Over the last two months, Israeli and Palestinian students have participated in a student-led writing workshop as part of the Writers Matter program. The following piece comes from Arielle:
I Am From
I am from sadness and anger.
I am from hurting and suffering.
I am from my mother, who many say I look alike.
I have her hair and I have her spirit.
She always finishes first and so must I.
Not because she told me so, but because that is how I think.
I am from my father, who is kind but angry.
He lashes out and sometimes I am afraid I might do the same.
Sometimes he cares, and I try my hardest.
I do not have their eyes.
Theirs are green, the color of life and the color of our world. The plants that give us life and support us. They are what help us breathe and eat. Green provides.
My eyes are brown, the color of the dirt beneath graves and underneath our feet. The dirt we walk on every day without giving it a single thought.
I am from sadness and anger.
I am from hurting and suffering.
I am from myself, but sometimes I wish I wasn’t.
Debate for Peace 