September 9 2011 kids in Palestine

Today I am grateful for Palestinian children. While they deal with alot of things most adults around the world don't have to. They remain positive and creative. I am impressed with their ability to pretend. For the most part they don't have to deal with society telling them pretending is babyish or beneath them. Due to not having alot of material things as well as not having alot of options for entertainment due to the occupation they are led to be imaginative in their play. I think the hospitality of the culture also guides them to make friends easily. As I was washing windows today I looked out the window and noticed my son and his 13 year old friend doing a little greeting handshake dance. You could see the excitement with which they approached each other and the sincerity in their greeting. They didn't seem to be holding anything back emotionally but rather expressing their joy in seeing each other through physical movement as well as big wide grins on their faces. None of the macho fives or handshakes with a stern look that I am used to seeing in the states. They also have a fifteen year old friend who seems to have no thought as to their being a stigma associated with being a fifteen year old boy wearing a mickey mouse hat and holding a stick pretending to be an english teacher. My neighbor (colas best friends family) Have four kids they are very friendly and made us welcome from the beginning. The youngest daughter is four and plays with my four year old. She has no fear of coming over to my house and saying where is Jude? Can I have a banana? I love bananas....and on and on and on... she is my buddy and dishes out all the gossip in the building. She can only say a few things in English like Come Come Come she says that alot to Jude but for the most part she chatters away in Arabic. Self consciousness seems to be much less of an issue here. Relationships with others seem to hold a much higher place than they do in the states. Interaction is a necessary part of survival here. I feel positive about this aspect of living here. I am glad that my kids get to be more uninhibited and trusting than they have ever been allowed to be in the states. I am enjoying raising my kids as part of a village and in turn helping to raise the other kids in the village.