As we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah -- defamed, demonized and dehumanized, as prologue or justification for genocide -- we have to understand that the mass murder of six million Jews, and millions of non-Jews, is not a matter of abstract statistics. For unto each person there is a name, an identity; each person is a universe. As our sages tell us, "whoever saves a single life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire universe." Conversely, whoever has killed a person, it is as if they have killed an entire universe. Indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself.

Pragmatically, there is no need for outside intervention when it comes to Syria. Yes, a lot of people are being killed, but perhaps more would be killed if outside forces were used to despose Assad. And unlike conventional war, a revolution is a personal thing for those involved. When outsiders participate, the dynamics change. And revolutions never turn out the way those who lead them expect, or even intend.

Many people who are affected by war don't make it into the history books. One of them walked into my home the other day to install California shutters. He was born in 1960, the same year as I was. His name is Thic and he remembers well the corpses piled up outside his home after America changed her policy and pulled out her troops. Our world is populated by Thics.

After decades of war, the transition to peace in the world's newest country was expected to be rocky. But in some areas, it's been downright apocalyptic.

Women's crimes are seen as something that falls beyond the 'normal' scope of violence. Male criminals in the Second World War and Rwanda were painted as brutal, thuggish. The female criminals were brutal too, but also sexually-perverted, diabolic, and often mad.