Once again, we find ourselves learning about a horrific situation of violence and hatred and death and suffering taking place about a thousand miles away from where I am. My initial reaction to the attacks on Isreal and on Gaza was to cry, because it was so sad and involve so much death and injury, including many children, which always touches a mother’s heart. Crying is good when you need to cry, because it is better to feel and acknowledge our true feelings than try to stuff them down. But crying alone won’t change anything. So what else should I, a mom and teacher and average citizen in North Carolina, do to help with this sad situation?

I was teaching all last week, so that kept me busy. Saturday, I did my traditional responses to these situations. I participated in a worldwide prayer meditation for a peaceful resolution to this conflict, and I gave some money to a humanitarian organization supporting the injured and the refugees in that area. But that just didn’t seem like enough. Money and meditation help, of course, but they seem rather impersonal. What else could I do personally to turn around this situation?

Longtime readers of the blog know that one of my favorite politicians is Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. So I guess it was just because I was so busy teaching last week, but only Saturday evening did I learn that Senator Booker was actually ON a peace mission in Isreal when Hamas launched its initial attack. Here is his video, broadcast from Israel, describing that experience.

One of the reasons I love Senator Booker is that I find him authentic and relatively emotional for a national politician. He has no problem calling out the failings and the impermissable behaviors or politicies that currently exist. But unlike most politicians I know, he talks about addressing them with love and forgiveness and hope for a better way. So even after living through what was probably a terrible experience, he still believes there is a way to bypass more attacks, more violence, more warfare and to to find a Pathway for Peace in the region. Here is a video of his thoughts on the matter.

Hearing Senator Booker really gave me hope. He is not giving up on a Pathway for Peace, the peace mission that had him in Israel during the attack, arguing that giving up on these discussions is exactly what Hamas is trying to achieve through these attacks. I love how that rather then complain about the messy state of affairs among Republicans in the House, he emphasizes the bipartisan support for Isreal and the Pathway for Peace among most Congressmen from both parties. I love how he talks about all the Arab leaders who are opposed to Hamas and are as anxious to defeat them as are Israeli leaders. So listening to him helped lift my spirits and my level of belief that there can be a way that this attack may ultimately support the peace process in the Middle East, as awful as it seems to us in this moment.

So, Senator Booker helped me find some hope.

Later that night, I found some wisdom from an unexpected source: comedian Pete Davidson. A stand-up comedian and former Saturday Night Life cast member, Davidson is open about his mental health issues and his struggles with addiction. He has had a troubled summer with another stint in rehab and more than one car accident where he was charged with being under the influence of intoxicants. He was scheduled to be host of SNL last season, but the show was cancelled because of the Writers Strike. Instead, he hosted last night’s SNL episode, the first since the strike has ended.

Saturday Night Life usually opens with a sketch, usually around politics. But last night, it opened with Pete Davidson talking directly to the audience. He acknowledged that most people wouldn’t think of him as the first person to help us come to terms with restarting a comedy series in the midst of concerns about the start of a new war. But he reminded us that at the age of 7, he lost his father to a terrorist attack, when his firefighter father was killed during 9/11. He made a good case that comedy is a powerful way to fight our way through tragedy. You can hear him explain it himself below:

So he said he was going to try to make us laugh, and he succeeded with me. Here is my favorite of the SNL sketches from last night:

Therefore I was in a much better space this morning, more able to believe my prayers and my energy going towards creating a solution to the problems plaguing Palestine and Isreal, dispite how things look right now. I went to the Sunday service of my spiritual center, and that made my conviction about a peaceful possibility even stronger.

Driving home along a 5-lane road after the service, I noticed something in the road. When I got close enough, I realized it was an Eastern Box Turtle crossing the road despite the traffic. I madly swung into the other lane to avoid hitting the turtle (luckily there was no one right behind me). I continued barreling down the road and thought, “I hope you make it across the road OK, little turtle.”

But another part of my mind responded, “Are you kidding me? You HOPE it makes it across the road?” So as soon as it was safe to do so, I turned around to go protect that turtle. It took several minutes to do that safely, so my heart was pounding, afraid I would find the turtle smashed along the pavement. But once I got back, it still seemed intact, although it wasn’t moving. I pulled into the center turn lane, left my lights flashing and my doors open to alert other drivers something was going on, and dashed into the lane to grab the turtle and get back before the cars I could see coming might hit it or me.

As soon as I snatched the turtle, it pulled in its head and legs, so I figured it was OK. The rule in turtle rescue is to always place the turtle on the side of the road to which it was heading, because otherwise it will just go back into the road again. Once it was safe, I crossed the two lanes going the other direction and placed the turtle in a quiet grassy space on the other side of the road. There was a gravel road heading down close by, so I hoped maybe it led to some part of Crabtee Lake, which was close by. I put the turtle far enough away that it woudn’t get on that path and hoped it would find itself a safe natural place to be. The turtle hadn’t stuck out its head or legs yet, but I trusted it was fine. I wanted to get back to the car so that I didn’t cause any human accidents.

As I turned around again and proceeded home, I thought about the incident. Turtles are ancient animals, known for long lives and their slow but steady pace. Many traditions believe either the world resides along the shell of a giant turtle or that a giant turtle is holding the Earth on its back. Turtles are symbols for Nature and longevity and staying grounded.

As I reflected on that, I began to wonder. I thought I had saved the turtle. But maybe, really, the turtle saved me. I think the message the turtle was sending me was: Do the right thing. And do the right thing. And do the right thing again. And it may seem like the right thing we can do where we are, in the circumstances we are in, with the resources we have, seems small or of little consequence. But do them anyway. All these small right actions, all these small steps add up. Turtles (spiritually, at least) have long viewpoints. Maybe people like me who want problems settled right now need to learn to think more like a turtle.

It made me believe the best I could do to protect life in Gaza and Israel is to protect life right where I am. I can’t do anything directly to help the Palestinians and Isrealis in their current situation. But when we do the right thing, when we protect life here, I think we contribute to the energy of protecting life everywhere. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.

The last thing I received today (so far) on this theme was a photo from a friend. Their family has two dogs, and recently added a cat to their household. Now, growing up, I had always heard that cats and dogs were enemies….but not these dogs and cat. They snuggle together and play together and obviously love each other. The photo of the three of them, each in their own beds but all facing the camera, was an image of unity among differences. I could let go of my childish cartoon-based belief that cats and dogs can’t get along.

That is the image I choose to hold in my consciousness as I do what I can to work towards a world in which the Isrealis and Palestinians live together in peace. My contribution may be small, but as Mother Theresa said “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

May you, too, find a way to add your drop to the cause of peace in the Middle East.