Altogether, several cars, a man on a donkey, a tractor, and an old man on foot came through the checkpoint. The cars had their trunks and hoods opened and checked. The soldiers even gave the donkey a once over to make sure it wasn't laden with some kind of explosives. When we were sitting later, after the cars had passed, the soldier who had stood at a distance struck up a conversation with me. It was the regular stuff: Where are you from? What are you doing here? I explained what we did and he said that he respected our work, even if he didn't agree with it. He was a nice guy, a reservist, doing his one month for the year. Then he'll go back to being a social worker in real life. At one point, my teammate called and asked when I thought I might be back so she could put the pasta in the water to boil. I turned to the soldiers and asked, "Hey guys, we're having pasta tonight and would like to know when we can put the pasta in the water." The soldier smiled and told me we could start it now, that I could leave and he would make sure nothing happened. I smiled back and said, "Thanks, but you do your job and I'll do mine."
"Yeah," he said. "Everyone has to do their job. The tiger has to do his job and the deer has to do his job."
"I guess," I said. "But I don't want to be a tiger."
He looked down at the ground for a moment, contemplatively. "I don't want to be a tiger either. You know, I am a deer at home."
You meet all kinds of soldiers at a checkpoint. Soldiers who aren't sure why they are there. Soldiers who want nothing more than to finish their service and leave Israel behind forever. Soldiers who admire and respect the settlers and think the Palestinians are liars, thieves, and murderers. One soldier I met recently at a checkpoint was from Russia and proudly told me that his brother was a sniper in the Soviet army when they invaded Afghanistan. He is a career tiger. And then there's the gentle, friendly, social worker. A guy who, 11 months of the year, devotes himself to helping the needy and less fortunate. Then one month a year he trains a gun on shepherds trying to go home to their families.
What is it that turns a deer into a tiger, and how can it be stopped? That's the million dollar question. I think fear is one of the answers. In the case of the social worker, I think it was a sense of duty. But to whom and to what? As for stopping it, I guess it takes love for our fellow human beings; an ability to empathize with them rather than fear them. Easier said than done.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/gallery A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefwe
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