In the Parallels We Struggle to Upkeep

When the bell struck in the year 1947, the United Nations established Israel as a Jewish state.  Because of this, the Christian Palestinian community had three options: convert, brave the masses, or leave. 
When the bell struck at the age of 15, a young boy who was slightly different from everyone else had to make a choice.  Fit in, brave the masses, or find new friends.

The story of the Christian Palestinian community is not all that differen't from growing up.  Some search for a long time to find their identity.  For us, we have the upper hand in the sense that we have all of college to figure that out.  However, during this time in our lives we all will be subject to the phrase "Oh, it's just another college kid" just as the Palestinians are held to the phrase "Oh, it's just another terrorist".  While one is much more extreme in the other in reality, both groups of people will face the same injustice of being given an identity with a negative context surrounding it.

As we grow up and possiblty obtain our identity of who we are, we lose the ability to go back just as the Palestinians cannot go back.  The older we get, the more likely with each passing day our grandparents, and our parents will pass on.  Soon following, their houses will be sold to some random family so that they can continue their lives.  How can one go back at that point... do you ask them to let you into their home so you can feel nostalgia?  It all seems a tad bit odd in today's world.

Then there's yet another argument.  Does anyone ever truly find their identity?  People are constantly changing, so when is it safe to say that an identity is found?  If the answer to the question tells us that we cannot change rapidly once we find our identites, then we'd all be our ignorent members of the family who aren't quite up with the times.  That is a trap I refuse to be in.

The only identity I keep is a name.  Everything else is expendable and changable.

Joe.