Tear gas containers that were used upon people in a place torn by war- a war that is driven by the demand for a land that is deemed to belong to one because of a 5000 year old religious text and deemed to belong to the other because they were there long ago and stayed there.
A land within an area that has been at war with themselves for centuries with no end in sight.
Yet, amid the devastation that is occurring, one woman is quietly and peacefully resisting the carnage that she has most likely witnessed and is creating beauty within it.
Her name is unknown as of yet, but she is a Palestinian woman and she is taking spent tear gas containers, making them into flower pots, and planting them. And it isn’t just her.
It’s the whole village of Bil’in.
Beauty and life is being brought about, using the left overs of war, and it is being done in such a way that new life is being created. Beauty, even with the sorrow, tears, blood shed, and death, is showing her face now.
Bil’in in Palestine.
The village is Bil’in in Palestine. The Israeli army raided the peacefully resisting village two nights in a row this past April. They violently entered homes and searched the houses, causing panic among the residents of this village.
Bil’in is one of the disputed territories in the West Bank.
Philosophical View From An American Feminist.
The thing that stands out the most to me in all of this, is that a woman began this peaceful resistance.
And she did it in the way that women and the feminine were once viewed as sacred.
She is nurturing and creating life, bringing about beauty and loveliness in a time of great distress, a time of hatred, and a time of war. And a whole village has come together to join this woman in doing so.
When it comes to gender roles, people often have strict views that a woman’s role is to be in the kitchen, taking care of her man, and her children, just as they have strict views of men’s roles of being the bread winner, and working hard to provide for his family.
However, both are so much more than that!
And, to me, this little glimpse of peaceful resistance is a strong reinforcement of that belief. Women and men are so much more than the gender roles that are viewed as set in stone.
People are so much more than what we give them credit for.
Final Thought.
Shalom. Shalaam. Peace be with you.
May peace grow within and without.
Shalom. Shalaam. May it be.
Edited/Published by: SB
