borders

well, i have decided to go back to the states. it was s very difficult decision, one that literally i have left to the last minute to make, but it just feels like the right thing to do right now. i did have a great last couple days in the west bank and in jerusalem, however, and it makes me feel really good about coming back here soon.

i went to visit abed in arora, staying at his house. it was incredibly beautiful, the land so green, the trees flowering. i have never seen palestine in this season, and its incredible. and cold! i spent one night freezing, underdressed and no heat, but i managed because of the warm hospitality!

abed and the union leadership are very excited about the clinic, and they are getting to work on fixing the room up for it, and getting supplies. abed, bless his heart, is my biggest supporter, and he said he wants to make fliers and pass them out at the factories telling workers what acupuncture is good for and why they need to come get it. he is my best advocate. he knows everyone in ramallah, and everywhere we go together he tells them, this is my friend mateo, chinese doctor, with the needles! and every person says, "you see, i have this back problem..." or "my neck..." or "my wife has insomnia..." or "there was an acupuncturist in ramallah once, but he charged $100 per visit and after a few months he left town." so people are really enthusiastic. i guess we'll see.

also, abed showed me, from his house, across the valley, on the top of the "mount" as he calls it, the place where a peace village is being built. its supposed to be for christians, jews, muslims, buddhists, anyone can live there. and he supports it and thinks its a great idea. it just gets me thinking...

i go back to jerusalem, through the steel and they x-rayed my organic grapefruit, lemons, and olives from abed's field. thanks!

back in jerusalem i met some ism'ers in the palm hostel, and it was a great conversation through the night. it felt really good to have some good discussions with these folks, i felt an immediate kinship with them. its hard to not do that work anymore, the homestays to prevent house demolitions, the direct action in bil'in, the checkpoint watch. but the head ism coordinator made me feel a lot better about it when he acknowledged that providing acupuncture to ismers or to the community IS being onthe front lines, and is far more important, because not everyone has that tool to offer. i have felt like that, but it was nice to hear that from an "outsider" and helped me feel more comfortable in blending my roles. hisham said that he supports and defends me 100%, and wants to participate in a training, despite his stroke that left his right side paralyzed. he also says that training israeli activists and others in the technique can be of huge benefit in the long term as well, and he wants to organize those trainings. finally! something that resonates with the grassroots! no more of the stuffy, pristine clinic of the trc! yeah!

now i have to travel to eilat, on the border of egypt. i must get a visa from the consulate before entering, which is closed on friday, the muslim holiday, and saturday, the jewish one, so i have to wait until sunday. these borders are so ridiculous. i am essentially stranded here on the border, against my will, but its merely an inconvenience. obviously for many others borders represent so much more. but the principle is what i am trying to highlight.

i am here in eilat and happened to look at the pictures on a camera that a friend passed along to me that was intended for gaza. i was checking to see if it worked and i noticed that there were pictures on it. (i wasn't trying to be nosy!) the pictures were of family at mammoth cave, in kentucky. it made me so sad to think that these pictures, this simple thing, will never arrive to its destination, the imprisoned family members in gaza. another stark reminder of the inhumanity of these borders.

skip the next part if you dont want to hear about a small story that had a chain reaction in my head, its long and probably a ramble:

i wanted to share an experience, i hope its not too long. i was on the microbus to ramallah in the morning from arora and i witnessed something very interesting. a boy was sitting by the window and he immediately opened it. young, energetic and antsy, he was happy to have the wind blowing in his face. the older man in his 60s in the seat behind him was not so pleased. he had no scarf on and it was very cold in the morning. he waited a few minutes, but you could tell he wasnt happy. soon he pushed the window to almost shut. without hesitating, the boy immediately opened it to its original place. the man grumbled, waited, closed it again. the boy opened it. he closed it. it went on like this for almost 15 minutes. there was no talking, but both were pushing one another's limits with this physical language. it was surprising to me on a lot of levels. one, because the boy was so brazenly defiant to an elder, which i dont see often in any society, especially this one. and two, i was waiting for the older man to pull the "age" card and say "enough!", but he never did. he just kept sliding the window almost closed. actually, it was interesting because both had a right, and neither verbally asserted that their personal needs were any more important that the others. this was surprising to me, becuase i was expecting that to be the basis of an argument. but neither did. it seemed like two people from the same small village could talk about something, explain to one another what they needed and come to an agreement, but it almost seemed like a verbal engagement was too intimate, would have taken the thing to another level. so they kept it where it was. it ended finally when a woman in the front seat got off the bus, and the boy went to that window seat and opened the window all the way, and the man closed his window. i dont know why this scene struck me so powerfully, that i am thinking about it days afterwards. perhaps the nature of this conflict, one that is within a discrete time period, i.e. has a definite beginning and certain end (when the bus ride ends) allowed for it to never go to the level of verbal argument. maybe when we can see that the end of the conflict is near, or even that it has an end, we can endure a lot more. but when we look at the future, try to predict what might happen and include time as a factor, and we see that our situation might potentially go on for a long time, if not indefinitely, we become much more agitated, desperate even. indeed, our perception of time is a serious factor when we consider what discomfort we can endure.

a microcosm of conflict. all the essential elements were there. maybe it seems trite. anyway, i know that was long and probably not nearly as meaningful to anyone else, but i felt like i needed to write about it!