What Would You Do?

...If you grew up in a small village of Nabi Saleh, Palestine and was under military occupation since birth?

(Via Facebook)

...if your peaceful protests week in and week out for years was met with tear gas, skunk water, bullets, and more?

(Via Haaretz)

...if your young cousin was shot in the head by a rubber bullet?

(Via Haaretz)

...if soldiers raided your home at whatever time of day and night?

(Via Haaretz)

I can go on with posting pictures. I can keep talking about what an absolute disgrace this situation that has gone on for far too long is to the rest of the "civilized" world, but until more good people stand up to do something - we will be left with these injustices the World over - like history repeating itself.

This isn't just a Palestinian / Israeli issue - this is a human issue.

I am a firm believer that this specific conflict will end in our lifetimes. As soon as we learn to drown out the fringe voices on both sides and allow for more good people to get involved. As Nelson Mandela once said:

(Via IMEU)

Mandela goes on to say in a speech: "These Palestinian and Israeli campaigners for peace know that security for any nation is not abstract; neither is it exclusive. It depends on the security of others; it depends on mutual respect and trust. Indeed, these soldiers of peace know that their destiny is bound together, and that none can be at peace while others wallow in poverty and insecurity."

Watching Dave Chappelle's new special on Netflix, The Bird Revelation, a poignant statement stood out in an otherwise interesting attempt at him trying to understand where we are at in the timeline of human history. I paraphrase: "Fear does not make lasting peace. We need truth and reconciliation with one another. The end of apartheid by all measurements should have been a bloodbath by any metric in human history and it wasn't. The only reason that it wasn't is because Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela and all these guys figured out that if a system is corrupt, then the people who adhere to the system and are incentivized by that system are not criminals. They are victims, and the system itself must be tried, but because how systems work is so compartmentalized as far as information, the only way we can figure out what the system is if everybody says what they did. Say how you participated."

Truth.

The information is out there, past the fake news, propaganda and all the other innuendos that are built up on both sides. You know how much you have and have not participated in providing support and at the very least educating yourself. You know if you have been complicit in crimes, whether they be large or small. Basically, you know deep down whether you are mostly a good person, but there lies in the rub - the yin and the yang of our souls.

Which brings me back to my original question: What would you do when faced with certain circumstances?

#SuperSamSays

Further Reading:

Ahed Tamimi Stood Up to Israel While the Rest of the World Bows
The Story Behind Ahed Tamimi's Slap: Her Cousin's Head Shattered by Israeli Soldier's Bullet
The EU response to Israel’s ‘death penalty for Palestinians’ bill is painfully weak
Facebook Says It Is Deleting Accounts at the Direction of the U.S. and Israeli Governments
Imagine a Palestinian Movement Led by Gandhi