One month from today, I came to Israel and began a journey that long awaited me, constantly calling for years - only to put it on the back burner until the smoke consumed me. I’ve never been able to correctly explain the connection I’ve felt towards Israel and the aversion. It has always pulled at my heart and warmed it at the same time. I wanted to start writing sooner, but I am just beginning to make out what I have seen and heard - the words I’ve ingested are now only being deciphered and still, it is too soon to make conclusions. I am purely meant to take it in and be open to every story I learn and face I see. To question and wonder and make others feel safe in sharing. It’s an emotional journey at the least and to say I am merely a bystander is not true. I am here to help and support people in Israel who are just trying to live fully. Some may say it is wrong to even step foot on this sand - but I beg you to question your own knowledge of this place and of the actual people living here. Do you know about the Israeli Palestinians, Druze, Bedouins, Ethiopians, Karaites, Eritreans and the Bahá'í? I am barely starting to discern their narratives - my heart begging to dig deeper. To say this is a two way conflict, is neglecting the stories of these people I name, it’s turning a blind eye to the other ten sides that play a vital role in this land. I ask you, as I ask myself, to search for the true stories rather than the media - force yourself to be open to those you may disagree with. It will surprise you how human the other sides are - how similar their histories may be. I come here with regret - because I have not been receptive to the other side in my own country. I have only looked at them with disgust and vacant understanding. And already I know - this disdain for the other will never bring people together. It will never console the pain within - it will create distance and widen the gap that is so hard to close in the first place. I beg you to look at them with a wider lens, and quiet your assumptions, if just for a moment. The other may surprise you or may prove you right. Either way, you will finally know their truth.