Will there ever be peace in the Middle East? I asked my students in the class

Searching for the real world

Seeing in media and reading how people are affected by dire situations - war, uprising, famine, refugee crisis...

the same way they have been affected in the past and the same way it looks they will be affected in the future....

With every new generation we dream about the better world and the better future for all of us...

Looking into a newborn eyes we dream about peace and prosperity and we promise to walk long and hard, together to find that paradise....

What does make us to stop in midway never reaching our destination?

Next time take roads less travelled, we always presume the other path would have been better.

As we get older we regret our mistakes, opportunities not taken, loves lost, wrong turns. Not my man. I toast his health and I make another decision.,

To follow him on the road less travelled, the road of acceptance. Do you have a decision or choice you regret?

The roads of racism and hatred, would you express your outrage to the racist/ the oppressor in question? If you are like about 80 per cent of people, you will remain passive and let the ugly moment pass...

and you will be even less troubled if you know and like the person. Bystander effects are more powerful than biological impulses.

Australians, after Canadians are among the least racist people on the planet according the UN. A survery of 12,500 Australians shows that fewer than one in ten believe there are superior or inferior races, or that people of different races...

should not marry. In Eastern Europe, parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia taht figure soars to between 30 and 50 per cent....

The term racism encompasses much more than just skin colour or anti-Muslim sentiment. You can not think about the past and ignore religion.

It was such a fundamental and mind shaping, driving force for pre-modern societies. I am very interested what religion does to us...

its capacity to create love and empathy or hatred and violence....how we use its interpretation or misinterpretation to suite our own purposes to get a better chance in life....

I believe the most unconscous biases can be overcome through education...
but is the education enough to save us from our self destruction?

Imagine it is up to you

to find the solution

to bring the peace

to the Middle East

25 eyes look up to me

some serious

some mischievous

some just plainly uninterested...

It is too much to ask

of year seven

I have already heard

the principal's voice in my head.

'Let's see how clever you are,

it will be a group work,

so you can not fail

and the ones with the best answers

I will take to meet my two friends

one from Israel

and one from Palestine..."

I said too eagerly

and kids picked on it

really fast.

"So that means no school for a day, Miss?"

"To meet them for what?"

"In your house?"

I heard their shouts.

I put my hand up to silence them.

"They come to school so you will have a chance

to talk to them about the countries

we have learnt so much this year in Social Studies about."

They sighed and shook their heads,

their bored expressions warned me

that I have to try harder to keep their interest up.

"They will cook some great food for you to taste

and bring some music on...

and yes it means one day off the school for you."

After brief summary of the situation in the Middle East

and what the word 'peace' means

we talked about how to work cooperatively.

Then they were divided

into five groups

and each gave a big sheet of paper

to brainstorm their ideas,

but there was a trouble from the start...

We stack the tables together

and kids lined up

to pick up their place.

"I don't want to work with him..."

"She is just too slow..."

"I want to work with my friend not with her..."

Their complaints went unheard,

they knew that,

but once I pointed for the first group to sit next to window

they started again:

"It is not fair, one of them is my desk,

I always sit there..."

"I wear glasses I have to sit near the window..."

"That is why the first group always wins..."

I pointed for the second group to sit

where our i-pads were stored,

the rest of the class went ballistic:

"Do not let Michael to sit there Miss,

he is just too good on i-pad, he will cheat..."

Michael got red in his face

and tried to wrestle the accuser

to the ground.

Meanwhile the kid with the glasses

ran to the student sitting on his chair

near the window

and slapped him hard across the face:

"This spot is mine."

I took the whistle and blowed it hard.

That was the signal for everyone

and they stopped

some looking down ashamed

and some victorius,

the injured kept crying out loud

so everyone could hear their just complaints,

but no one really cared,

the attackers kept whispering:

"It was your fault, anyway."

Kids lost their right to sit on chairs

they ended up sitting cross legged

on the floor

just like year one

but

no more peace

in the Middle East,

as there were more pressing issues

for us to discuss.

The rest of the lesson

we spent

learning again

about the right and wrong,

the 'me' and 'us',

what is fair and what is not,

if winning by unjust means

is still a win,

and how easy

it is

to find an enemy

and start a war...

On my next parents' meeting

I have brought up

the unanswered question

from my failed experiment

to see what reaction I get.

"You are a great teacher but too idealistic

if I may say,"

the father of the boy in glasses laughed,

"I am very proud of my son,

he has just defended his right,

at least I can be assured

he is ready for the real world,

anyway,

'about that peace in the Middle East',

who cares about that?

Better you teach them something that help them to succeed."

I was the shooting star of idealism
he was the dark matter
draining my energy
the perfect example
of an idealist
who went to war...
the crucible destruction
of a human soul...