First Week at Seeds of Peace

I’ve finished my first week at Seeds of Peace, and it feels as if time has slowed. I have been so overwhelmed with new experiences, ideas, and people that I feel I have learned more in this past week than this entire past semester.

I have been incredibly impressed and humbled by the caliber of staff and counselors that are here. We have counselors from Afghanastan, Iran, Israel, Palestine; counselors who have been working in Bombay, India and Madrid, Spain; counselors who speak over five languages. To be honest, I’ve found myself somewhat muted since I’ve been here (which is typical as I get comfortable in new situations) but specifically here as a wrestle with whether anything I have to say is significant around such intelligent and experienced people.

In respect to the diversity represented here (just among the counselors), it is the complete opposite of Gordon. Which isn’t to say that I’m targeting Gordon in any way – I love it; Gordon is simply very homogenous. Everyone comes from similar backgrounds, upbringings, beliefs, and ultimately share a similar conception of the world. My experience here at SOP is very similar to the one in which I was raised, surrounded by a plentitude of worldviews and opinions, and the unifying aspect of the community is not its similarity but diversity. It’s been a community I’ve been out of for so long, I’m still trying to figure out what my role is here.

I was very reassured today as other counselors voiced many of the questions that I’ve also been processing. In a mock dialogue session (similar to the ones that the campers participate in, where they discuss the conflict) we counselors discussed our views. The central theme that came up in our dialogue group was about having a stake in the issue. As a person who is not from the region, I have nothing at stake when I formulate opinions of who’s “right” or “wrong,” or who’s entitled to what. The question basically comes down to, who am I to tell someone they’re wrong when I risk nothing with my opinions, yet for them it is their entire life and identity.

We had two speakers provide two narratives for the conflict: the Palestinian narrative and the Israeli narrative. These narratives have the capacity of completely defining the communities that hold them, and subsequently defining the individuals in these communities. These individuals are born into these narratives at no choice of their own, and they typically view their side as the “neutral” or objective side. Yet I (or anyone outside the conflict) have the weighty and daunting opportunity to actually choose between the narratives.

So what is my role in this conflict? What is my right? Do I even have a right or legitimacy to make bold claims about things that do not affect me? I don’t know. Yet we seem to do it every day, about many different things. But in something as weighty as this, I don’t yet know my place. But I see humans and I see suffering. And I believe in the mission of Seeds of Peace, that if we simply provide a setting where these individuals on both sides can encounter the other and recognize the humanity of the other, perhaps they can find a solution. A solution is not mine to provide, but I hope to facilitate in providing a place where one can be found.

All that to say, I’m really looking forward to the campers arriving. It’s gonna be a ballin summer.