I know I have neglected the blog this month and I'm sorry! This is one that I have been working on for some time. I know it's controversial, and I hope that I don't offend anyone in the process; but these are my thoughts and I wanted to share them with you.
“I promise you it doesn’t matter what you believe, how strongly you live your beliefs, or how true your beliefs are. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks you are in the wrong. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks your beliefs are senseless or illogical. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks you have it all wrong. In fact, there are a lot of people in this world who do.”
-Dan Pearce
I have found that Israel has given me this confusing feeling of being judgmental. I hate categorizing people. How I was a psychology major in a research heavy program, I will never know. I have done my best to be blank and allow myself to connect to individual people instead of putting them into pre-fabricated packages.
However, here in Israel, it is a matter of daily safety. Everyone tells you that the best way to be safe is to be aware. Being aware of your surroundings means you are looking for one thing. People who look of Arabic descent. I hate doing this. I hate having to do this. I hate that people who are innocent members of Israeli society are getting side-eyed by other innocent members of Israeli society. I hate that the world requires this. I hate the history repeats itself over and over and over. I want everyone to get fair and equal chances.
When I asked my family members who have lived here for the majority of their lives what the solution to this issue is; they looked at me clear in the eyes and said there isn't one. There is no solution to the ancient issue of religious differences. They said the only solution is for everyone to teach their children love for the next 100 years. For an entire century, there needs to be no mention of the negative differences that separate one group from the other. This is unrealistic on so many levels. So in turn, there is no solution.
It is so hard not to get wrapped up in the media/ social media portrayal of different groups of people and what they may or may not do.
Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh argues that we are what we consume; in all sensory aspects of the word. This means that when we read a very opinionated article, we become opinionated too. We must not let the actions of few, change our beliefs about many.
“I promise you it doesn’t matter what you believe, how strongly you live your beliefs, or how true your beliefs are. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks you are in the wrong. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks your beliefs are senseless or illogical. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks you have it all wrong. In fact, there are a lot of people in this world who do.”
-Dan Pearce
I have found that Israel has given me this confusing feeling of being judgmental. I hate categorizing people. How I was a psychology major in a research heavy program, I will never know. I have done my best to be blank and allow myself to connect to individual people instead of putting them into pre-fabricated packages.
However, here in Israel, it is a matter of daily safety. Everyone tells you that the best way to be safe is to be aware. Being aware of your surroundings means you are looking for one thing. People who look of Arabic descent. I hate doing this. I hate having to do this. I hate that people who are innocent members of Israeli society are getting side-eyed by other innocent members of Israeli society. I hate that the world requires this. I hate the history repeats itself over and over and over. I want everyone to get fair and equal chances.
When I asked my family members who have lived here for the majority of their lives what the solution to this issue is; they looked at me clear in the eyes and said there isn't one. There is no solution to the ancient issue of religious differences. They said the only solution is for everyone to teach their children love for the next 100 years. For an entire century, there needs to be no mention of the negative differences that separate one group from the other. This is unrealistic on so many levels. So in turn, there is no solution.
It is so hard not to get wrapped up in the media/ social media portrayal of different groups of people and what they may or may not do.
Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh argues that we are what we consume; in all sensory aspects of the word. This means that when we read a very opinionated article, we become opinionated too. We must not let the actions of few, change our beliefs about many.
You probably have all seen videos similar to this one of Muslim men in NYC doing this same trust experiment. This video was taken in Paris only several days after the ISIS coordinated attacks in the same city. To me, the man himself is brave, and trying to teach people exactly the problem of categorization. But I am even more interested in the people who are choosing to hug him. It is people who are setting aside their beliefs based on the recent current events and agreeing with him. It take a lot of courage to be publicly vulnerable in an obviously swayed society. I applaud both ends of this trust experiment and wish this experiment was not necessary for our current society however; every step in the right direction is still a step.
Why do we seem to only publicize negative, hate-filled, opinionated ideas and articles?
Now I ask the opposite question… why can't we seem to publicize positive things too?
Malala Yousafzai. Everyone knows her as the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban for advocating for the female right to education. I've read countless articles written about her. But in the three that I just read, only one mentioned anything about her being Muslim. And the only thing it stated was that she follows Sharia, the Islamic law, in order to forgive people.
I can argue the point of "people will be people," for days. But all I can say is that I wish everyone would respect their differences and similarities and learn from each other. There are obviously good and bad people from every corner of the world. But when certain groups are constantly at odds with each other, generation after generation learns to hate instead of love and accept. This hate and even the awareness of difference leads to judgment; and that is what I am feeling here.
Why do we seem to only publicize negative, hate-filled, opinionated ideas and articles?
Now I ask the opposite question… why can't we seem to publicize positive things too?
Malala Yousafzai. Everyone knows her as the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban for advocating for the female right to education. I've read countless articles written about her. But in the three that I just read, only one mentioned anything about her being Muslim. And the only thing it stated was that she follows Sharia, the Islamic law, in order to forgive people.
I can argue the point of "people will be people," for days. But all I can say is that I wish everyone would respect their differences and similarities and learn from each other. There are obviously good and bad people from every corner of the world. But when certain groups are constantly at odds with each other, generation after generation learns to hate instead of love and accept. This hate and even the awareness of difference leads to judgment; and that is what I am feeling here.