Seekers' thoughts

Post 1 – Learning to Live surrounded by Death

The great irony is that we are always, all at once, surrounded by death. People are always dying around us from many different causes.  

But what I felt in Palestine is that death is more heavy, more palpable. For they are a people fighting to live. 

It seems to be brushed aside living in the UK, at least from my experience. And a result borne out of this lack of feel for death is, ironically, a lack of feel for life. Or perhaps it’s the other way around: that life became unserious, materialistic, trivial and therefore so did death.  

True feeling for life – that is what I experienced in Palestine. Despite being surrounded by death in the most visible and unavoidable way, the people I lived with for almost a year seemed so full of life. I met people who love to live.  

It was the strangest feeling – especially with the terrible things happening in Gaza, that I don’t recall feeling unsafe. Despite the very real, looming danger, it was hard to feel scared or worried with all of the smiling and joyful people walking around. Yet they were a serious and strong people, too. Not naive in the slightest, nor carrying infantile hope.  

I was fortunate to spend 10 months teaching in Nablus, a beautiful city in the West Bank. This will be my first of a series of posts about my time there. I hope you will join me here to read more about the People of Palestine.

The picture is the sunset in Nablus, taken by my wife 🙂