Meditation on the Middle East
I acknowledge the suffering in other regions in the world, such as the Ukraine and Sudan. Caring about friends, colleagues, and students I know in Palestine forces me to focus there.
Faced with the tragedy, now well over 100 days in length, which may rapidly be expanding to a much larger conflict, I ask myself what more I can do?
Putting a face on what is happening in PALESTINE — Gaza and the West Bank
When I was glum or sad, and feeling forgotten because I wasn’t in some clique at school, my parents reminded me to count my blessings. Doing gratitude sometimes necessitates understanding the challenges others face. A childhood (and often adult) exercise to recognize how good I have it.
Mutually Assisted Destruction
It is painful and nerve-wracking to watch what is happening in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. I feel a moral obligation to do more than sign petitions for a ceasefire, write my representatives and senators in Congress and keep up with my colleagues in Palestine. My colleagues on the West Bank, where I worked just a year ago, are living under tight constraints. Their cities shut down for days at a time after local attacks. Unable to leave their homes, they cannot go to work and their children are not in school. Going outside to play is impossible.
Hearing about the Horror
The Middle East is horrific these days. The PBS News hour seems to give the most unbiased reporting. . . suffering and loss for all sides. I want to do more than write my representatives . . .
Palestine and more . . .
And then there is Palestine and Israel. As I watch the news I struggle with how to respond. What could I do or say? A year and a half ago, I had met Izeldine on the steps of the Damascus gate in Jerusalem to start our food tour in the Old City. Sacred Cuisine --a sampling of local foods with stories about Palestinian heritage. A few years earlier I'd walked through the gate at dusk…