Alright, so here are the last responses I had to type up for the homework part of my Palestine/Israel trip. We had to write about three different things that have really made us think and change our perceptions that we have learned or experienced since coming to this land. Below are the three things that have truly made me think the past two weeks and what tore down my beliefs and thoughts. Read them if you want to.
1. I always thought that Palestinians had an ingrained sense of hatred and resentment against the Jews and Israelis for invading their lands and pushing them out. That feeling and thinking intensified when as I talked to the people of Jordan and what they thought of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I thought that the divide and frustration would be even greater here. I was stunned to learn the complete opposite. Palestinians here are much more accepting of the Israelis and the Israeli state. Jordanians wanted to push all the Jews back into the sea and get revenge for all the wrongdoings and wars. Here, I feel Palestinians just want freedoms and autonomy. They are more than willing to let Israel exist if Israel will just leave them alone. I think that is an extremely valid request. This has given me a lot more hope that there will be a solution to the conflict in the future. It isn't just some pie-in-the-sky dream, but an achievable goal. I also learned that refugees (like the Jordanians) will be harder to satiate in the long run than the people who still live here. They carry with them a much bigger burden in the form of rage, desire for revenge, and longing. I also think because they don't have personal experience interacting with the Jews that they do not have the opportunity to overcome their prejudices and stereotypes.
2. On the flip side, I also learned this past week that there are a number of Israelis who are trying to gain Palestinians their basic human rights. There are a group of people who have broken through the stereotypes, biased media, and indoctrinated brainwashing to see the Palestinians as their human brothers and someone to be respected instead of feared and reviled. This has also given me hope that in the future more and more people will see an actual representation of the truth and see people as they really are and not vilify all of them as monsters based on history or the actions of a few. People need to have personal experience to see each other as people and I have to believe that more and more people will take the opportunity to do so. This also has taught me that people form their own realities. Their perception of themselves and the world and their place in it leads to their actions, their identities, and their way of life. All the different people that we have listened to or talked with view in the world in a different way. In order to build bridges between people, you have to go out into their realities and show them the way to a different one where they share certain characteristics with people that they didn't know about.
3, Sacred to me? That is a great question. I find that anything that makes me stop and think and reflect and change my behavior for the better in order to become closer to God is sacred to me. I think that might be a broader definition than most because I revere a lot of things as "sacred". In order for something to become "sacred" to me, I need time to digest what is happening, how it fits into my life and frame of mind, what it means to me, and what it means to others (and thereby by extension what it can mean to me if I want to accept their realm of perception). On this trip, we hustled through so many sites so fast that I could scarcely take everything in, let alone find time to put it in context of my life and perceptions or others'. However, I was able to find the time to contemplate at a few sites where I did find the holiness and sacredness of it. One in particular was the tomb edifice at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Kaylie, Yao Yao, and I went back when we had free time in order to see the Armenian part of the church with its big mosaic. We were surprised to find that the church was relatively empty and that there was absolutely no line for the tomb whatsoever. We walked right in (partially at the insistence of the Orthodox priest that kept pestering us). I expected to find the same gaudy decorations as everywhere else and admire it more for its aesthetic and architectural significance instead of its purported holiness. We were inside the tomb for about 8 minutes before anyone else even wanted to come in. It isn't very big, so I had a lot of time to think. I was overcome by the Spirit as I pondered the Savior and His mission and recognized that all the decorations were to venerate in the best way that these people knew how. It was a very moving experience. I also had a similar experience at the Garden of Gethsemane today because we were given 30 minutes to wonder and ponder. I was able to get in touch with the meaning of the place for me and have my testimony strengthened of the Savior, His mission, and the Atonement. Those being considered, I will also admit great works or art or literature also move me in a similar way. If I can look at something and ponder about it or read something and sit quietly afterwards thinking what it all means or what greater understanding I have come to, then it becomes "sacred" to me. It gets me in touch the with Spirit and a better understanding of God and His creations. That is what sacred it to me.
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