Other people's garbage
I have been back to Israel for a bout 2 weeks now. Overall it is good to be back and I am sort of surviving the heat. The heat is reminiscent of India. I remember standing completely motionless in the post office in Delhi waiting to mail some packages and sweat just running down my legs. It is “almost” India-post-office-hot here. So, needless to say I am trying to stay cool and spending a lot of time in the water.Despite the heat wave, or because of it, we decided to go camping this weekend to the Kinneret, or “Sea of Galilee,” as most of us not from here might know it. “Kinneret”, means violin, so named back in the biblical days because of its shape. As for the “Sea of Galilee” I am not sure how it got this name, as it is actually a lake. Today, it remains a very revered body of water. Not necessarily because of its historical and religious claims to fame, but because it is the only fresh water lake in Israel. A sizable lake, measuring 13x7 miles, it is still not recommended to visit the second last weekend before the end of summer holidays, because all of Israel, their dogs and their saftas (grandmas) are out in full force, as we discovered.
And, the Arsims. I learned this new term this weekend. Arsims are equivalent to our red-necks -- the local yahoos who play loud music in the parking lot all day and in your campsite all night, the guys and gals who don’t bother to flush the toilet or to make sure they even aimed right in the first place, and the ones who leave their garbage and broken glass on the ground for the next camper to walk on.
Arsims aside, I have noticed a general lack of respect for one’s surroundings here. I know that I shouldn’t generalize, but Danny says the same, and that would make it true, right? We noticed the contrast coming back from our trip to N. America. Traveling through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and even a little bit into Idaho, water, roadways, bathrooms and campgrounds, in general, seemed to be treated with greater care. Is it cultural? Regulations? Education?
At one of the dialogue events in the West Bank a while ago, some of the internationals, including myself, thought it would be a nice gesture to clean up the grounds of the centre where we were staying. We tried to enlist some of the locals in our project, but they couldn’t really understand why we would want to get down on our hands and knees and pick up other people’s candy bar wrappers and cigarette butts. The owner, Makram, didn’t really get it either. And, for that matter, neither did we. I suppose that if you are dealing with the conflict all the time, who has time to care about a few coke cans on the ground or how many plastic bottles are floating in the water? One thing is clear, environmental sustainability isn’t at the top of the agenda here.
So, in the meantime, after a night of no sleep, an absence of basic sanitation and limited respite from the 95-100 degree heat (dips in the water and our nylon tent didn’t cut it), we drove back in our SUV to our air-conditioned house, javex-scrubbed bathroom, and chlorinated pool.
Other people’s garbage? Hmm…
I guess I need to take a look at my own “inner Arsim.”
posted by Heather Worosz @ 10:11 AM
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