Community Effort

This trip is a tribute to my community -- those I know personally and those I don't.  That these people, a mixture of friends, friends of friends, and total strangers would be willing to donate money to support me in this mission leaves me touched, moved, and inspired. 

I have never raised money for anything in my life.  It's weird asking people for money, especially when it's for a cause often deemed controversial (although there is nothing controversial about human rights, but I'll leave that to another post). When I first started on this venture, I was beyond terrified.  What do I say?  What do I do?  How do I begin?  What if I fail?  What if I succeed?

I had to do some soul-searching about my values and my motives.  Who am I?  What makes me tick?  Why am I doing this?  I couldn't do this if I felt shaky on the why.

My very first donation was $2.  Yay!  Oh.  It was both uplifting and a rude awakening.  A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step . . . . I was $2 closer to being able to buy a plane ticket.

Slowly, steadily donations came in:  $2, $5, $50, $100, even pop cans.  Donations came from different beautiful threads of the human mosaic of my community:  Jews, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, employed, unemployed, men, women, teens, concientious objectors, veterans.

I am going to Gaza with all of you in my heart.  Indeed, a little bit of each of you exists in my plane ticket, the visa stamp on my passport, my hotel reservation, and my bag of bubble gum to pass out to the kids.

I am going to Gaza as an ambassador for the good that exists in the world; as a living, breathing witness of the good that exists in my home community.