Rooted in my head

This was the top scorer in the empathy category for a teen essay contest for Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians that was sponsored by Heart of a Nation. The essay prompt was “What do you most want to improve about your own society and how?” Scoring was done by the organization; the Monitor supported this cross-cultural program by agreeing to publish the top essays. Views are those of the writer, who lives in McLean, Virginia.

“I’m Tamar,”
Said a girl with flowing, golden hair.
We sat by the fence outside a Haifa hostel.
As she told me about all the drama in her grade.
I told her about the drama in my group.

As her friends came over,
We talked about the local mall
That I went to.
I told her how much better it was
Than the malls in America.
She said the opposite.
Tamar told me how much she wanted to visit New York City.
I told her how excited I was to go to Tel Aviv.

We compared our vastly different lives
Until my group’s rabbi dragged us to our rooms.
We hugged each other,
Got each other’s Instagram,
Then said goodnight.

In bed that night,
I stared out the window.
I considered sneaking out of my room
Just to talk to my new friends
And learn about a life that I thought was so different than mine
Yet to my surprise,
also so similar.

Two weeks later,
My group went to the Roots program
In the West Bank.
The program leader’s story
Nearly brought me to tears.
He described his exuberant brother,
Killed innocently by Israeli forces.
He talked about meeting an Israeli mother
Unwilling to meet her at first,
Yet crying when he found out
Her daughter died in a bombing.

He created the Roots program
To do something he wished he could have done
Years ago.
To talk through the tension.
Israeli and Palestinian teens joined together
to discuss 20% politics,
The rest about soccer
Or fashion
Or school.

Afterward I walked back into the bus,
Not wanting to leave.
Wanting to learn more,
To attend one of these meetings,
Maybe just sit in the background
And to listen to them talk.
Two separate groups of people,
Groups that are supposed to hate each other,
Yet still have the courage to meet every two weeks
And talk about
The most random things,
Trying to find
Common ground.

Two months after leaving Israel,
I lie awake in my bed
Thinking about Tamar
And the Roots program.
I think about
How so many adults
In Israel and Palestine
Are busy hurting one another
While children are trying to mend this damage
By simply holding a conversation with each other.

I think about how much more I could have learned from Tamar,
And how much more she could have learned from me.
I think about how different the world could be
If everyone just took a few minutes
To strike up a conversation with someone
From a different country,
Someone who speaks a foreign language,
Or from an unfamiliar culture.
How much more peaceful
This world could be.

Rachel, from McLean, Virginia, is a junior at Flint Hill School who manages the women’s soccer team and runs its social media accounts. She enjoys hanging out with her friends and baking chocolate desserts. She also collects rubber ducks.

To read other Heart of a Nation Teen Essay Competition entries, visit Teens Share Solutions to Global Issues.