The other day I was sitting with Eitan eating watermelon seeds, an Israeli snack,"garanee avateeach." Watermelon seeds are eaten like sunflower seeds from the shell, but are a lot smaller, harder to open, and the seeds are microscopic and barely edible. It's kind of a non-snack, because you work hard and you barely eat anything. Maybe its more like an activity. It takes focus and patience, and you shouldn't try eating them when you are hungry.
Eitan and I were intently focused on our watermelon seed cracking, when he wisely giggled under his breath and murmured, "only good shall come from this." It felt like a prophet whispered in my ear. "What?", I asked, trying to clarify if the heavy words actually came from my 11 year old.
"Only good shall come from this." he repeated. "It's sweet," he said. "See, its written here on the bag of watermelon seeds." He pointed to a little message on the label.
They were words I desperately needed to hear. It has been several months of carrying a weighty despair, wondering where my optimism was hiding. The Kavanaugh hearings, the political climate change of Washington, storms and Stormy, and the handling of it all by the media.
When I encounter a struggle, and when my kids do, I remind them that the struggle is the turning point and opportunity for us to grow. These are transformative times, and with faith in the process and ourselves, we will transform for the better. Finally, I found my optimism! Hiding in the watermelon seed package.
I am beginning to see that these confusing times are transformative for us collectively. It isn't clear how and when we will move forward into our better society, but we are surely on our way. It's not like things were perfect before. The ugliness is helping us get there by revealing issues we need to encounter, even though the process may be uncomfortable and challenging. Despair will not lead us to transformation, an openness to seeing things for what they are, and a desire to improve will.
I am off to the market to see if I can find the next clue. Maybe it will be inside a bag of sunflower seeds.