Of trees and stones

"The tree of peace...it needs watering every day. If you miss just one day, that tree of peace, it may turn into something else." This lesson in peace, preached by a Muslim villager, is heard by a group of 12 Mennonites who think they already know this lesson. A day later, in Nazareth another new friend: "I am an Arab, Palestinian Christian. You forget we Christians are here. But we have always been here. We are the Living Stones of the holy land." I am struck that both men are living under Occupation. Both live lives impoverished because they are Palestinians. It does not matter that one is Muslim, and the other Christian. Each is diminished in this hurting land because of his race.