By Ruthy Lachman Paul
NORCROSS, Ga. | The television adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude was worth the wait.
The new series is based on the literary masterpiece by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. It has been translated into more than 46 languages and sold over 50 million copies. The new adaptation is receiving rave reviews.
The fictional Macondo, a figment of Marquez’s imagination, was born from death. The imaginative José Arcadio, an entrepreneur and explorer at heart, killed a man. Haunted by the spirit of the dead, fueled by visions, and accompanied by Úrsula, his practical and energetic wife, he fled his home, dragging with him other people who became the founding generation of the town.
The eight episodes of the first season of the series (a second season of eight episodes is expected to air in 2026) have already earned nicknames such as “Netflix’s biggest series in recent years,” and some even said: “Even Marx himself would have been happy with this series.” I have no intention of bursting the big balloon that hovers over the town of Macondo, which seeks to create an entire world, touches on relationships between spouses, families and neighbors, and later expands to include wars over faith and politics.
So, regardless of the series or the book, it is clear to me who benefits the most from wars in the world. As someone who has lived in war most of my life (in Israel), let me take this opportunity to open your eyes. I have been in the USA now for 20 years.
The main beneficiary is the U.S., but not the only one. In war games those who think they have the power call themselves men. I call them a bunch of children who continue to play in the four-year-old sandbox. Yes, that’s where they are stuck without creative thought.
My aspiration is that one day the success of generating more financial profit from the deeds of peace—not war—will come. We will achieve peace in the world. Until then we will live in a vicious circle that hurts our souls.
President Jimmy Carter was committed to the future of Israel and the region and to promoting the two-state solution. It is very unfortunate that too many in Israel and in the world are distorting his legacy, because he understood earlier than others the danger of our deterioration into a bloody bi-national state of Israel.
Carter was probably the most progressive president the United States has ever known, with a world view for which he also felt a deep commitment to Israel. He made great efforts to promote peaceful solutions and prevent Israel from degenerating into the reality of apartheid. He was a progressive evangelist, different from those white evangelists that took over the Republican Party and thought that war would bring redemption. He believed that peace was the redemption.
Many of my fellow Republicans said to me in the past month, “I’m sorry that we opposed your opinion on Prime Minister Netanyahu. who was called Israel’s “angel of sabotage” by the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Those who watched the series One Hundred Years of Solitude and understood that time does indeed move linearly throughout the generations, but for me time does not pass linearly but revolves in a circle. This sense of circularity exists in every area of our lives, especially in politics and wars. Until when will we revolve in this vicious circle? Maybe this is our punishment for the lack of listening and understanding.
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