Unlearning and Relearning

By Aziz Abu Sarah
Facebook Post
July 29, 2025

Peacemaking is a radical act of unlearning and relearning. The process of unlearning is one of the hardest quests for humans!
It calls us to retrain our eyes, soften our hearts, and question the truths we were handed,
not because our teachers failed,
but because the world is yearning for a different kind of wisdom.

We must unlearn the cold language of war:
“legitimate target,”
“collateral damage,”
“the cost of war.”

Words that sterilize suffering and sanitize death.
Peace begins when we refuse to reduce people to numbers,
to categories,
to shadows in the margins.

It is not naïve,
but fierce, defiant, and tender.
A brave vision that insists justice, dignity, equality, and the right to safety
are not luxuries, but the only true path forward.

In a world that taught us how to divide and conquer,
peace teaches us to count again,
not in bombs or borders,
but in lives.

It reminds us, again and again,
that no policy, no flag, no ideology
is more sacred than a single human soul.

About Heart of a Nation

Empowering the next generation of American, Israeli, and Palestinian change-makers to embrace better, together.

אנחנו מכנסים הוגים מובילים, פעילים חברתיים, ומחוללי שינוי לעתיד, אמריקאים, ישראלים ופלסטינאים, המחויבים לשיפור החברות שלהם.

نحن أمريكيون وإسرائيليون وفلسطينيون نبني ونكوّن روابط من أجل التعلم والتفكير والمشاركة معًا حتى نشجع الحلول التقدمية بشأن القضايا التي تهمنا جميعًا.