said the 14th Dahli lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
tonight i thought i had nothing to blog about. i thought today was an uneventful day and nothing exciting happened. although for the majority of the day was, the last few hours of the day was taken up by watching a beautiful movie. i dont come across too many movies that change the way i feel. this is an exception. thanks to my wonderful cousin who researched and came across this movie and was kind enough to share it with me, i can say without hesitance, it changed me in a deep way. may God grant her a big reward. this movie is called "promises". it is a documentary on the children of palestine and israel, and their view of the conflict going on in palestine/israel. if you dont know, i am a Palestinian. i am a 2nd generation american. my grandparents moved here from palestine for the opportunity and freedom that america offers. and i must say, i had much depreciation for this country until i realized it was more of the goverment that i didnt appreciate rather than the country itself. if it werent for america's freedom, i wouldnt be writing this right now. and i thank God for this. anyway, i should give a little background on the story before i tell you about this movie. in the 3 major religions, Jerusalem is the holy land. in each of the holybooks, it is said that the land is for them. both israelis and palestinians lived in harmony splitting the land in half, and sharing. when 1948 hit, israelis took over, and palestinians sought refuge in camps. to this day, israel has occupied all of the land with soldiers everywhere. there are check points where israelis are free to pass but palestinians have to go through a search process that can make a trip that is a mere 15 minutes take hours. the soldiers check for anything harmful, even though 99.999 percent of the time, they're harmless. it is said that the checkpoints are used to humiliate the palestinians. they have no choice but to listen though. they are held against their will with guns pointed in their faces and at their loved ones; children included. there is 2 sides to this story, though. you hear it through this movie. with each side, you can hear the anger and hate in their voices, but there is an innocence about them, and a part of them that makes them want to know of the other side. that is natural for any naieve child. thier innocence causes them to question the situation, be curious. when the palestinian children met the israeli children, it brought tears to my eyes. for the whole day, they got along, told eachother sides of the stories, and played. i thought, this is it. all we have to do is bring together the people, and things will naturally work out! but heres the thing. its not that simple. with the palestinians and israelis who lived in that land thier whole lives, its only natural to hate on eachother. and its sad to say that for the rest of their lives, they will live with that hate in their heart. im sure in both religons they say how hate isnt ideal., i know in Islam it is mentioned many times. Islam means peace.
but i was thinking, maybe, just maybe if our generation would grow up with more of an open mind than the people older than us, then maybe we can work things out. peace is the only answer. if we keep butting heads like this, no one will win. we need to teach our children nothing but peace. hate is unhealthy. its not the way to resolve the conflict. itll make matters worse. the path we are going down right now is not the way to free palestine, or satisfy israel.
i grew up to hate all jews. yes. you heard me. my parents engraved it in my brain. luckily, growing up, especially this past year, meeting jews and people of other religons made me realize that we all are living for the same thing. we all have the same purpose in life. we just want to make it through this world. no one has genetic evilness in their hearts. at the end of the day, everyone wants to be home with their families, safe and sound. why cant we all do this with peace? why is war the answer? why cant we be civil? why are we just watching this awful conflict happen before our eyes? why cant we put an end to this and all coexist? is it really that bad tolerating someone with different religous views? we do it here in America. i feel like as the country that we are, so fortuante and strong, we should be helping with conflicts all around. the government promotes volunteering and helping one another, why cant they practice what they preach? God willing there is a solution to this problem. i am willing to share homelands with other people. this isnt our earth. we dont own anything in this world. God put us here to live our own lives and soon we will go. this is God's earth. no one decides whos terrortory is whos. so what now? am i going to forget about this movie after i wrote this long blog? am i just going to go on with my life? no, i will help make a differnce. i will try. i know i wont do much as one person, but if you help me, maybe we can come up with a solution to this conflict.
with every problem, there is a solution. there has to be. otherwise the problem shouldnt be.
http://www.moviesonlineathome.com/external.php?title=Promises&url=aHR0cDovL3ZpZGVvLmdvb2dsZS5jb20vdmlkZW9wbGF5P2RvY2lkPTE3MTY0ODk1ODAxMjE3NTUwMjMj&domain=Z29vZ2xlLmNvbQ%3D%3D&loggedin=0
peace
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