'The Bubble'

'I love you'. Three words. Three simple words. Separately they don't carry so much weight but together are three of the most powerful words in any language. I can confess I am someone who takes for granted my freedom to say those words whenever I feel it. The only thing that would stop me is myself. I don't have to worry about being thrown in jail, being persecuted, bullied, beat up or even tortured for telling someone I love them. It is not so in all parts of the world and I recently watched a film that served as a stark reminder of the power of those three words and how much I, along with many in the West, take for granted our freedom to do what is most human...to love.



The film takes the viewer on a journey back and forth between Tel Aviv and a small village in the Palestinian territory on the other side of the Green Line. It chronicles the experience of a young Jewish man in Tel Aviv that falls in love with a young Palestinian man he meets at the border. They fall in love, struggle to be together and are ultimately challenged to try to live life according to their hearts, intending to live a 'normal' life, all the while being aware in the back of their minds that any moment of any day it could all be ripped away from them.

At the end of the film our heroes are fated to the fate of many in that region and one chooses death for both in order to find the freedom to love. I wish it was just a dramatised version of what life is like there but I know better. My friends from Palestine and Lebanon have shared many stories of the stark reality that is their daily life. It suddenly put life into perspective and served as a difficult reminder that I have so many opportunities in life and so much freedom to express myself...why don't I take more advantage of it? Why be held back by fear that I create myself when many continue to live and make the most of life when there is fear created by a real threat of death on a daily basis?

Isn't it time to stop the nonsense of 'I can't, it's too hard, what if it all goes wrong?' and start saying: 'Why the hell not?'.

In the daily grind of life I have seemed to have forgotten this lesson and 'The Bubble' brought me back.

Tonight, I dedicate my post to all those around the world who have the courage to follow their hearts no matter what the world will think and goes through into the unknown with courage and grace. I thank you for your inspiration, your example and energy and above all else, LOVE.