Today, even as dozens of the last of summer's flowers from our gardens adorn our table, we rejoice with Israel in the release of twenty Israeli hostages.
Crystal and I, after doing our morning work including chopping dozens of peppers grown in our garden to freeze and filling the dehydrator with sliced apples, watched some of the news videos of the cheering in the streets of Tel Aviv, the emotional reunions of families with released hostages, and part of Trump's speech at the Knesset--including the sudden interruption that was speedily quelled by the escorting out of the protestor.
And Trump, whose face screwed into a most interesting look, leaving me wondering what on earth he was going to say, responded after the incident simply with, "Well, that was efficient!"
I loved how he praised the responders to the incident instead of saying something about himself, and how he also at the beginning of the speech gave credit to others involved in brokering the peace deal.
I am not holding my breath about whether Hamas will keep any of the rest of their part of the deal. I don't trust a one of them. If I were Trump, I wouldn't trust them a bit.
Yet at the same time, Trump has accomplished a lot by simply saying what he means, and meaning what he says.
He actually means business the way parents are supposed to do when telling their child what to do or not.
Those who mean business and talk straight can accomplish a lot.
That includes parents.
It includes politicians.
It includes all of us.
As Theodore Roosevelt said, "Speak softly, but carry a big stick."
This phrase, according to google, became synonymous with a foreign policy approach known as "big stick diplomacy," emphasizing negotiation backed by military strength.
Trump, it seems to me, is using the type of policy, and it is working.
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