A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words

We don’t always get to see the full picture. Sometimes you have to chase down the pieces of a story. Sometimes you get pieces of the whole picture, by luck. Sometimes it is a privilege. I had the privilege of traveling with people who have been living in Israel for some time and could tell me what I was looking at when I took this picture, as drove past the West Bank. They told me that the gigantic fire and great plume of black smoke seen at the edge of these modern apartments was where Palestinians were burning trash. The Bedouin shantytowns we saw all along the main highways (also visible on the hillside, left of the apartments) needed little explanation. There is real scarcity and inequality, in resource allocation, infrastructure, and freedom. The are the stuff of the news, the problems a world away from the U.S. and so shockingly visible, yet unexplained, here are what I will prize and bring home as treasures. One thing I learned, on our field trip to study water management in central Israel, Palestinian, and Jordan, is that sometimes the things tour guides will only let you glimpse are the most poignant.