Never give up

Stars never cheat. Here the sky offers always a marvellous show. Tonight in Sarura the orange nuances of the moon invade the space together with the immense Big Dipper.
Sit beside me, A. is lighting a camp-fire, trying to stoke the embers. The flame revives the still life at our feet. Satisfied by the fire, A. turns to me and says: “See, it's the things where you put yourself and all of your energy to give you the biggest satisfactions”.
I nod and smile back.
Fire now gives us heat.
I turn to him and ask: “How can you be so peaceful and full of energy? So empathic with us and the world, despite your land is frayed by violence that tries to erase your lives and your freedom?

I'm here only since one month and often rage has took space over other emotions. I'm here, but this is not my family, this is not my land”.
A. looks at me and with paternal patience replies: “You're right, you're here only since one month and I understand that all of this can be shocking for you. You are born in a place where stability, serenity and rights are the normal daily life. That's why I understand that it should have been unbelievable for you to be witness of so many injustices. Look, they do everything to provoke us. They beat us up, insult us, try to make our lives unlivable. They want us to react. As you know, it is a human instinct to use violence to react against violence. It is normal. But it's our duty to resist. First of all, they have the power in this moment and the media too. Everyday they depict us as terrorists. We can't allow them to do that, we must not give them the opportunity to do it. Moreover, I have to think about the people I need to protect and that I love. I need to care about my family, my children, my village and I can't react to their provocations. I have to make sure people I love are safe. Look at the stars. You know the secret? The secret is to look at everything and, in this look, find a positive way. The focal point is to choose the most right one to face everything and make sure the change is possible. This is the nonviolent choice to me. The way is to find again your humanity and keep it, protecting it from all the injustices. The nonviolent choice is a daily resistance. We want to live a normal life: working, going to school and all the rest. It's true, our lives and the resistance are tied one another, but it's exactly in the attempt to live a normal daily life that we protect our humanity. There will be an end to all of this, to the conflict, and we will win, but we need to be patient. Nonviolent resistance is long and tough, that's why many people have decided to leave. I've decided to stay. For my children, for myself. We need to be patient”.
My eyes are wet. As usual, A.'s words are touching. I can't talk: what could I add to his words? My eyes move back to the fire and I think how much his words are important and how I'm growing faster. I smile thinking about the fact that he's helping me much more than I'm doing to him. He smiles and says: “Never give up I., never give up”.