Banksy Graffiti on the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank just outside of Bethlehem

Today I received an email from my buddy Keas Keasler, who is currently on a study trip in the Middle East with Princeton Seminary. The email directed me to a post he wrote entitled “A Pilgrimage (of many sorts) to Israel.” Reading through Keas’s post, as he was exposed to the stories and lives of Palestinians, reminded me of my time spent in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour in the summer of 2005. It seems like such a long time ago and I’m realizing how easy it is to forget. I made friends there. Lived with a family (I recently found out the husband of the couple I lived with passed away a few months ago). I hung out with youth who are probably in their late teens now.

My life went back to normal upon returning to the US. I certainly thought a lot about them…for the first few months. I did a few events on campus at Princeton Seminary…but it was too easy to just let my life slip back into my regular routine and not remember and think about my friends who continued to experience suffering and politically-backed (by both the Israeli and US governments) oppression.

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