Yesterday I watched this great documentary called Make Hummus Not War by Trevor Graham. This short documentary uses hummus to discuss the history and politics around the conflict between the Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese.
One powerful quote from the documentary stayed with me:
“The wall is much more than a physical impediment. It is the embodiment of ugliness of the occupation. The worst horrors that you can see in the occupation. I’ve always described it as their attempt to steal your horizon. Their attempt to prevent you from seeing beyond this grey cement wall. But of course they imprison themselves on the other side because they steal their own horizons.” – Dr Hana Ashrawi, PLO Executive Committee, Ramallah
What struck me about this quote is that the idea of the wall and horizons can be applied to our everyday life. Many of us separate ourselves from others with metaphorical walls due to disagreements, cultural differences, language, and social discrimination. When we do this, we not only we block ourselves from a life filled with dreams, possibilities, friendships, choices and the ability to move forward, we block others.
We all have the right to see the horizon.
Featured image from Flickr.