Joseph of Palestine (The Sorrow and Sadness I Saw)

🇵🇸-1 Regarding the journey to Palestine, I would like to start with Joseph (a biblical name). Joseph (I'll call him "Joseph" here) is a Palestinian whom I met shortly after arriving in Bethlehem. At that time, I was looking for traces of various churches. Joseph suddenly stopped me and started talking to me. He said he wanted to invite me to visit their store and have a cup of coffee, but I declined on the grounds that I would come back to find him later. But, unexpectedly, I met Joseph at the door of another church. He said, "Didn't you say you would come back?", so I had to follow him to their store to sit down, but at the same time, I was mentally prepared to be treated as a plate. After following Joseph to their store, he kindly took me to see their factory (which makes souvenir wood carvings) and store. At the same time, they also talk about the impact the war has brought to them. So after chatting for a while, I chose two rosary beads. However, since I bought an olive wood rosary for 8 sherks (TWD70) in the previous store, I had a rough idea of ​​the price. But when I asked him the price, he asked me how much it was worth. But I was prepared to be a dish (after all, Joseph treated me to tea and snacks), so I said it should be 80 sherks (TWD700, which is 10 times the price of my first one). This is the love I can give to the Palestinian people. But Joseph shook his head. He said he envied us for being able to come and go freely, and that they were all caged birds, forced to be trapped in this huge open-air cage. Before the war, there were thousands of tourists visiting the birthplace of Jesus every day, but now there are only 2-30 (1/30 🙋🏽♂️) left every day, so they are having a hard time. At the same time, they also said that war was not what they wanted, and they also hoped to go out and see the world, rather than being born and dying here. You and I, we live in a completely different world from them. We still have the right to choose, but their fate is determined at birth. Look around you. Although we cannot change the world immediately, we can at least start by loving ourselves and the people around us more. I hope that everyone's little love can become a tooth that drives the world's wheel, starting from now on. Oh yes, in the end I paid 300 sherks (TWD2700), nearly 40 times the love for Palestine. Before leaving, Joseph asked me to take a photo of him and the store. He said that any of my friends who came would be well taken care of. (I still recommend that you go talk to them, but whether you want to be treated like a plate is up to the individual) #Bethlehem #Palestine #Israel #Jerusalem