The Uber car driver’s eyes were on the road, but he would glance in the mirror back to me almost crying as he beseechingly wanted me to understand. He moved recently here to Chicago and when I asked where he was from he said Isreal but that he was Palestinian. And thus it began …
.
He
said, and I paraphrase, “The world is told that Isrealis and Palestinians are mortal enemies. This is a lie. Of course there is hate and extremists on both sides, but mostly in daily life we rely on each other. We work together. We’re friends. We care about each other.”
.
He continued, “You don’t see in the news how many of us want peace. There are protests and actions by all types of people in Isreal for peace. And that desire is on both sides of the border in the common person.” His eyes pleaded with me in the mirror as if it deeply mattered personally for this truth to be known. He shared further that he had worked at a research center in Isreal where people of many religions and countries worked together for sustainable energy research.
.
And thus I reflect. This man shared a vision we do not often hear. When we believe the well-orchestrated fear-based news that flashes across our screens daily reinforcing the idea of ancient enemies, fear, and separation, this deeply pains our soul. This is because it negates the unwavering truth that we know even more deeply – in our being; that even as you read these words, on both sides of the border, a mother holds her dead child sobbing at this unspeakable loss. Each mother in that moment has no nationality, no religion, no history, or political position. This mother’s love and grief is sacred and universal and can not be owned by a nation.
.
This non-labeled love is the point. It rests in the deep heart of all of us. The truth is that billions across this earth of all types are loving their family, friends, strangers, and are interacting harmoniously. Humanity also is kind and yearns to love.
.
Across all boundaries of skin, religion, gender, and nation, billions of members of this species are living this way. The greatest task facing us perhaps in human history is to stand firm in knowing this, to live this way, and to question the ancient tactic of creating enemies, division, and fear, to justify the controlling intentions hidden behind turning human against human. People’s fear can be easily manipulated by those in positions of influence who are, themselves, run blindly by it.
.
Its very true that war may be complex in origins, but that pales in comparison to the truth that answers and resolutions do exist. Undeniably, life is infinite in potential, but this requires us to see with new eyes, to represent and share this reality in daily life – even when the atmosphere is to fear and hate.
.
He parked as we arrived at my destination. I got out and so did he. We shook hands. Hands from different continents of this earth unified in a single moment, frozen in time. No artificial or man-made boundary between. I thanked him for sharing what seemed so important to him and that I was grateful to hear of this truth that I’ve intuited for years. He voiced an earnest gratitude for meeting me.
.
As his car, like at the end of a movie, disappeared into the dark night, leaving only me and the quiet moment, I thanked life for reminding me through this brief encounter with another soul, that the deepest truth is and will always be, that the veil of seeming separation is hiding the truth, that we are infinitely unique expressions of the One.
