Children

Unlike much of our trip so far, the last couple of days have landed us near children.  Today we visited a school and got to see and speak to children (they learn English in the schools).  We saw them dance and sing ("We Shall Overcome") and play games and color and sing nursery rhymes.  It was lovely to see children and to see places where people are determined to create places for them to flourish.

For me, visiting the Jalazone Refugee camp spoke volumes.  As one of the community leaders walked us through the camp, he explained to us how some of the play areas had to be built over to accommodate the growth of their community within their limited space.  Since they have so little, when the children are not in school (they were still on break when we visited), there is nothing for them to do.  They hang around in the streets.  I felt like the Pied Piper-- we accumulated more and more children, trying to communicate with us in Arabic and taking pictures and commenting on how funny we looked (we are a diverse group and none of us are Middle Eastern).  I'm sure we were the talk of the town for a few days.

So much kindness.  So much humanity.

My heart bleeds for the whole situation-- for the crap governments on both sides and for how poorly represented the people are and how the extremism is a stain on perceptions of two beautiful faith traditions.  The extremist elements seem to rise to the top-- whoever said it's the cream that rises may want to re-think their analogy in an era of figures like these (and like Trump, for that matter).  Extremism begets extremism and when a people is oppressed, they will be more and more tempted by extremist resistance.

My thoughts are disorganized and I am sleep deprived.  It's been nearly 2 weeks since I have gotten a full night's rest and I started this trip by staying up for 27 hours straight.  My brain is tired, my body is tired, and my heart is tired.

Whatever religious or political identities we have, it should be clear that something is wrong here.  What is happening to the Palestinian people is wrong.  What the Israeli government is doing is wrong.  The implication that Jews are responsible is wrong.  The implication that Jews should be pro-Israel, when the government behaves this way, is wrong.  The implication that Christians need to think "this" about Muslims or "that" about Israel is wrong, as is the implication that Jews or Muslims should think "this" or "that" about Israel or Palestine or Muslims or Jews is wrong.

We should all be resisting suffering and the excuses we make for it.  Black lives matter.  Palestinian lives matter.  Refugee lives matter.  Undocumented lives matter.

Disproportionate and collective punishments cannot be defended.  Unequal application of laws cannot be excused.

We are all made from the same stuff of life; each of us is precious by virtue of our humanity.  Anything that denies the basic recognition  of our collective rights to life, liberty, and security must be recognized as inhumane.

This is a terrible post.  Oh well.  It is bedtime.