Closer to home (but still too far away)

If you've seen my facebook profile then you know about my dear friend, Philip Rizk, an activist-journalist-student in Cairo who was arrested for undeclared charges by the Egyptian government a couple days ago. This is, needless to say, a disturbing and convicting incident for all of us who know and love Phil: both those who've known him personally and those who have come to know him through his work. You can read more about it here: tabulagaza.blogspot.com. What you'll notice about Phil is his eloquence, his compassion, his willingness to look injustice in the face and even more so his willingness to do something about it. Unfortunately, it isn't rare for such a rare individual to run afoul with governments, agenda-setters, stereotypes, and the status quo. Yet it also isn't unusual for such individuals to powerfully impact the world, despite this resistance. I beleive Phil is such a person, and I'm proud to know him. Though years, miles, and the challenges of our respective works have made it difficult to keep in touch, I remember (and I read it again today) the last personal email I recieved from Phil. It was about a year and a half ago, just before he started his master's program at the University of Cairo and as he was finishing the editing on his film (again, if you want to know more, visit the blog!). He was discouraged, I think--understandably so. Again, rare and dedicated individuals often face discouragement. What impacted me most, however, as I was reading our past correspondence, was a sentence that I wrote to encourage him, not realizing the depth of the words or their future implications. I wrote, "I still believe that God can be found in the dark places." Although I feel frustration, worry, and pain--we still don't know if Phil is ok or what he's had to go through--I'm choosing to still beleive this, and that God has a purpose for what has happened. It sounds trite. REALLY trite. But I can't find any better way to say it.
One thing this event has done is bring the experiences of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza much, much closer to home for a worldwide community who are now worried and missing Phil. These abductions, mysterious disappearances, and even murders are a regular occurence and a regular risk for so many people in Gaza and in the Middle East. Whatever we decide the best strategy is to get there, we should never stop doing what we can to seek, build, cultivate, speak out, and fight for peace. Those who have recieved emails and updates from Phil will know that's how he often signs them: salam. Peace.