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| First Person: Money & Meaning |
Wholly Land
Alan Slifka, as told to Constance Gutske
01/01/2005
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I was in Haifa one day immediately after a bomb went off. The next day, a group of Jewish and Arab fourth graders from separate schools were supposed to meet. After the explosion, authorities hesitated to go forward with the meeting, even though the kids were looking forward to it because they knew each other from the previous school year. The meeting did take place, and after they met, the kids were asked to describe the best thing about their reunion. One little girl replied that the best thing was simply that the other schoolchildren showed up. That brought a tear to my eye. When we implement these coexistence programs, kids tend to become more broad-minded as they grow older.
 | | ALAN SLIFKA'S goal is to help Israel’s Jews and Arabs learn to live with one another. His greatest successes are with children. |
I grew up in Manhattan. In the fourth grade, we learned lessons in ethics, inspired by the morning newspaper, a history lesson or a conflict in the classroom. We learned that ethical behavior was based upon living with justice, equality and mutual respect. While it is easy to separate, to live apart, the challenge is to develop the strength and the courage to maintain that sense of humanity.
Enabling two different groups of people to live in the same place and get along is not far afield from encountering a husband and wife who are fated to live together. They are either going to live together well or live together badly. If they go to couples counseling, they can learn to live together better. If they don’t and try to figure it out themselves, they may end up with a relationship that does not work. Coexistence work is akin to performing couples counseling. We get people to talk about the issues, and to work through shared problems.
We probably will not achieve coexistence in my lifetime, but, ultimately, we will. Fifty years ago, we did not have environmental education, and now people are very aware of it. Coexistence education is the same. With training and practice, people will learn not to demonize each other, and that will be a golden day.
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