The Bubble

It's 3:30 am here in London and I've only just finished a marathon run of DVD watching. First there were several James Bond movies, which are just my all time favourites in the world. James Bond is the man! Then to round off the evening/night, I took in a foreign film. You know how people say, "I laughed, I cried" when they talk about movies? Well, now I can honestly say those words. I laughed, I cried, and the movie was delicious food for thought. The title of this film is "The Bubble."

The story takes place in Tel Aviv and Nablus. It starts with at a check-pointe entering Tel Aviv. There we meet two of our protagonists. One an Israeli military reservist (Noam) and the other a Palestinian (Shimi). As the story progresses the two find themselves meeting up again near randomly and they quickly become friends. Noam lives with 2 other people and the 4 set off to end the Israeli occupation of Nablus, Gaza, and West Bank. Lofty thinking, but the right idea. In order to change the "hearts and minds" of the Israelis and Palestinian they throw a rave.

Shimi must travel back and forth between Tel Aviv and Nablus where he lives so he can attend his sister's wedding, and help his new found friends fight the power. Unfortunately, as there is so often in Israel/Palestine, there is death. I won't spoil the plot and tell you who dies, nonetheless, I will tell you that it will make you think of the fucked up way that we humans treat each other. It is fresh to see Israelis and Palestinians working together to end the hatred that is so prevalent.

Sadly, the movie ends with even more violence and more death, but one of our protagonists, Noam, has some very poignant words for us to ponder as the movie closes. The food for thought is easy to see: can we change?

Can we change? I'd really like to think we can. God knows that there is so much in this world that we need to change. Famine, war, hatred, corruption, global warming, HIV/AIDS, the retroactive abortion of George W. Bush, etc. These are all things that need changing. Still, while we may know what needs to be changed, how do we go about affecting that change? Certainly it can't be through war. Violence breeds more violence, leading to a vicious cyclical existence of revenge for revenge. Did the characters have it right in trying to bring the current 20-something generation together to dance and enjoy each other's company? Perhaps. Yes, I'm not too naive to believe that the answer is so simple.

This reminds me of the question I had to write an essay on in order to gain admission to university. Discuss: Do you think that our schools should teach diversity (race, sex, etc)? I can't help but believe the answer is a resounding yes. You may ask, how does teaching diversity help? Well, let's put it into context.

All of you know that I was raised in the San Francisco bay area. A childhood that I would never give up. Living in the bay area during my formative years was truly an experience that taught me diversity, even in school. It was a microcosm of our planet. Nearly every race, religion, creed, sexual orientation, etc., is there for everyone to learn about, and taught to our children. As we were taught about blacks, whites, asians, hispanics, middle easterners, etc, we grew to accept them as fellow human beings, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. The same is now taught to students about sexuality. No one sexuality is "right" for everyone. Gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, etc., we're all human beings. The more we learn about the various lives outside our "bubble" the more likely we are to learn to tolerate those lives and even love them.

A friend of mine is a white man from Mass. He's married to a Filipina. If he wasn't taught about other cultures and to respect them, do you think he would have married her? My guess is no. My brother's ex wife is a Filipina. Another of my friends is partial to hispanic lads. One of my friend married a Brazilian woman. Now he's happily married with child to another beautiful lady. If diversity weren't something we were taught or learned in school, then they'd most likely never have married, or dated the people they have. Someone else I know really likes redheads. No wait, that's me.

My point is this, perhaps we need to focus on ourselves less, and focus on the next generation and guiding them onto the path of acceptance and tolerance. Perhaps they'll be able to overcome the very problems that so many of us have perpetuated. I know it's a cliche to say our children are the future, but it's so true. What a child learns today will shape they way they act tomorrow. Perhaps teaching diversity and tolerance now will help end the violence tomorrow. For the sake of my nephew and niece I pray it does. Maybe one of them will be the future leader that can bring the world together in harmony. Maybe.