Listen! Don’t Listen!

Okay, listen up. Today I feel like cursing. I see all the forces that keep people in their place. It’s so hard to even recognize those forces as something not to listen to and it makes me so MAD.

What can I say that I haven’t said?

I can tell you that the participants in the program are taking huge risks to come to the training. It is hard to explain just how significant the risks are. They risk family disapproval. They risk community disapproval. They risk driving through checkpoints to get to where we are meeting– will they make it through? They risk being out in the streets or far from home as rockets are falling. In some locations, we hide the fact that some of us are speaking Arabic. In other places, we hide the fact that some of us are speaking Hebrew. This level of courage: it means something.

My cofacilitator Sylvia Margeyeh recently received a message from the Universe that we must create out of this terrible pain. I agree. Unprocessed pain causes so much destruction. There is no option but to create. These participants are willing to challenge the status quo that tells everyone on both sides that “the other” is a monster and not to even bother questioning that. As a group, we are questioning it. We are creating something real and new in which peace is possible.

Love,

Ann