Manifest Destiny?

I'll fast forward a little to July 4th 'cause that's on my mind right now, but don't worry, I'll fill in the details of the days in between at some point.  Let me preface this post by saying that I'm on a constant search for the man of my dreams.  There's hope that I'll be meeting him at Hebrew U this summer (one of the Canadians who sits behind me, perhaps?) but really, what better place to meet him than in ISRAEL?!  So when I got invited on facebook to a Wet Hot American Fourth of July Summer in Jerusalem party, I knew this was gonna  be good.  A BBQ of a bunch of Americans, and after perusing the invite list and seeing mostly students from Bard and Yale, my friends and I began referring to it as the "Bard/Yale Party."  Yes.  Smart people.  In Jerusalem.  Boom.  I was dressed in my best Red, White, and Blue-Jean Shorts ready to impress.

The group of people was incredible.  An old friend from camp is living in this BEAUTIFUL apartment in Abu Tur, a neighborhood in Jerusalem that has a lot of Jews and Arabs but is known for them living in pretty separate communities within the neighborhood.  Sarah goes to Bard, a very liberal college, and is living with other Bard students who are all working in some capacity with Israelis and Palestinians, and as I learned, so were most of the people at the party.  What I formerly thought was called the "Bard/Yale Party" was actually termed by others "The JStreet and Co Party."  Others were working at various institutions like the Shalem center- very cool and smart people doing cool and smart things.  Silly me for spending my summer taking classes when I could have been working on really cool hands on initiatives to help solve the conflicts of the world.   Although everyone did seem to appreciate that I was taking a class called Conflict Resolution!

Sarah who hosted the party, me in my 4th of July best, and Julia my long lost soul mate 

Beers in hand, Born in the USA in the background, what did we talk about?  After Jewish geography and finally meeting some friends of friends, including one of my best camp friend's gay ex boyfriend (who doesn't have a gay ex-boyfriend these days, it's all the rage), who is an awesome guy and a girl named Julia who seems to be my soul mate here, we were a bunch of  Americans discussing our experiences in Israel and how we're working towards a better future in the Middle East.  In some way, it really seemed like Manifest Destiny: Ideals Edition.  We weren't trying to conquer lands nor make everyone fall in love with Bruce Springsteen (although the latter wouldn't be so bad).  We were Americans, privileged enough to grow up attending incredible academic institutions, attempting to make the problems of the world better in the ways that we knew how; pursuing life, liberty, and happiness in places that we called home, for people that we called brothers and sisters.

The party included no BBQ, hardly any American music, very few people dressed in red,white, and blue, and definitely no fireworks yet I felt a strong sense of patriotism and pride in my country for the values on which I was raised.  Whether spending time with JStreet, The Shalem Center, Hebrew U, or none of the above (definitely not all of the above), all of the students there were working with what we had.  Our educations, thirst for knowledge, values we were raised on, and quest for a better future.  Those are governing the experiences that we are having abroad this summer, and perhaps govern what our generation seeks to contribute to the world.  And if that is the grounding which Americans like me have and the values that we seek to spread then I have a lot of faith in the accomplishments that Generation Y can make in this world.

Oh, yes, the man of my dreams.  He wasn't there, at least I don't think he was.  But here's to trying, dressing to impress (casually, of course), and the continual search for amazing people who will influence my life and the world around me.