“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
I am standing on a Jerusalem hilltop, moments from signing the treaty of peace in the Middle East. I look east and I see Palestine, I look west and I see Israel. Accord is finally here.
This moment has been a dream since I made my first speech in Junior High. I was thirteen. My English teacher, a Palestinian Jerusalemite, cried that morning, emotional hearing what I had to say. My mom, a Palestinian refugee, wrote it. I remember rehearsing the rhetoric late into the night; words that were charged with a deep yearning for a lost home, a sense of helplessness, and provocative callings to fight till the end.
It has been a long journey from my Catholic school podium to this magnificent hilltop. I learned that Palestinians should live for Palestine, not die. My mission was one of demolishing mistrust, of rendering the struggle for Palestine bloodless; yet just as dogged, focused, and relentless.
And I am finally here. Next to me is my Israeli counterpart. He too likes drinking whiskey and smoking cigars. We sign, we shake hands, and we laugh. It is my turn to make a speech, and I am no longer that thirteen year old. My dream is now.
I walk up to the podium to exuberantly proclaim the accomplishment of all I ever wanted to do with my life.
And I look at the audience; I see my wife and two daughters: impeccably beautiful, beautifully impeccable. And a breeze embraces my face...it has just brushed on Mount Nebo, saluted the Church of Nativity, blessed the Western Wall, and kissed the golden Dome of the Rock...
And I pause and let my eyes momentarily revel in this beautiful Jerusalem sunset...
— Amer M. Lahham