Show an Affirming Flame and a Wonderful Life

"Perhaps we need to give ourselves and others some space (of course without acquiescence to injustice), and remember all the good so many people do."

Photo courtesy: Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE) - Life carries on and forces us to think of what legacy we leave in it. Will we be destructive or productive? How much time do we spend to challenge destructive forces and how much to build?

For me, the most rewarding is seeing positive change in eyes of children coming to our museum and botanical garden. To see it in the increased critical thinking and questioning by my students.

As the semester closes soon, I can’t help but marvel at where they and we were and where they are now. Here is just a glimpse of the achievements of our Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability in 2022:

• 24 manuscripts published or submitted (include dedicated issue of Africana Studia to Palestine with 5 articles from our group; first climate change paper; first two high impact papers related to protected areas – Wetlands and Diversity Journals)
• National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan(NBSAP) completed (Stage 2 of EQA consultancy)
• Education and awareness for mainstreaming and public engagement in formulation of the new NBSAP (CeBio-Belgium Fourth Grant).
• Children education project continues (funded by Elena Probst)
• Cremisan Project of education and farming support in full swing (funded by Don Bosco)
• Project on medicinal plants propagation produced good results (Swiss funded)
• Renovation & building project for north building ongoing with designs made by Center for Cultural Heritage Protection (funded by American Schools and Hospitals Abroad and Munib & Angela Masri Foundation)
• Project on sustaining human and biological diversity accelerated including launching Mobile Educational Unit, Second biodiversity convention, exchange visits, workshops and more (EU funded)
• Project for molecular research including environmental DNA ongoing and producing good results including three staff members who traveled to work at the Natural History Museum laboratories and collections in London (funded by Royal Society)
• Crowdfunding campaign for a children's room at the Museum exceeded our expectation and for a truck raised $10,500 (we still need an additional $15-20k)
• Qumsiyeh on National Climate Change advisory board
• Bethlehem University ranks 7th of the 21 Palestinian universities in research for with top researcher Mazin Qumsiyeh. See: www.adscientificindex.com/university-ranking/?country_code=ps
• ...and much more (annual report forthcoming with details and photos).

I think of lyrics of Louis Armstrong’s song "What A Wonderful World":

I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see them bloom, for me and you.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue, And clouds of white.
The bright blessed day, The dark sacred night.
And I think to myself, What a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow, So pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces, Of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands. Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying, "I love you".
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more, Than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself, What a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself, What a wonderful world.

And, we remember the wisdom of WH Auden, 1939:

“Defenseless under the night Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light;
Flash out wherever the Just; Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same;
Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame.”

The sage advice collected from readers in 2016 about what Palestinians should do, still worth reading:

Popular Resistance Jan.2016

Soon after that, I wrote this to my email list:

"Here in Palestine, I sometimes think my expectations of people are too high. I want to them to work harder. I want my students at three universities to read and think more. I want them all to act with ethical considerations towards all living beings.
"I sometimes chastise a child using a sling shot to hunt birds. I want those employed to be charitable to those unemployed or impoverished. I want the uncomfortable to be comforted and the comfortable elite to feel a bit more uncomfortable (facing their conscience).
"I wish more people join civil disobedience and other forms of resistance. I wish government officials work at 20% efficiency instead of 5%. I want oppressors to stop oppressing now. I also expect too much of myself.
"I have to be careful of expectations and reality. People do what people do. Perhaps we need to give ourselves and others some space (of course without acquiescence to injustice), and remember all the good so many people do."