Between Gaza and Salem

Yesterday when I was leaving my last class of the week and heading to my room, a lot of things came to my attention as obviously as they had never before. Looking more deeply around and above me and irresistibly getting to evoke some memories of things I used to see in Gaza, I thought that it would be a good post on my blog to address two major differences a Palestinian coming from Gaza would experience in Salem, VA.

The difference that I most commonly experience is the sound of planes. Living on a campus very close to an airport, I daily get to hear the sounds of planes taking off and crossing the high sky. For non-Palestinians, hearing this voice might not cause so many worries. In contrast, it pretty much could be interpreted as the voice of a means of travelling to spend a vacation in -for example- Italy or Norway; it also could mean that somebody got a job in another country and he/she is travelling to get it, and it likely means that a very important figure is coming to one's region to deliver a speech about an interesting issue. However, these interpretations cannot be further from what a  Palestinian would expect when hearing the voice of a plane. Personally, I never heard the voice of an aircraft, but immediately afterwards knew the news that there was either a house bombed, a whole family annihilated, a farm rocketed or at least a national leader targeted! In Palestine, there used to be one airport, which was only one way for Palestinians to "break down" the sound of planes into peaceful meanings about travel purposes. Yet, Israel had a different opinion which required "bombing" this airport, made completely for humanitarian needs. Ever since I was a child, I knew that a plane is something very dangerous, and I would get extremely worried about who or what is going to be targeted after hearing such a sound. Something even more weirdly interesting? For a man who has long been waiting for his woman to get pregnant, the sound of a plane means worrying that the extremely horrifying sound of a bombing is going to get his woman to abort their child! And it happened over five times in one week during the first Israeli war on Gaza in 2008-2009... .

Still looking around, I just abstain from further meditation into these black and bloody memories, and I choose to entertain myself by looking at the captivating scene of falling leaves, beautifully coloring the ground with golden and brown colors! It is not a matter of my choice to decide not to remember, but being a Palestinian -particularly from Gaza- will always has its effect on each and every single situation of my life. Seeing this miraculous beauty of the Fall brings back to me how the past Fall witnessed the falling of many martyrs, buildings and Palestinian dreams of peace and safety! Still very much present in my mind, the second Israeli war on Gaza came back to my memory, and substituted the fore-mentioned scene of golden and brown colors of ground for a scene of purely red blood and completely grey buildings ashes covering most of the land all over Gaza!

Experiencing such differences on a daily basis is not only a way for me to learn how to appreciate the blessings of peace, safety and security, but it also is a way for me to get even more motivated to work for a better  future of the Palestinian nation. It gives me further motive to do well in my classes, and a more compelling drive to bring back to Palestine the values and education that would constructively build a safer place for the next generation to live in.