Humanitarian Crisis Recovery
Ive been spending a lot of time in thought and in feeling regarding how we move forward from the collective shitshow we’ve inherited. And my (current) conclusion is, we have also inherited an incredible opportunity to drastically change our trajectory.
In life, an individual often encounters the greatest learning when we have been put in the most dire conditions. We did not need to let it get this bad, but it has; so, the least we can do as we pick up the peices, is extract the fullness of the wisdom from this moment. This will ensure that out planet never returns here again. Ancient texts constantly refer to the fall of empires and civilizations past; they reference it through the context of exploitation, extraction and abuse.
As palestinians, we have been colonized, genocided and attempted erradication. And all by a peoples who were in our very shoes only decades before. When I look at the conditions that allowed for the rise of such a militant and aggressive state such as Israel, I understand it was thought the abuse and exploitation of an already traumatized population: The Jews. Not only were they put through collective trauma and grief, but they were never given a structure to heal from it. Rather they were given everything to appear as the problem had been fixed: ‘oh, here is a safe space, but you have to defend it against (a fabricated) enemy’ and rather than transmute the pain, they just transformed it, into improperly channeled anger. Hurt people, hurt people, yes. But traumatized people are easy to manipulate. And when that manipulation goes unanswered, it breeds pain of its own.
As a people, we, the Palestinians, must heal from our own wounds. We know better than anyone what devisiveness exists within our own community. Christians vs Muslims. Brothers vs Brothers. Cousins vs Neighbors….. We have allowed that same pain to infiltrate us, and from within it is driving our own destruction.
We know better than anyone, how sum3a affects a family dynamic. How inherited expectations of upholding tradition make people die of illness, and live with unhappiness. We know how our chronic stress and anxiety, from never having recovered from the Nakba, from occupation, be it from the Ottoman Empire or the British. But at this point in history, we have enough mirrors and enough recollection of our ancestral history to create the map of what needs cleaning. Our attention must be directed, and to be directed we need clarity, We need to admit our own shortcomings. We need to remember where our wounds bled, and we must try our best not to keep covering them out of pride.
Pride is one of the 7 deadly sins, because it truly does kill. It kills the ability for one to be honest, and, when one lives dishonestly, the lies take physical form. Anger becomes an outlet for the tears not cried. Manipulation becomes a tool extract what was never received, for the dreams were never lived.
We know the conversations that happen in our families. We know the exploitation, extraction and absuse that exists within our own culture. We must deal with this internally. Yes, this is family business, and as family, i’m saying: Let’s deal with it! You do your part, and I will do mine, we will respect each others space, and not cross the line. But we must encourage eachother. Share our resources, share our thoughts, share our wisdom. We cannot go from oppressed, to all of a sudden inheriting power without healing.
In our freedom, we must commit to healing our own cultural, traditional, familial and ancestral wounds so that we do not bequeath the pain that was the root of our own suffering. There has been enough, in Palestine, in Sudan, in Congo, in Haiti, in Somalia, in America….. all around the world. And just hearing about it is painful enough. We are capable, and I am determined. Join me?
Think about it…..
L