On a return to normalcy

There was a bit of a war here the other week. You might have heard something about it. What you didn't hear was anything about it on my blog. I was obsessively watching the news, checking Facebook, posting all sorts of links, articles and updates on my own Facebook page, and trying to actually get some work done with one ear half-cocked to listen for the sirens. Blogging pretty photos just didn't seem to fit into the picture.

The thing is, the war didn't exactly reach my city. Just a few miles outside of Tel Aviv, we were close enough to hear the boom of the Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries as their missiles did their job to stop the deadly Hamas rockets from getting through, but far enough away that the sirens didn't reach us. While hundreds of thousands of people in the south sat in bomb shelters, while my husband and son had to stand by the side of the road when the sirens went off in Tel Aviv (yes, they should have laid down, they didn't), life here in our little bubble went on. Kids had school, after-school activities were still on (don't mind the booms, kids, that's just the Iron Dome and it's far away, at least 8 or 10 miles from here...), I was still expected to produce respectable deliverables for my job, but at the same time it became all-consuming. The war hadn't come this close before, and it was a week of wondering if the next red alert notification on the radio would be for us. If the whine of the jet engines from the planes temporarily rerouted to the north (and straight over my house) was just that, or was it the first whine of a siren.

It's been nearly a week since it ended now, and the ceasefire appears to be holding, and life has returned to what passes for normal in this little corner of the world.

And it finally feels right to begin blogging again, adding my own little bit of normalcy back into the equation with this image of a still proudly standing Tel Aviv. Still here, still thriving, still full of life.

Dreamscape

I hope you're not getting tired of anemone shots. The weather has been so utterly craptastic here all winter that opportunities to get out and shoot something new have been few and far between.

On a happier note, I had the wonderful opportunity today to begin helping out a group of Palestinian women who make the most beautiful textiles, combining traditional embroidery with more modern design. They're looking to put out a catalog to begin selling their products internationally and have asked for some mentoring-style help in learning how to photograph the items. 

After an explanation of the program and how it seeks to empower local village women who would otherwise not have very many opportunities to earn a living and support their families, followed by a delicious traditional Palestinian lunch (yellow lentil soup, a type of chicken musakhkhan (I think), and lots of homemade pickles, followed by cookies and a chocolate cake the women in a cooking and baking workshop had made the day before (they also host meals for both small and large groups, if anyone is interested contact me for more details)) we talked some basic photography - composition, natural light, the basic building blocks of a good image. While I'll be returning next week to shoot some of the production process for the most part they'll be doing their own photography using a small point and shoot camera, so I kept the discussion focused on simple methods and techniques they'll be able to implement on whatever equipment they have available. Their textiles are really lovely, and I was very touched when they insisted on giving me a beautiful embroidered bag that was just the right size for that wide-angle lens that was sitting bagless in my camera bag (and then I was completely taken aback when the director insisted on giving me another bag as well after that, what a treat). Of all their projects, one of the ones that stood out the most was a joint effort with an Israeli women's organization to produce desk accessories (memo pad holders, etc.) that combine swatches of Palestinian embroidery with recycled cardboard accessories made by the Israeli women, all in the name of peace and mutual understanding. 

All in all, a really special way to spend a day (once I finally managed to meet up with the friend who'd invited me and head to the village just outside of the city! My GPS went utterly insane when it entered Jerusalem today and sent me on an hourlong wild goose chase all over East Jerusalem, complete with bumper to bumper traffic, competing directions from passers-by, and my ever-increasing frustration as I saw my much needed bathroom break growing farther and farther away! When I finally found the meeting point - an hour late - my GPS was STILL telling me to keep driving, that I'd be there in another 12 minutes!).

Visit Ruby Tuesday 2 for more red images from around the world.

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Dona Nobis Pacem

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If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

      -- Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) 

He's right of course. But perhaps, with more openness, more listening, more tolerance, more genuine efforts to understand, and true support for diversity in the world, there would be fewer of them in the first place, and the barriers to those conversations would be lower.

Dona Nobis Pacem - Grant Us Peace

Better yet, grant us the strength and the wisdom reach out and take it for ourselves.

Blogblast for Peace 2011

1,941 Days

It's finally over. Welcome home Gilad, welcome home.

Slowly But Only Forward in Tel Aviv

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This slogan painted on a utility box in Tel Aviv seemed appropriate to share as we move from the introspection of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, towards the future and promise of the new year. Will this be a year of progress and potential, as individuals and as a nation, or will it be a year of pain and backsliding? 

The decision is in our hands.

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Dona Nobis Pacem

BlogBlast for Peace 2010

Dona Nobis Pacem

Click to enlarge

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Now, more than ever.

Because if anything, we're even further away than we were last year.

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Dona Nobis Pacem. Grant us peace.

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Olive Branch in Wind

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Because the world doesn't need any more war.

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Click to enlarge, then visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying.

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They don't go away when Veterans Day ends

*putting on my American hat today*

One and a half million sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers, neighbors, and friends.

One and a half million US service members have put their lives and families on hold to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some believe in the cause, others don't, but they all believe in their duty to serve and protect, and have made tremendous personal sacrifices to do so.

Over thirty thousand service members have been physically wounded, but many more have experienced less visible but no less traumatic psychological wounds. Numerous veterans are returning home suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, with all that that entails, including increasing rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and domestic violence.

These traumatic affects of conflict, left unaddressed, could have far-reaching negative consequences for the individuals affected, their families, their communities, and our entire country.

I've spoken to you before of Survivor Corps’ work among those affected by war around the world. They are working just as hard to help the less obvious victims of war in our own backyard - our veterans.

YOU CAN HELP!

Operation Survivor
Survivor Corps has shown time and again that community reintegration is a key factor in victims' overcoming this trauma. Survivor Corps is building peer support programs at the community level. These programs bring service members and veterans together for mutual support and encourage both individual responsibility and collective action to help others in need. Survivor Corps' alternative “treatment” can be made readily available in all communities, even those beyond the reach of traditional military or government centers of support.

Click Here to read more about Operation Survivor and to see what you can do to help.

We failed them after Vietnam. We owe it to those who suffered then, who continue to suffer now, to learn from their legacy of pain and isolation and do better for those who struggle now.
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Dona Nobis Pacem

Dona nobis pacem - grant us peace.

A noble sentiment to be sure, but is it really what we should be focusing on? Should we really be sitting still waiting for this elusive peace to be granted to us, or should we be reaching forward, inch by inch, day by day, stretching out our fingertips until we can take hold of it and clasp it tightly to our breast?

Today of all days, when the world is still reeling with joyful tears and the belief that a new day is dawning, we need to stand up and be counted.

Peace does not come to those who do nothing. It doesn't come to those who sit home waiting for others to act. It doesn't come to those who dwell on hatred and fear. It doesn't come to those who look for differences instead of commonalities.

Our words, our actions, our trust, our belief can set us on the road to peace. It is not an easy road. There are many who seek to prevent us from reaching the end, but there is safety in numbers. There is hope in numbers. There is ABILITY in numbers.

Together we can make it happen. Together we can show the naysayers and the non-believers that it can be done. Together, we MUST make it happen. For us. For our children. For our neighbors. For their children. For ALL the children.

YES WE CAN.

Don't wait for peace to be granted. Put aside your doubts and fears and reach out and make it so.

Peace will come, and let it begin with me.

Come with us. Join the Blog Blast for Peace. Do it now.

Peace Will Come
Words and Music by Tom Paxton

Peace
Peace will
Peace will come
And let it begin with me

We
We need
We need peace
And let it begin with me

Oh, my own life is all I can hope to control.
Oh, let my life be lived for the good,
Good of my soul.

Let it bring
Peace
Sweet peace
Peace will come
And let it begin with me.

Click here to listen to a short clip from Tom Paxton's Peace Will Come.

Red with a message

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I snapped this photo of a t-shirt on display at a music festival I attended last month, figuring that the right moment to share it would come along - and so it has.
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Here is my contribution to this week's Ruby Tuesday. It's good to be back.
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Rebuilding a better world, one survivor at a time

Most people have heard at least something about the international campaign to ban landmines. Many have even heard that the late Princess Diana was involved. For most of us though, that is as far as it goes.

Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Jerry White, let alone known that he is a leader in the international fight against landmines. I didn't know that he has this calling because he himself lost his leg to a landmine when he entered an unmarked minefield in the north of Israel, my own country, in 1984. I didn't know about his struggle to redefine his life after his accident, to choose survival, and I didn't know that he had taken it one step further, going on to found the Nobel Peace Price-winning Landmine Survivors Network (LSN), the same organization that Princess Diana was involved with.

I didn't know that he had recently expanded LSN's mission from aiding those injured by landmines to aiding all those who are victims of the worst epidemic of all - the very preventable epidemic of war and violence. The new mission bears a new name as well - Survivor Corps - which reflects both its calling and its philosophy.

Now I know, and I am proud to help spread the word. As you can see from their website,

"Survivor Corps is a nonprofit organization that serves victims of global conflict, by providing tools and support to help them rebuild their lives, improve their communities, and ultimately work together to break the cycle of violence in the world."

They do this through peer support, training and international advocacy, right in the affected communities. After all, who has more of a stake in ending a conflict than those scarred by it? Take some time to visit Survivor Corps' website and read their stories.

Innocent bystanders in faraway places are not the only ones who need encouragement to choose survival. Soldiers returning home from war also need support. Survivor Corps is launching a special program to help American Service members connect with each other and their communities to work together to heal the trauma of war and re-find their place in the world.

Jerry White has taken the lessons he has learned from his journey, and the innumerable lessons he has gathered from others who walk their own paths towards survival, and has written a book - I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis - which strives to answer the question "given that bad things do happen, how do people absorb the blows and move through them?" How do we come back after a major life blow - a death, an illness, an accident, loss of a loved one, loss of a job... What determines whether we sink into despair or claw our way back into the light?

I am pleased to announce that Around the Island will be a stop on I Will Not Be Broken's upcoming blogosphere book tour and look forward to sharing my impressions with you. Given what I've read of Jerry White's story so far (and the sneak preview I got of the first few chapters) it's sure to be a powerful and inspiring read.

Thursday Thirteen #12 - 13 Anti-War Songs

Sunday is Israel's Memorial Day. As a young country born of and in many ways still of war, Memorial Day is taken VERY seriously here. It is a day of ceremonies, of quiet reflection, of soft, sad music on the radio (yes, there is an entire genre like that). Memorial Day, as all Jewish holidays, actually starts at sundown the evening before. The solemnity of the day begins with a 2 minute siren all across the country. While the siren is going everything comes to a standstill - cars on the highway come to a halt while their drivers stand silently by, remembering, thinking. Shoppers in stores stand still, listening. All over the country you see people standing quietly and remembering the ultimate sacrifice made by so many to give us the country we have today. At 10 o'clock the following morning the sirens wail again, and again, everything stops. The different branches of the army and the police hold memorial services for their fallen, other ceremonies remember those lost to terrorism. All places of entertainment are closed.

As the day progresses and darkness falls, Israel moves from grief to celebration. The conclusion of Memorial Day moves straight into the celebration of Independence Day, which begins at 8pm that evening. How wise were the founders of this country, to inextricably link these two days, so that it is impossible to rejoice in what we have without reflecting on how we got here.

To mark Israeli Memorial Day with my own futile but fervent wish that these sacrifices should end, that we should "study war no more", I offer you 13 anti-war songs. These songs come from different countries and different wars and convey their message in vastly different ways, but wherever it strikes the tragedy of war is the same. I hope that you will choose to listen and take a moment to reflect on their message, and to imagine the shape of a world without war.

1. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - The Pogues
2. Christmas in the Trenches - John McCutcheon
3. Through the Night - Ray Scudero - (You may have to pick "Through the Night" to see the actual lyrics, but they are well worth the extra click. To hear a clip, listen to Track 15
4. I Ain't Marchin' Anymore - Phil Ochs
5. The Patriot Game - The Dubliners
6. No Bomb is Smart - SONiA (listen to Track 6)
7. There Were Roses - Tommy Sands - a hauntingly beautiful song about a true event. I had the privilege of seeing him in concert several times last spring. When I told him that as many times as I heard the song it made me cry every single time, he shared with me that the men in the song had been friends of his, and that it had taken him 10 years to be able to put words to their story.
8. Draft Dodger Rag - Phil Ochs
9. Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire
10. The Grave - Don McLean - another powerfully haunting song
11. The I Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die Rag - Country Joe and the Fish
12. Kill For Peace - Oscar Brand (sorry, couldn't find a link for this one)
13. Peace Will Come - Tom Paxton

And following in the spirit of Memorial Day, next week's list will move from sadness to joy, with 13 celebrations of life in Israel.




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