Pat Taub
In our increasingly dark times, despair is a seductive force.
Many of us have been deeply affected by the 170 Iranian schoolgirls murdered by US bombs; ICE’s inhumane detention centers; and an increasingly unhinged President who is oblivious to how his policies are threatening WW lll.
The list is long, but if we limit our focus to the darkness, despair triumphs.
Experiencing despair
While it’s critical to be informed and to resist in whatever ways we can, life goes on, making it essential to develop practices to avoid sinking into a black hole.
For me, becoming a humanity detective is a boon to fighting off despair because it focuses on the forces of good that have the power to create peaceful change.
A humanity detective looks for examples in the news and in everyday life where courage, kindness and love are on display.
My recent list includes:
The Palestinian documentary, “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
A dramatization of the real story of the 6-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind, who hid among the corpses of her family members in their car after Israeli soldiers pelted it with gun shots.
Hind Rajab in her kindergarten graduation photo
Talking on a cell phone, retrieved from a deceased relative, Hind pleads with members of Palestine’s Red Crescent Society, “come get me.” Visibly moved, the operators struggle to keep their emotions at bay, while comforting Hind as they wait for Israel’s approval for an ambulance to rescue Hind.
After three hours of phone exchanges with Hind, the ambulance’s route is finally approved only to have the Israeli army blow up Hind’s car. When the last credits disappeared, I stayed glued to my seat, shaken by this powerful film, and furious over the lost lives of so many innocent Gazan children, while grateful for the deep caring of the Palestinians.
Actors portraying Red Cresent workers speaking to Hind
Stephen Kapos, 87, British citizen and Holocaust survivor.
Stephen is a regular presence at London’s peace protests, where elders form a significant presence.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur
Albanese’s documentation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza prompted the US to retaliate last summer by issuing sanctions against her forbidding her from entering the US, where she has a daughter. Additionally the sanctions bar her from obtaining a credit card or having a bank account. Albanese admits the sanctions have made her life difficult, but courageously responds, “They got the wrong person.”
Humanitarian Coalition to Cuba
Cuba is barely holding on after Trump’s imposed oil blockade. In response, Progressive International along with Codepink, the women’s peace group, has recruited 150 volunteers, who will fly to Cuba on March 21st, bringing 6,300 pounds of medicine and supplies.
Shelia Hicks, 90, artist
Hicks, a renowned fiber artist has been referred to as “living proof that creativity does not recognize age.” At ninety, her work remains vibrant, bold, and full of life—demonstrating that thread, in the hands of a visionary artist, can become language, memory, and art that never grows old.
A Chance Encounter
An elderly man behind me in the grocery store checkout line, holding several bunches of flowers. I couldn’t resist commenting, “You’re going to make someone very happy.” In response, he replied, “They’re for me. My wife died a few years ago. I buy flowers every year on the day she died. They make me smile.”
Palestinian Children
The incredible resilience of the Palestinians has been passed on to their children. Witness this image of a young girl in Gaza absorbed in her studies in a makeshift tented school. Other children use cinder blocks as desks.
Family
An unexpected late night phone call from my granddaughter who wanted to text some of her latest designs. The treasured connection between a grandmother and granddaughter will always be a sustaining life force.
Community
Communities across the country taking to the streets to protest Trump’s war of choice on Iran. People are waking up to the great need for a world where peace is central.
How many examples of humanity can you uncover?
