Ciao, tutti!
Since returning to the Motherland, I seem to be experiencing an endless holiday: first, the new year, then Yom Kippur, and now we've just had a week of Sukkot. We actually get 3 days off for Sukkot: 1.5 days to mark the beginning and the end. Of course, the unending days of holiday don't exclude us from Shabbat, so it seems like we've had 3-day weeks for a month. Not that I'm complaining - I enjoy every peaceful moment that I can get in our normally bustling city.
Yom Kippur was really special because in Tel Aviv, it means that everyone celebrates the absence of cars by biking/walking/skating on the streets and highways. Zoya and I took a midnight walk in the street to mark the occasion. We could have walked on the sidewalk, of course, but what's the fun in that? Now we've reached Sukkot, which I really can't tell you very much about except that it is some sort of harvest holiday that is also about welcoming guests. And probably has something to do with the destruction of the Second Temple, like many holidays.
For me, all of these extra days off have meant more time for thinking.
I've been thinking about how often I encounter negative words like "war," "attack," "fight," and "anti-" in my daily life. They seem to have become as common in our vocabulary as "Facebook" and "Google." But I wonder at the intent behind these words. Sure, "stopping the war on wolves" may seem like a noble cause, but who is at war with the wolves? Are there armies of rival wolves battling in the wilderness? How does lack of adequate protection for wolves' survival constitute a "war on wolves?"
The problem with using these words is that it only makes people afraid. This triggers a "fight or flight" mode which bypasses our brains and reaches straight for our holsters: "We may not even know if there is a real threat from our invisible enemies (ahem, Ebola), but by golly, we're going to beat them!"
But the bigger problem that I see is that when we label something as war, we are engaging in a war. Even if we believe that we are on "the right side," we have become part of a war. And as we have countless examples, wars do not bring peace, just temporary non-wars.
Why not simply ask for support towards solutions instead of instilling fear and outrage in people?
I recently watched an excellent talk by Chimamanda Adichie about the problems of only considering one side of a story. I won't go into too much detail because she tells it much better herself: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story. Adichie stresses the importance of seeking out other and as many points of view as we can to get the bigger picture.
Adichie's talk made me think of all of my special interest groups, pitting themselves against "big, bad [oil/government/other-special-interests-groups-who-we-don't-agree-with]." Nobody is really interested in reaching a symbiotic solution, they just want to make sure that they come out ahead. After all, they're on the "right side." But this just provides a catalyst for future conflict, it doesn't actually result in a sustainable solution. What would actually be sustainable would be compassion, communication, and
the desire to understand the needs and wishes of one another.
All living beings want the same things: a safe home to raise their families, food and water, and a healthy life. A mosquito knows its purpose from the time it is born and it does all it can to accomplish that in its brief 24 hours of life. We are given infinitely more time than mosquitoes, yet we let ourselves become involved in so much that goes against those basic needs and desires.
How much more constructive would "peace talks" be if they actually tried
to understand all of the people involved?
How much more support would
we have for protecting and preserving our planet and our children's
future if we had constructive dialogues between corporations and
environmental protection groups?
What if we stopped using fear-mongering words and instead chose words that actually described what we supported?
Well, I shall get off of my soapbox. I hope that this short novel has given you some intriguing food for thought.
In other news, we had our first thunderstorm of the season today, officially marking the coming of cooler weather! I hope that you are having a lovely October, wherever you are.
Un gran abbracio,
Daniella
