Small things addendum

If you are following the news from here, you know things are not improving.  In fact, they are getting worse.  There have been several attacks recently: a Jewish couple who lived on a settlement (near Ramallah) were shot and killed while driving with their four children, and there have been several stabbings and IDF shootings in the Old City.  It's so easy to point fingers and give one or the other side the blame, but as always, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.  We can trace the violence as far back as we like to try and find who started it, but that would be a waste of time and effort.  Instead, let me try to focus on some good, small things.

Every single Palestinian I have met here has been kind, courteous, generous...the exact opposite of what is typically portrayed in the news.  From the men who work with Geoff, the shop owners in the Old City, to the random strangers in the park...they are good people.

Just last weekend, Geoff and I took the boys to our favorite park, the Promenade.  This is the park with grass, olive trees, and a great view of the Old City.  We bring our camping chairs, a picnic blanket, snacks, a ball...and just enjoy being outside.  The boys love to explore beneath the olive trees, and we love letting them have a bit of independence and freedom while there.

This time, there was a woman there with her two young sons.  She was beating the olive trees with a stick to harvest some olives while the boys were playing.  In typical Liam fashion, he approached to watch and ask what she was doing.  In her halting English, she told him about getting these olives for their oil.  He was fascinated and wanted to help.  She let him.

And after he finished helping pick up the fallen olives, she shared the food she had brought...grapes, cookies, bananas...without an instant of hesitation.  This is VERY typical of their culture, this unmatched generosity.  Sam and Liam ate her food, and I encouraged Liam to share what we had brought as well, and it was such a nice moment.  Her boys spoke no English and mine had no Arabic, but there all of them were, playing and eating together.  No malice or hatred.  Just boys being boys.

And it hit me.  This is how Geoff and I can help change the world.  We will raise open-minded, empathetic boys who believe in the basic goodness of people, who find the commonalities, who know we are ALL citizens of this same world who must share it and make it peaceful for all.  This small thing we can do, insha'Allah.

I now ask you for your small thing.  I ask you to pray.  Pray for peace.  Pray for the people of this land--the good, innocent ones who are simply caught up in an endless cycle of hatred and violence, and for the hardened, angry, hateful ones who cannot see that we are ALL God's children.  Pray for us.  Pray for Jerusalem (Psalm 122:7).