Chain Reading

I first heard of this book, "My Name Is Rachel Corrie", because it was a play, directed by Alan Rickman in London. It's now being staged in various places, Edinburgh, Scotland and eventually in New York City in the fall of 2006 and in Seattle, Washington, in the spring of 2007.

The play and the book are based on the writings of Rachel Corrie, a young woman who grew up in Olympia, Washington, USA, who from her ordinary childhood seemed to have a vision of what the world would be like if people only cared enough to get involved in trying to stop hunger, tried to work towards world peace. Lofty, idealistic goals shared by many children, that's true.

But Rachel Corrie tried to make a difference in the world, unlike most of us who set our ideals aside as we "grow up". She was killed in the Gaza strip as she stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer (they are the size of and are outfitted in a way that makes them more like a military tank than a construction bulldozer common in the US), trying to stop the demolition of a family's home. In her short time there, she saw what the families under curfew endured daily, not being able to go to school, work, shop for food or even maintain their family gardens that were sometimes destroyed. She was only 23 years old.

What makes this book so incredible is the journey that the reader takes with Rachel as she changes from a normal US teen to a concerned, caring, peaceful young adult, as she became increasingly aware of the danger and sadness of life for Palestinian families in the Gaza strip. Whether or not you agree with what she did is really beside the point. She was neither hero nor villain; she was one person, seeking to change something she saw as an injustice.

The story, "My Name is Rachel Corrie", leaves the reader with the stark realization that if we all took only one lesson from Rachel's all-too-short life, the world would be a better place. One person is still only one person, but one person can impact the lives of others in ways even she never dreamed. And things will never be better, whether it is peace in the Middle East or hunger around the world, unless we all lend our voices and hearts to helping other people.