Thursday, June 2, 2011

My Stranger My Friend

DSCN9766 by springknitter

I got this urge to travel this morning. I pictured myself going all over the world and reporting what I learn about on my blog and sharing it with all of you! But I don't want to just travel. I want to truly explore and meet people. I want to Spend time with them immersing myself in their culture and daily practices. I want to meet strangers, and become their friend.

I've been e-mailing with a new friend in Washington, D.C. We connected through e mail when I contacted him after reading an article he wrote (http://counterpunch.org/kysia05092011.html) right after the death of bin Laden. The words in his article really spoke to me and I've been making a promise to myself to reach out to people when I feel this way.

R is an Arab-American pacifist and writer. He's worked on peace and justice projects in the United States, Europe and the Middle-East. Most recently, he served on the board of directors for the Free Gaza Movement in 2009-2010.  R is the 2004 recipient of the Georgetown University Program on Justice and Peace Peacemakers Award for his work in Iraq, and the 2010 recipient of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Rachel Corrie Award, for his work in Palestine. His essays have appeared in various newspapers and magazines, including the Houston Chronicle and Denver Post, as well as online with CommonDreams and Counterpunch. R most recently worked as an organizer for the Free Gaza Movement (www.FreeGaza.org) helping to organize non-violent sea challenges to the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

As R and I continued to write back and forth I realized that he had a lot of things to teach me from his personal experiences. Things that I have never really been knowledgeable about or even things that for my entire life I'd only heard one side of.

I decided it was best for me and the purpose of this post to a. read everything R had to share with me b. Understand everything to the best of my ability c. Ask questions, even hard ones, and d. this may sound strange...but ultimately not post my opinions.

I feel more knowledgeable, educated and essentially more at peace just being able to understand all sides of things. Personally, I'm not out there and changing things from the front line, but I have a lot of positivity and peace inside me that I can do my best to emit to anyone I get a chance to meet. I guess my one and only opinion about any topic if that if we listen and learn there is a lot less fear and a lot more understanding. I'm really glad to know about R's passions and accomplishments in making a more peaceful world.

When I asked R about his feeling on the ways in which we can all work toward a more peaceful world, he simply yet eloquently stated:

"I think nonviolent action is the only effective means of affecting positive change - anywhere in the world. I don't want to minimize cultural differences between different people and places, but we are all human & we do usually act & respond to things in very similar ways"

This statement is so precious to me. It reminds me that we do have cultural differences. We do have differences in opinion. We do come from all over the world and do many different things. But as R says, we are all human. And we must look out for one another.  

With all that in mind, I think I was brought to R because I felt moved by his words in an article that he wrote and I felt it prudent to learn about him and other things that he stands for. Listening and learning is the only way to truly find peace as a whole society. And I feel this is what I am meant to be doing. And it's amazing how much we can all have in common when it all comes down to it.

R and I also have a favorite book in common which made me smile. 

I'm really thankful to be able to push through fears and talk to people I don't know. And I am incredibly thankful that others are willing to talk with me about their lives and let me share with whoever wants to listen.

To my new friend R and a new journey of exploring, learning and growing!

photo-2 by springknitter

BPositive and BOpen!

Love,
B




3 comments:

  1. "I think nonviolent action is the only effective means of affecting positive change - anywhere in the world. I don't want to minimize cultural differences between different people and places, but we are all human & we do usually act & respond to things in very similar ways"


    LOVE IT!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a Lovely blog!!! So glad I found it, you. This will be my little sunny place to go whenever I need it :) Thank you~


    Karolina

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Karolina for your wonderful comment. It actually came at a perfect time for me and helped me remember what is important. Welcome to the blog :)

    ReplyDelete