Lately, I've been rereading the Courage to Be by the 20th century Theologian philosopher Paltillic.

It's basic message is this.

We dwell in what is best in us, what is essential about ourselves,

and find joy in these things,

in spite of the accidental and difficult parts of every life.

It occurs to me that it's this elemental courage to be

that is always missing in news of far away tragedy and conflict.

We experience pictures of people frozen in the worst moments of their lives.

We have no sense of what will help them get out of bed the next morning

and still live and love and even take joy.

This was on my mind as we produced this hour's show,

a new installment in our series from Jerusalem at the West Bank.

This time we soak up the humanity of a close-knit neighborhood in the sacred city of Bethlehem,

that is, normal life in a Palestinian refugee camp in a West Bank town.

The things that give me hope and pleasure here,

and I have to say pleasure more than hope,

getting to enjoy sort of the change of the seasons here,

and enjoy the cauliflower and then the almonds and then the chickpeas.

It's one of the resistance elements,

even though you feel the pain inside you if you need to laugh

and you need to smile, you need to play, you need to move in your life.

From APM, American Public Media, I'm Christa Tippett.

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