I live in a place, a physical place many call "Paradise", a place even more removed from this war, a place where Jews are rare and Palestinians unknown. It is easy for me to keep my head down, ignoring wars and suffering and the complexity of how we respond to distant events where thousands are losing their lives and where the cycle of t…
I live in a place, a physical place many call "Paradise", a place even more removed from this war, a place where Jews are rare and Palestinians unknown. It is easy for me to keep my head down, ignoring wars and suffering and the complexity of how we respond to distant events where thousands are losing their lives and where the cycle of trauma and the stories about the "other" are being perpetuated. Your writing and your choice to bring it back to the personal, to the experience we all have of losing loved ones, re-opened my heart to break again over the truth that so many live with constant threat to their lives and communities and cherished land.
My biggest takeaway, reinforced with reading your response to these comments, is that it is HUGE to speak and write, even if we get it wrong in otherʻs eyes, because no matter which words we choose they will be heard in different ways by different people and if we are open and can listen without defensiveness, that is really the only way we learn about our own unconscious biases and find compassion for the pain that shapeʻs anotherʻs world.
Your courage has given me courage to speak, to connect, to remember that how we create disruption for positive change is by showing up not by hiding, by owning our imperfections, and by being accountable.
I live in a place, a physical place many call "Paradise", a place even more removed from this war, a place where Jews are rare and Palestinians unknown. It is easy for me to keep my head down, ignoring wars and suffering and the complexity of how we respond to distant events where thousands are losing their lives and where the cycle of trauma and the stories about the "other" are being perpetuated. Your writing and your choice to bring it back to the personal, to the experience we all have of losing loved ones, re-opened my heart to break again over the truth that so many live with constant threat to their lives and communities and cherished land.
My biggest takeaway, reinforced with reading your response to these comments, is that it is HUGE to speak and write, even if we get it wrong in otherʻs eyes, because no matter which words we choose they will be heard in different ways by different people and if we are open and can listen without defensiveness, that is really the only way we learn about our own unconscious biases and find compassion for the pain that shapeʻs anotherʻs world.
Your courage has given me courage to speak, to connect, to remember that how we create disruption for positive change is by showing up not by hiding, by owning our imperfections, and by being accountable.
Oh thanks so much Beth. Looking forward to the results of you speaking and writing and sharing with the world as well!