As a member of Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land, I attended the encampment at the University of Utah this past Monday in support of our students.
As a Palestinian-American, my first assumption was that the encampment was erected in opposition to what is taking place in Gaza. However, as soon as I arrived and saw the crowd that had gathered and how diverse it was religiously, ethnically and nationality-wise, I was taken back to the sixties and the civil rights movement; the seventies and the protests against the war in Vietnam; and the eighties and the encampments against South African apartheid.
It was great to see the reincarnation of the spirit of freedom in our young students. Speakers at the U. encampment represented the environmental movement, the LGBTQIA+ movement, women’s rights, religiously devout students and dabkeh dancers, among others. These students are the living conscience of our society. They are the lanterns of light who are taking us forward to a better future and reigniting the desire for freedom, justice and equality for all. They are indeed a refreshing hope. In their faces, I could see that they are not only there for Gaza. They are there for humanity as one race, to enjoy this globe in peace and fairness, thriving on our similarities and aspirations and not on our fears and differences.
I would like to end with a passage from Khalil Gibran’s “The Prophet” as a message to our leaders who refuse to listen to the voice of reason:
Your children are not your children,
They are the sons and daughters of
Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
And He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Mustafa Khader, Sandy