My first kiss
happened to me when I was 17 . My first car accident, when I was
almost 20. My first encounter with Israeli happened when I was
22. One of my friends, her brother and I were on an Caribbean island,
owned by Honduras, for some diving courses. My instructor, who
convinced me to go over my fear for drowning by diving beneath the
surface of the big ocean, was from this nation. He had big grey eyes,
I kept on focusing, when I took my first steps (sorry for the word)
in Waterworld. On this pirate island we met also other Israeli, and
spent some time with them. They were cool young people, with a weird
accent, not the military people you see on the television around 7pm,
or the dark people with curly hair, big black hats and coats, and all
looking pale and selling diamonds in some neighbourhood in Antwerp.
They looked like us. In many different meanings. One of the best
quotes, an Israeli told me, is that when you sit with 7 israeli's on
one table, you will have 70 different opinions.
I'll come later
back on this quote. First...
Opinions.
The evening before
I sit here, in the Starbucks of the Brussels Airport, enjoying my hot
chocolate (I love my Belgian sweets), I was interviewed by a Master
student, doing a research about female solo travelers. One of
the questions she asked, was how traveling had changed me.
After talking a lot, and thinking -also, yes- I realized I got less
strong opinions. When I was 18 year old, just in university, I
told everyone I was left-winged, loved Che Guevara, believed in
communism... while I didn't know so much about it. You got
confronted, during your life, with opinions, and the arguments behind
it, with stories and life experiences... and then what I learnt,
after hearing stories, reading, getting in discussions... is that I
rather don't want to have an opinion. People say you're not strong if
you don't have an opinion, but sometimes, in a world, where everybody
is so free to share it everywhere on the social media what he
thinks... I prefer not to have an opinion in everything, and just
listen, and learn. I told the researcher I started to see the
world from black-white to a more grey spectrum.
Even several weeks
ago, in the mountains of Bulgaria, one of my close friends and I had
a discussion about Israel and Palestina. She had an opinion. I
didn't. I didn't know enough to have an opinion, certainly not about
a place where I only heard and read stories, and even if I would go
there, live there... I don't think I will ever know enough to have an
opinion. I just am against the fact that innocents die on both sides,
so I am rather against war than against a policy or a country. If you
choose a side, you bond, yes, with all the others, on this side,
against the other side, but if you're in the middle, maybe you're the
biggest fool, yes, or maybe the bravest soul. I don't know. I don't
want to call myself brave. What do you think ? I feel it is
better if people rather don't have an opinion and spread it through
the whole world, and give us more silence... but... not having an
opinion doesn't have you don't know your values. Not to have an
opinion opens space to listen, find more knowledge and stories... be
as openminded as possible, and there where there are open minded
people, you'll find tolerance. Or that is what I feel.
So, now,
this close friend and I will embark on a journey, where we want to
learn (more) about the conflict between Palestina and Israel,
explore why Jerusalem is so important for three world religions, the
culture of both entities, the food !, the nature, the geography,
the water management of Israel, which is apparently the best in the
world, and take my lessons back to Belgium, not necessarily to have
strong arguments to build an opinion, but to bring back stories,
pictures, film footage... to open dialogue for everyone interested.
And yes...
religion will be a big topic in the blogs of next two weeks.
Did I already tell
you that I hate flying ? It is ironic. I fly so much (I know
this doesn't help nature and the climate so much), and still I cross
my fingers, like I am going to pray, every moment the plane leaves
the ground. I don't call myself religious. I am baptised as
Christian, and did some Christian ceremonies, even today, on All
Saint's I went to the graveyard, to put flowers on the grave of my
grandfather. Still... I believe in something, and know the power of
believing very well, but I don't believe in one Almighty person, I
believe in the world, human and nature, and a future where they will
find harmony. This belief keeps me going. Still... I am interested to
learn more about other beliefs. There is some power in it, and if you
want to understand power, you've to understand the roots. I like to
be think in metaphors of trees, yes.
Whatever...
... first I need
to enjoy this little piece of Belgium in my cup, and continue
listening The Crystal Fighters. I love the song « Follow ».
It suits the theme of choosing a side, yes, so worth to mention it.
Besides this, this is just a great song of an amazing group. And yes... wait for my travel buddy. She seems to be a bit too late... hmm...
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