So I waited to do my last post partially because I had zero time while I was with all the volunteers and partially because I wanted to see what would happen once I got to the airport. The last couple days was a lot of traveling with the group, we went to Nabolis one day and the next to Jericho and the Dead Sea. Jericho and the Dead Sea was the same day I had to leave so after the Dead Sea, I carried all my bags about a kilometer to the nearest bus stop. I then got a ride to Jerusalem where I was picked up by a taxi that drove me directly to Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv. Security was a little rough, it took me about three hours longer getting through security than all the Jewish families and Israelis I saw just kind of skipping by. After I said I "visited" the West Bank, the woman questioning me went and spoke to a higher-up, then returned and said, "I'm sorry, but I need to ask you more questions to make sure there aren't any bombs in your bags." After being questioned for about 10 more minutes, I put my bags through the x-ray, then had to get them inspected. Israeli security opened each of my bags and took out nearly everything in them and wiped them down with a wand-like tool to, what I'm assuming, test for poison or bomb residue. This took about 45 minutes to an hour. Then I was taken to a separate room where I had my own private pat down and metal detector test along with everything in my pockets/my belt, hat, and sandals; this took about half an hour. Then I was taken to finally check in, afterwards, I had to personally take my checked bag to the elevator that led to the loading dock and I put my bag on the baggage cart. After this, another woman led me to a security checkpoint where she swiped her card and had her thumb print scanned which than opened the door allowing me to reach passport control. The woman at passport control matched my face up with the passport, stamped it with an exit stamp, and then I was allowed to go to my gate. Overall, it took me about an hour and a half, hour forty-five to get through security. Some people say they do this randomly but I guarantee, if I said I never visited the West Bank, I could've gotten through security in half an hour.
It's weird being back in the states. It's cold and "civilized." I never went to Palestine for the farm work, I went to experience what no one here truly understands. I went to be surrounded by Israeli settlements, to have people look at me like I don't belong there, to speak with the people and to better understand the government. The farm is not meant to be a profit-making business like in the states, my job was not to farm, it was to maintain a symbol. Not of defiance, not of rebellion, but of humanity. Tent of Nations is a Christian organization and they reminded me of that multiple times but I don't think that has anything to do with it. You don't need to be a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew to do the right thing or to be morally or ethically sound. Right and wrong came before religion, came before politics, came before man. The Nassar family is simply doing what they believe is right, what I believe is right, standing up for what is humane and moral. In this day and age, after everything humanity has been through, we still treat each other like shit, as unequals, as animals. People, all over the world, can work as hard as they want but will never achieve what others can. There is no such thing as equal opportunity, as fairness, as justice in today's governments and religions. I mean, yes, these entities talk about justice and morality but when have we ever truly learned from them? I know good people and I know bad people and in the end, there are no correlations between any of them - religion, political beliefs, ethnic or racial background, nationality, gender, etc. Goodness, true goodness is not something that can be taught, it has to be shown, it has to be experienced. People at Tent of Nations are showing their goodness, although I don't agree with everything they say about politics or religion, they are staying strong in the path of segregation and abuse. I have learned a lot while in Palestine, I have gained so much more than I will ever truly comprehend from all of my travels; but in the end, one question always pops up in my mind, what's the point? Why even bother with all of this? The reason is simple, I do not hope or wish for world peace, for the world to be kind and generous to one another, to treat others as they wish to be treated, or to love your neighbor as yourself; I simply wish to postpone the inevitable, to hold back the arm that will eventually deliver the killing blow. This is not depressing or pessimistic, this is reality, this is humanity. People are beautiful in all their knowledge and wisdom and mistakes and my only hope for mankind is that we continue strong until we reach that tipping point, the point of no return. That day will come but until then, embrace those you love, stand up for what you believe in, fight passionately for what is good and right, but above all, think. Think and grow, this is how we postpone the inevitable, this is how we can truly live our lives. Go ahead and pray and hope and dream for something better but it's YOU who has to stand up in the end, to say when enough is enough. It's your choice, will you speak and fight for what is right or when the time comes, shrink back and stay silent?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Hebron
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been really busy. The counselors for this kids' camp have their schedules packed. I farm a little in the morning, work with the kids from 9-2, then either travel somewhere as a group or have meetings the rest of the day, followed with more farming, then some more meetings. The camp is going well though, the kids can sometimes be tough to work with but I think my group is getting to be a lot closer and working better together now than before. I have 14 kids in my group with two other conselors and a translator, I try to speak mostly in Arabic with the kids but sometimes the translator has to translate my Arabic, to real Arabic. It's fun though, we have a lot of interesting projects that we do and there will be a lot more next week. I'm excited to come home but I'm pretty bummed I'll be missing the second half of camp, I'm starting to like these kids. One of the kids in my group, Mohammed, is actually from the refugee camp Deisha in Bethlehem. It's really interesting to talk to these kids about their lives but it's even harder sometimes to get them to think for themselves but I think we're getting closer. One of the sadder things I've heard though is that not one of the kids in my group wants to live in the West Bank when they grow up, what's even sadder though is that most of them will end up living here the rest of their lives regardless. It's tough working with these kids but I hope we can make some difference in their lives, even with the short time I'm here.
Also, today, we all went to Hebron for a few hours, insane experience. Hebron is split into H1 and H2 - H1 being the original Palestinian Hebron and H2 being the part settlers kind of took over. There are checkpoints all over the city, as well as different roads and walkways that can only be used by Israelis. We walked through a few alley ways that used to be thriving markets - before the Israeli military sealed off the roads going in and out - where overhead was fence and bars loaded with trash and large stones or bricks. The reason this is is because when Palestinians walk through these alleyways, Israeli settlers living on the upper floors would throw stones, trash, and sometimes even things like Molotov cocktails at them in an attempt to scare them away from Hebron. The fences were then put up to catch all the trash but even now, on Sundays especially, some Israeli settlers are now using trash mixed with water or even acid to dump on Palestinians or just visitors trying to observe what's happening. Hebron is littered with military and bases, checkpoints, segregation, and the looming feeling of hatred and although I was not shocked by any of this, it was a truly eye-opening experience. I know I mentioned this before, but this is what I mean when I say THIS IS APARTHEID. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, I gave a very short explanation of what I've seen since I have to head out soon but if any of you still feel that this is right or justified, please explain. I've never seen humans treated in such an animalistic way as they are in Hebron, Palestine, Israel.
Also, today, we all went to Hebron for a few hours, insane experience. Hebron is split into H1 and H2 - H1 being the original Palestinian Hebron and H2 being the part settlers kind of took over. There are checkpoints all over the city, as well as different roads and walkways that can only be used by Israelis. We walked through a few alley ways that used to be thriving markets - before the Israeli military sealed off the roads going in and out - where overhead was fence and bars loaded with trash and large stones or bricks. The reason this is is because when Palestinians walk through these alleyways, Israeli settlers living on the upper floors would throw stones, trash, and sometimes even things like Molotov cocktails at them in an attempt to scare them away from Hebron. The fences were then put up to catch all the trash but even now, on Sundays especially, some Israeli settlers are now using trash mixed with water or even acid to dump on Palestinians or just visitors trying to observe what's happening. Hebron is littered with military and bases, checkpoints, segregation, and the looming feeling of hatred and although I was not shocked by any of this, it was a truly eye-opening experience. I know I mentioned this before, but this is what I mean when I say THIS IS APARTHEID. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, I gave a very short explanation of what I've seen since I have to head out soon but if any of you still feel that this is right or justified, please explain. I've never seen humans treated in such an animalistic way as they are in Hebron, Palestine, Israel.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
"You Know, That Whole Holocaust Thing"
So, I had a pretty interesting experience over the weekend. I was with the Germans and all the volunteers went to a bar to watch the Germany-Uruguay game to see who gets the 3rd place spot in the World Cup. It was an epic game ending 3-2 for Germany so they take the bronze, the Germans were pretty happy about that.
Now for the interesting part. We were all sitting in the back two rows and all the Israelis were sitting in the front two rows (it was an outdoor viewing experience). Everytime Germany scored, people in the back two rows cheered and the front two were solemn, and vice versa when Uruguay scored. There was an Israeli woman from Tel Aviv, Tamur, sitting next to me and I asked her, "So are the Israelis for Uruguay or just against Germany?" She said they didn't really care who was playing against Germany, they were always cheering for the other team, in fact, they were a little bummed that Germany made it this far. So I followed up with, "why?" Now I already had some ideas in my head, some I thought were a little far-fetched but then she replied, "Oh, you know, that whole holocaust thing." This threw me off a little bit (this was one of the far-fetched reasons I came up with), I mean, I understand the holocaust was a terrible situation and one of the downfalls of humanity but to cheer against a soccer team, 70 years later no less, because of something that happened far in the past (and a situation that most Germans are simply embaressed about), kind of suprised. Most Israelis even admit that Germany is an amazing team but whenever Germany does anything politcally, or sport-oriented, etc., Israelis usually look down on it and rarely support it. I told this to Thomas and Willy and they were actually kind of embaressed by this, for an entire nation-state to despise another so fervently for something that happened in the dark past made them kind of sad, especially since the majority of those involved in WWII are now past away and every single player on the German team, as well as the coach, were born at least 30 years after the fact.
This kind of makes me embaressed of humanity as well. Everyone always says we must learn from history, learn from our mistakes. When does this ever truly happen? Honestly. This is not learning, this is not taking the terror that occured during the holocaust and gaining wisdom from it, this is dwelling on the past. Frankly, this is kind of childish. I don't mean to negate the horror of the holocaust or any genocide for that matter, but Israelis seem to dwell on it, despise a country for something that the current citizens struggle with, and the Israeli government even uses it as an excuse for some of the political actions taken. From what I saw in Japan, they don't pout about the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, they take what happened, and attempt to make peace out of it (the Hiroshima Museum, speaking to nations with nuclear warheads and communicating about the tragedies that can come from using them, etc.). This is what I imagine when I think of learning from our mistakes, not gaining up against a currently innocent nation-state.
I have hope for humanity, I do. But the more I travel and learn about the human race, the harder it is to hold on to this hope (this does not mean I don't enjoy traveling of course, I love it). I'm not a pessimist and by no means am I an optimist, but I'd like to think of myself as a realist. Realistically, a lot of what I've seen here in Israel and in Palestine dissapoints me, hurts many of the hopes for humanity that I have left. I'm glad I'm going into international relations and I'm glad I'm learning what I am; these experiences, I hope, will give me wisdom that I will one day be able to share. But currently, everywhere I seem to turn, the downfalls of humanity seem to rise up and take hold of the governments, religions, and media in this world. What happened to thinking? What happened to people using the intelligence and logic that we have? This next one is rhetorical but, why do we destroy one another? In the end, I fear they all have the same answer, we are human. Being human is our greatest power and our greatest downfall; humanity balances on a dangerous equilibrium that I fear will someday tip for the worst. What we can do though, what I will continue to strive to do, is help. Keep this equilirium going as long as possible, keep people happy - I mentioned the downfalls of humanity in governments, and religion, and media, and people themselves; but we have to embrace the beauty that comes out of these things as well. We are a fragile species and there's a good chance that we may someday destroy ourselves; but until that day comes, I say enjoy yourself, be a good person, embrace one another, don't get caught up in the little things and, above all, live your life - this is the only way to maintain the beautiful and delicate equilibrium that we call humanity.
P.S. Sorry if this was depressing or a little much for any of you, I clearly had a lot on my mind and this is my way to vent - no one else here speaks English well enough to understand.
Now for the interesting part. We were all sitting in the back two rows and all the Israelis were sitting in the front two rows (it was an outdoor viewing experience). Everytime Germany scored, people in the back two rows cheered and the front two were solemn, and vice versa when Uruguay scored. There was an Israeli woman from Tel Aviv, Tamur, sitting next to me and I asked her, "So are the Israelis for Uruguay or just against Germany?" She said they didn't really care who was playing against Germany, they were always cheering for the other team, in fact, they were a little bummed that Germany made it this far. So I followed up with, "why?" Now I already had some ideas in my head, some I thought were a little far-fetched but then she replied, "Oh, you know, that whole holocaust thing." This threw me off a little bit (this was one of the far-fetched reasons I came up with), I mean, I understand the holocaust was a terrible situation and one of the downfalls of humanity but to cheer against a soccer team, 70 years later no less, because of something that happened far in the past (and a situation that most Germans are simply embaressed about), kind of suprised. Most Israelis even admit that Germany is an amazing team but whenever Germany does anything politcally, or sport-oriented, etc., Israelis usually look down on it and rarely support it. I told this to Thomas and Willy and they were actually kind of embaressed by this, for an entire nation-state to despise another so fervently for something that happened in the dark past made them kind of sad, especially since the majority of those involved in WWII are now past away and every single player on the German team, as well as the coach, were born at least 30 years after the fact.
This kind of makes me embaressed of humanity as well. Everyone always says we must learn from history, learn from our mistakes. When does this ever truly happen? Honestly. This is not learning, this is not taking the terror that occured during the holocaust and gaining wisdom from it, this is dwelling on the past. Frankly, this is kind of childish. I don't mean to negate the horror of the holocaust or any genocide for that matter, but Israelis seem to dwell on it, despise a country for something that the current citizens struggle with, and the Israeli government even uses it as an excuse for some of the political actions taken. From what I saw in Japan, they don't pout about the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, they take what happened, and attempt to make peace out of it (the Hiroshima Museum, speaking to nations with nuclear warheads and communicating about the tragedies that can come from using them, etc.). This is what I imagine when I think of learning from our mistakes, not gaining up against a currently innocent nation-state.
I have hope for humanity, I do. But the more I travel and learn about the human race, the harder it is to hold on to this hope (this does not mean I don't enjoy traveling of course, I love it). I'm not a pessimist and by no means am I an optimist, but I'd like to think of myself as a realist. Realistically, a lot of what I've seen here in Israel and in Palestine dissapoints me, hurts many of the hopes for humanity that I have left. I'm glad I'm going into international relations and I'm glad I'm learning what I am; these experiences, I hope, will give me wisdom that I will one day be able to share. But currently, everywhere I seem to turn, the downfalls of humanity seem to rise up and take hold of the governments, religions, and media in this world. What happened to thinking? What happened to people using the intelligence and logic that we have? This next one is rhetorical but, why do we destroy one another? In the end, I fear they all have the same answer, we are human. Being human is our greatest power and our greatest downfall; humanity balances on a dangerous equilibrium that I fear will someday tip for the worst. What we can do though, what I will continue to strive to do, is help. Keep this equilirium going as long as possible, keep people happy - I mentioned the downfalls of humanity in governments, and religion, and media, and people themselves; but we have to embrace the beauty that comes out of these things as well. We are a fragile species and there's a good chance that we may someday destroy ourselves; but until that day comes, I say enjoy yourself, be a good person, embrace one another, don't get caught up in the little things and, above all, live your life - this is the only way to maintain the beautiful and delicate equilibrium that we call humanity.
P.S. Sorry if this was depressing or a little much for any of you, I clearly had a lot on my mind and this is my way to vent - no one else here speaks English well enough to understand.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Ma Salaama Thomas
A few days ago, I was kicked by Thrat (Thunder), the horse. I was close enough so it was more of a push, wasn't terrible but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Other than that, I'm doing pretty well.
Today was my last full day of farming, as well as Thomas's. We took a lot of pictures of the family and everything and now we're having a little party for Thomas. This family has way to many little girls in it who enjoy yelling and laughing very loudly into my ears. Tomorrow, Willy, Thomas, and I are heading to Jerusalem for our last weekend together, then Thomas leaves early Monday morning. I still have one more week here which will be the children's camp so I'm pretty excited for that but I'm also excited to be heading home. It's been a lot of hard work here and I'm glad I'll be ending it with the kid's camp, I hear many of the kids will be refugees so that will make for a very interesting experience. Also, the cistern is really close to done, I've done a lot of digging the past couple days and so all it really needs is a few days of cleaning and it will be done, sadly, we're leaving that to Willy. We sealed of the cistern for next week though so that none of the kids decide to fall down or anything. The whole farm is pretty much ready for the camp, tents are up, walls are built, random outdoor areas have been sweeped and trimmed, etc. As I said before, I'll kind of be a counselor for one of the groups of kids but I'll still be watering plants and tending to the animals in the morning and afternoon. Other than that, it'll be a lot of hanging out with the volunteers/traveling around a little bit. All around should be a good week. Sorry nothing too interesting is going on but I'll continue to keep you updated. Ma salaama.
Today was my last full day of farming, as well as Thomas's. We took a lot of pictures of the family and everything and now we're having a little party for Thomas. This family has way to many little girls in it who enjoy yelling and laughing very loudly into my ears. Tomorrow, Willy, Thomas, and I are heading to Jerusalem for our last weekend together, then Thomas leaves early Monday morning. I still have one more week here which will be the children's camp so I'm pretty excited for that but I'm also excited to be heading home. It's been a lot of hard work here and I'm glad I'll be ending it with the kid's camp, I hear many of the kids will be refugees so that will make for a very interesting experience. Also, the cistern is really close to done, I've done a lot of digging the past couple days and so all it really needs is a few days of cleaning and it will be done, sadly, we're leaving that to Willy. We sealed of the cistern for next week though so that none of the kids decide to fall down or anything. The whole farm is pretty much ready for the camp, tents are up, walls are built, random outdoor areas have been sweeped and trimmed, etc. As I said before, I'll kind of be a counselor for one of the groups of kids but I'll still be watering plants and tending to the animals in the morning and afternoon. Other than that, it'll be a lot of hanging out with the volunteers/traveling around a little bit. All around should be a good week. Sorry nothing too interesting is going on but I'll continue to keep you updated. Ma salaama.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Documentary
Today was a normal work day but I think, if we keep going at the rate we are, we'll be nearly finished with the cistern by the time the children's camp starts. Willy will probably be able to finish it after Thomas and I leave. Thomas is leaving in 6 days so tonight we all got together in Jerusalem, ate some bratwurst, etc. as a kind of goodbye party for him. It was a good time and now we're all just hanging out, tomorrow we'll head to the farm early in the morning to work again.
Nearly every day, tour groups or families come to visit either to spend the night or just to learn a little more about the farm and to hear about the Nassar family's story. A group came earlier in June and there was a guy filming and making a documentary about the farm. All the volunteers were hanging out on the roof, I was playing my uke and the Germans were playing backgammon. The director came up and asked if he could film us just doing what we were doing. I found out yesterday that this documentary made it onto PNN (Palestine News Network) and it's now posted both on Youtube and the PNN website. Here's the link to the Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cPS6CznSI4
It's a dece documentary, pretty short, and it has some shots of the Germans and of me which I thought was just hilarious. We all thouroughly enjoyed watching it, the Germans love the scene of them playing backgammon. Hope you guys get as much joy out of it as we did/you can learn a little more about the farm. Ma salaama.
Nearly every day, tour groups or families come to visit either to spend the night or just to learn a little more about the farm and to hear about the Nassar family's story. A group came earlier in June and there was a guy filming and making a documentary about the farm. All the volunteers were hanging out on the roof, I was playing my uke and the Germans were playing backgammon. The director came up and asked if he could film us just doing what we were doing. I found out yesterday that this documentary made it onto PNN (Palestine News Network) and it's now posted both on Youtube and the PNN website. Here's the link to the Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cPS6CznSI4
It's a dece documentary, pretty short, and it has some shots of the Germans and of me which I thought was just hilarious. We all thouroughly enjoyed watching it, the Germans love the scene of them playing backgammon. Hope you guys get as much joy out of it as we did/you can learn a little more about the farm. Ma salaama.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Luke's First Hostel
This weekend, I headed to Jerusalem where I met up with Kristian one last time. We walked around a little bit, then I checked in to the New Palm Hostel to shower and get a bed set up for the night. We hung out in the hostel a while when, after meeting a couple Australian girls and an Argentinian fellow, we decided to go to a cafe to watch the Germany-Argentina game. If any of you missed it, insane game, Germany rocked Argentina 4-0, the Argentinian we were with was devestated.
Afterwards, we just hung out in the hostel some more. I really like hostels in all honesty. I met people from at least 7 different countries including the States, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, etc. A Dutch couple taught me how to play a game called Yanif, they don't know what the name means but they learned it from a random Arab they met in a cafe and taught it to me. Great game, kind of addicting, and can easily break your heart. I spoke to so many of them about random, interesting topics, especially a pair of Americans who were traveling around after studying abroad in France. Today, the three of us headed to Bethlehem and just talked and debated and ate and smoked hookah, all around good time. They headed back to Jerusalem and I headed back here to the farm so now I'm just hanging out, I guess Willy and Thomas got an extra day on their weekend so they aren't back yet today and won't be until tomorrow morning. Just me and Daher tonight.
Hostels are great though: showers, a bed, and a whole mess of random travelers with random stories just like you. I'm definatley planning on hostelizing more often in the future.
Oh, and uh, Happy Fourth of July.
Afterwards, we just hung out in the hostel some more. I really like hostels in all honesty. I met people from at least 7 different countries including the States, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, etc. A Dutch couple taught me how to play a game called Yanif, they don't know what the name means but they learned it from a random Arab they met in a cafe and taught it to me. Great game, kind of addicting, and can easily break your heart. I spoke to so many of them about random, interesting topics, especially a pair of Americans who were traveling around after studying abroad in France. Today, the three of us headed to Bethlehem and just talked and debated and ate and smoked hookah, all around good time. They headed back to Jerusalem and I headed back here to the farm so now I'm just hanging out, I guess Willy and Thomas got an extra day on their weekend so they aren't back yet today and won't be until tomorrow morning. Just me and Daher tonight.
Hostels are great though: showers, a bed, and a whole mess of random travelers with random stories just like you. I'm definatley planning on hostelizing more often in the future.
Oh, and uh, Happy Fourth of July.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
International Relations - Germany and USA
Today was kind of a strange day but was a great day for figuring some important things out. Work was normal, we dug some more of the cistern, worked on building a wall, and planted a small field of grapes which look great. At lunch, the Germans and I got in a little fight, they were very angry at me which I later found out was because of the work I've been doing or sometimes, the lack-there-of. Now, I was a little confused at this at first, they both yelled/insulted and it got a little out of hand. I just kind of sat there and took it for a little while until things calmed down, then decided we needed to talk. I spoke to each of them for ten minutes about how I felt and they explained what they were thinking. I explained how when I first got here, and a little bit now, I feel like their little American slave, the way they order me around, etc. Daher doesn't treat the volunteers very well, usually orders us around and rarely says please or thank you and this frustrates the Germans, I explained to them how this is exactly what they did with me, they projected what Daher was doing to us straight to me so I was getting it from multiple sides. The told me how they get frustrated when I don't do things like water the horses, bring the digging tool to Daher's house, etc. (I've done this many times, but they usually ask me to, the don't want to have to ask, understandable) when I know how to do it. At first, I thought the farm worked as a divided system, each person has jobs to do and they do them. What I found out today is that it's more of a hybrid system, we all have our own jobs but when it comes to certain things, it's anyone's game. I apologized and explained that I never meant to insult, offend them, or piss them off and that now that we've talked, I promise to work at this. I also asked them to treat me as an equal, I am in the same boat as they are, just for less time. They agreed and the anger died down.
I thought this whole thing was great. I learned a lot about both of them as well. Thomas is unbelievably passionate, when he got angry and while we talked, he was almost tearing up, it taught me a lot about him which I never noticed before since he seems so chill most of the time. Willy was strong about it and we had more of a debate but both conversations went smoothly. Thomas thanked me after work today and said they were both surprised at not only the fact that I spoke to them, but how I did it. I'm very glad we've improved not only our social relationship, but our occupational relationship as well. I feel like I really needed this to happen as well, not just toe figure everything out, but so I could actually talk to people, solve a problem, etc.
Thomas and Willy headed out tonight to the Golen Heights, I wish I was going with them but I'm going to have to be the only worker here tomorrow so that'll be interesting but should go well (Kristian stopped by for a couple days but he's leaving tomorrow morning for Egypt). Then I'll head to Jerusalem for my weekend relaxation after a 6-day week. Next week is Thomas's last week so after our conversation, I have a feeling we'll grow a lot closer and get a lot more work done which makes me very glad and kind of excited to get started after my weekend.
I'm glad they listened and I'm even happier they spoke to me, this is what International Relations needs to be about, communication. This is a perfect example of what could be solved if people just talked through their issues instead of yelling and ignoring each other. This may be a little extreme of a metaphor but look at this situation and you can compare it to Israel and Palestine. Communication, that's what's needed. Communication is the only way to achieve understanding, understanding leads to the absence of hatred, and hopefully, the absence of hatred can lead to peace.
I thought this whole thing was great. I learned a lot about both of them as well. Thomas is unbelievably passionate, when he got angry and while we talked, he was almost tearing up, it taught me a lot about him which I never noticed before since he seems so chill most of the time. Willy was strong about it and we had more of a debate but both conversations went smoothly. Thomas thanked me after work today and said they were both surprised at not only the fact that I spoke to them, but how I did it. I'm very glad we've improved not only our social relationship, but our occupational relationship as well. I feel like I really needed this to happen as well, not just toe figure everything out, but so I could actually talk to people, solve a problem, etc.
Thomas and Willy headed out tonight to the Golen Heights, I wish I was going with them but I'm going to have to be the only worker here tomorrow so that'll be interesting but should go well (Kristian stopped by for a couple days but he's leaving tomorrow morning for Egypt). Then I'll head to Jerusalem for my weekend relaxation after a 6-day week. Next week is Thomas's last week so after our conversation, I have a feeling we'll grow a lot closer and get a lot more work done which makes me very glad and kind of excited to get started after my weekend.
I'm glad they listened and I'm even happier they spoke to me, this is what International Relations needs to be about, communication. This is a perfect example of what could be solved if people just talked through their issues instead of yelling and ignoring each other. This may be a little extreme of a metaphor but look at this situation and you can compare it to Israel and Palestine. Communication, that's what's needed. Communication is the only way to achieve understanding, understanding leads to the absence of hatred, and hopefully, the absence of hatred can lead to peace.
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