as a Christian, it cheapens the very notion of sacrifice. Sacrifice, is shown in the death of Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself on the cross willingly and unreasonably for everyone. That is the definition of sacrifice, whereas, a forced unwilling payment is to our parent, more akin to an ecconomic execution.
Sadly, though, this unwilling transaction is in fact seen as acceptable in the eyes of most of the international community. Many believe that Israel should be forced into giving away land, which it quite simply can’t afford to do. And to achieve this, many nations place a weapon at Israel’s head calling for them to pay the unwilling and in their eyes reasonable price. Naturally, as we all know, Israel does not believe this price to be anything that approaches reasonable.
As a Christian however, I believe that sacrifice is always a reasonable option. I believe that to sacrifice is in fact to gain. To give what will be the detriment to me, is not a loss, but instead it is an eternal prize. I look to Jesus Christ when I think of this situation, when I think of the Parent and child; Israel and Gaza, as well as the witnessing international community. And I wonder, if people employed biblical humility, and simply loved people as themselves as Christ commanded would there be screaming in the supermarket. Or would both sides be striving to make real sacrifices. Noble sacrifices, instead of lasting, damaging and meaningless concessions that no one wanted to pay.
