A bombing, a missile attack, loved ones lost, many wounded—and in response politicians take to their podiums pouring condemnations on the fire. Inadequate. Dangerous when their words inspire or justify retaliation against other innocents.
What words could offer solace instead? What words could keep hope alive? Are there words that acknowledge loss and bring calm?
Pouring oil on troubled waters means an attempt to calm a problematic situation, an effect first noticed by the ancient Greeks. Benjamin Franklin, in 1762, repeated an experiment first performed by Pliny and wrote in A Letter from Benjamin Franklin to William Brownrigg, 1773:
“At length being at Clapham, where there is on the common a large pond which I observed one day to be very rough with the wind, I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropped a little of it on the water. I saw it spread itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface; but the effect of smoothing the waves was not produced; for I had applied it first on the leeward side of the pond where the waves were greatest; and the wind drove my oil back upon the shore. I then went to the windward side where they began to form; and there the oil, though not more than a teaspoonful, produced an instant calm over a space several yards square which spread amazingly and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a looking glass.”
Words begin actions, and actions—no more than a teaspoonful—likewise at the windward side of conflict can spread amazingly and widely to reach the rough waves of violence and bring calm. What is this windward side of conflict? What actions “no more than a teaspoonful”? And how will they reach the rough waves of violence to bring calm?
The windward side of conflict is easy to see. It’s all those who seek peace and justice, who believe in nonviolence, who reach out to the other side to make peace in their home, their neighborhoods, across the borders, throughout the world. Do they exist in Israel and Palestine? Yes, they do.
