Seeds of hope

Tonight I had dinner with a good friend of my dad, an Israeli who spent time in Sydney, and who is close to my family. I am always reluctant to tell people why I am here and what I am doing, especially the older generation, and particularly my parent's friends. They grew up in a different era, when Israel was a fledgling state, struggling for survival. He served in the army before 1967, before Israel occupied the Palestinian territories. I am always scared these types of people will judge me, tell my parents I am a loony, and insist that I have no business meddling in domestic affairs.

Well, I am thrilled to announce that I am seriously paranoid, totally misguided, and way too prejudice for my own good. After tonight's dinner, I am finding a whole lotta hope.

Throughout dinner, my dad's friend kept coming up with idea after idea for how to bring peace to the region. I was blown away. This is not his area of specialty. He is into planting trees and instilling a sense of yiddishkeit into Jews who are not aware of their Jewish identity.

Now I know that just because I meet one, two or even a hundred people who want peace, does not mean that peace will come. And I know that things look particularly bad at the moment. Not just because of what the politicians are not saying or doing, but also because of what is happening on the ground.

To be honest, I am not optimistic about peace. I feel more despair than hope. But tonight was an important reminder about the dangers of being overly pessimistic. Imagine if my pessimism had stopped me talking to my dad's friend about what I am doing? Imagine how many opportunities have been missed because of the pessimism this conflict breeds? So here's to optimism and to the seeds of hope. May they go forth and multiply!

31 days to go...

p.s. in case you hadn't noticed, I am having a little problem keeping my photos and maps on the site, I am trying to sort it out.