I have a confession. I have what my sister calls, an obsessive personality. Trust me, it is not as bad as it sounds. Okay, maybe it is but I do not stalk people. I do however, stalk cultural events. Specifically, cultural programs surrounding the Middle East. Whether it’s a local film festival, language class, a documentary showing, cooking, art or even dance class, I want to be involved. I do this over and over and over again. Enter obsessive personality. The crazy thing is, the third or fourth time I do it is just as exciting as the first time. I am always learning something new.
This past winter I attended the Jewish film festival here in Atlanta, GA. My favorite film was a documentary called Dancing in Jaffa. The film followed ballroom extraordinaire Pierre Dulaine as he returned home to Jaffa to teach both Israeli and Arabic students how to dance. The twist, and it was a huge twist if you know even a tiny bit about Middle Eastern conflict, is that the students—the Israeli ones and the Arabic ones—were to dance together. You can imagine the faces of both the parents and children when Dulaine revealed his ultimate plan. Shock, immediate refusal and disgust are just a few words to describe the reactions. I enjoyed the film because it reminded me of how society can be—distant, and too often defined by labels. I’m this, you’re that type of thing. But at the end of the day, we’re all human, and we are all participants in this journey called life.
I was reminded of a few things:
- Segregation is a learned trait
- The innocence of children is contagiously beautiful
- It’s ok to be uncomfortable
- Hope lives among us all, even at the darkest times and in the darkest places
- Leading others is never easy, but it is worth it
- Laughter revives the soul and refreshes the spirit
- To give up is to fail
I wrote about my experience at the Jewish film festival, and a couple other things in an immersive essay called “Shalom! What’s Going On?"
This, essentially, is my mission as the Modern Scribe, to record what really is going on…
In the words of Marvin Gaye, “come on talk to me / so you can see / what’s going on / tell me what’s going on/ I’ll tell you what’s going on.”
My work, my aim, my passion is to exchange life stories that help us—me, you, him, her, them and even those people over there—figure out, just a little bit better what’s going on in this journey called life.
Do you dare join the journey?