Hi Everyone, I received a few emails from Israelis asking me about my sentence above: "Some life events require a massive tangible pause or reorientation, like for our fellow people in Palestine or North Carolina or Sudan or Ukraine or many other places. Positionality. It can never be extracted." Thank you for reaching out. People often email me and many of those conversations end up not public, though I always encourage anyone to comment publicly as that is the point of being a human in sticky conversation with the hopes of bridging to one another. I'm sharing it here as perhaps others of you, Israeli or not, were wondering the same thing this person wrote below.
She said: "I am Israeli, I had to leave my home almost a year ago. Am I not your fellow people? :-("
I responded with: "Thank you for reaching out. Of course you are. Ideally, we are all each other's people, which is why in that sentence I included "or many other places"... I was highlighting the countries where there has been the most destruction and death (in terms of numbers) in the shortest amount of time. I also can't imagine what it is like to leave your home, to live in fear and in such close proximity culturally and geographically to war. I read all of these emails and don't take them lightly and it is always awakening and devastating to hear about any fellow human from anywhere who is suffering. Thank you. "
I can add here that one of my family members (nephew of my aunt by marriage) is an Israeli soldier my generation whose large family still lives there. He lives in the U.S. now, though he was back as a soldier for some months last year, and I've seen him in person a few times. I care about him and the wellbeing of his family a lot. I also care about people I've never met or will never know in Palestine or Israel. Even though I lived abroad as a child, I have grown up culturally-neutral (it's both a gain and a loss) and White American in this lifetime, so have never been part of a group of people who wrestle daily with realities and history of having family members killed at the hands of another group of people and therefore a general dis-ease developing between groups. All to say, I don't know it in my body. My ancestral Irish body knows it, but that's hard to touch or feel fully. It's easy for someone in my position to say (and I hear it from others out there), "Why doesn't everyone just get along?" and I'm saying I won't say that because I have no idea what it's like to be anyone other than me and I would like to learn more. From everyone.
Though I've learned much more about the geo-politics of this conflict in the last year, I have more to learn. One thing we can probably all agree on is that there are angles and implications in all directions and, in the end, major consequences for those closeby and those faraway, for the whole world. It's scary on so many levels and on many horizons. Additionally, we can't deny death toll numbers or genocide.
Paying attention. Yes, and..... The third way. All good principles to guide us. Thank you.
I'm still learning/accepting that my energy levels are different than others. (duh, kindly and with a smile to myself) As a 'mature' person, it's important that I accept this reality.
Be ever so kind to yourself during this time of transition. I, too, am in a time of transaction -that liminal space. I concentrate on the practical demands of the day, prioritize physical exercise and reading (!) and limit my socializing.
Hi Everyone, I received a few emails from Israelis asking me about my sentence above: "Some life events require a massive tangible pause or reorientation, like for our fellow people in Palestine or North Carolina or Sudan or Ukraine or many other places. Positionality. It can never be extracted." Thank you for reaching out. People often email me and many of those conversations end up not public, though I always encourage anyone to comment publicly as that is the point of being a human in sticky conversation with the hopes of bridging to one another. I'm sharing it here as perhaps others of you, Israeli or not, were wondering the same thing this person wrote below.
She said: "I am Israeli, I had to leave my home almost a year ago. Am I not your fellow people? :-("
I responded with: "Thank you for reaching out. Of course you are. Ideally, we are all each other's people, which is why in that sentence I included "or many other places"... I was highlighting the countries where there has been the most destruction and death (in terms of numbers) in the shortest amount of time. I also can't imagine what it is like to leave your home, to live in fear and in such close proximity culturally and geographically to war. I read all of these emails and don't take them lightly and it is always awakening and devastating to hear about any fellow human from anywhere who is suffering. Thank you. "
I can add here that one of my family members (nephew of my aunt by marriage) is an Israeli soldier my generation whose large family still lives there. He lives in the U.S. now, though he was back as a soldier for some months last year, and I've seen him in person a few times. I care about him and the wellbeing of his family a lot. I also care about people I've never met or will never know in Palestine or Israel. Even though I lived abroad as a child, I have grown up culturally-neutral (it's both a gain and a loss) and White American in this lifetime, so have never been part of a group of people who wrestle daily with realities and history of having family members killed at the hands of another group of people and therefore a general dis-ease developing between groups. All to say, I don't know it in my body. My ancestral Irish body knows it, but that's hard to touch or feel fully. It's easy for someone in my position to say (and I hear it from others out there), "Why doesn't everyone just get along?" and I'm saying I won't say that because I have no idea what it's like to be anyone other than me and I would like to learn more. From everyone.
Though I've learned much more about the geo-politics of this conflict in the last year, I have more to learn. One thing we can probably all agree on is that there are angles and implications in all directions and, in the end, major consequences for those closeby and those faraway, for the whole world. It's scary on so many levels and on many horizons. Additionally, we can't deny death toll numbers or genocide.
Molly ~
Paying attention. Yes, and..... The third way. All good principles to guide us. Thank you.
I'm still learning/accepting that my energy levels are different than others. (duh, kindly and with a smile to myself) As a 'mature' person, it's important that I accept this reality.
Be ever so kind to yourself during this time of transition. I, too, am in a time of transaction -that liminal space. I concentrate on the practical demands of the day, prioritize physical exercise and reading (!) and limit my socializing.
Thank you for this, Terry. Yes, prioritizing physical exercise seems KEY, even when it can feel like an extra during a big change.
E. Tolle says that body awareness keeps us present - anchors us in the now. (Your 5/10% change suggestion stays with me - thank you.)