Today I went to a protest in response to the violence in Gaza

Hi all!
Today I went to a protest to end the violence in Gaza.
I decided to go since I am against the War Crimes that Israel has committed (when the bombing began, I really felt that it was out of the blue-- I felt that there was no justification, since there had been a ceasefire, no? But I reports from several newsources have been really nebulous over who did what to break it, since let's face it-- this conflict is VERY complex).

I wanted to go and show my solidarity and support for the people that have died; been injured and have suffered losses on BOTH sides. As a citizen of the earth, I refuse to leave or turn my back to anyone.
I created a poster that read:
" Two Peoples: One heart, one dream, one love. We are Together On this! Jews and Arabs Refuse to be enemies!"
I created two heart one with an Israeli flag, and the other with a Palestinian flag. They both intersected, and they showed two fists together. Above it, I drew two people holding hands, representating trust, solidarity and love.
I realized that my agenda may be different, but I still wanted to go and make a difference.
People were really friendly and helpful. I saw many of my friends there. I met a lot of people from the local Arab and Muslim communitites. Many people asked to take a picture of my poster.
I began to chant a song singing, "NO more hate! Teach our children not to hate!" And then I began to sing, "Love, love.. we need love! A love revolution!"
A Muslim woman began to sing with me. It felt great to feel the solidarity with her and the love. It felt great to be with so many people that care about helping the oppressed in the Middle East.
We came to the center of town, and a few students and activists began to give speaches. Some random guy in the car sped buy and screamed "Fuck you all." A few minutes later, he came out and was ready to have a fight with a few people and yelled "Fuck you all! I hope Israel kills all of you!"

I felt really scared. For the first moment in my life, I came to realize that anyone can commit something bad (Read the Zimbardo Experiment). Violence does not belong to a certain, group, race, nationality, political affiliation, ethnic origin, ability, etc.
I came to realize that I am no different from an Arab, Palestinian or a Muslim. We are more alike than we think.

I did feel a little uncomfortable hearing people scream into the microphone (to add a lot of emotion), but it intimidated me. I guess I never liked yelling nor seeing instability, but maybe it just reminds me of a few things when growing up. I guess I don't like anger, aggression and hate, because you are giving into the people that oppress you.
I don't believe that anything is bad-- just the actions that people and institutions do.

I know many people may think that I am a dreamer, and being really unrealistic and out of touch with reality like John Lennon, but I have hope. I believe in love and peace (as much of a cliche as it sounds), and I believe in the end, it will dominate everything.

Love and light

Stephanie Terra I went to a protest in response to the violence in Gaza