Making Connections

Over the years I've realized I have many interests and these interests are not always directly related. However, on occasion, the different things I am passionate about connect and that's always exciting for me. Today this happened twice!!
Throughout my college years I've started to realize how important a sense of identity (individual, group, national, etc.), community and ownership are in creating stable societies. ALL the time I learn about unstable communities, governments, social structures, corruption, failing economies...all the bad things going on in the world. But I frequently come across an equally strong push against these "bad things" and these movements never cease to inspire me. It's because of these movements against a destructive "norm" that I keep plugging along even when times get tough.
Today that inspiration came through a song and a New York Times article on city planning in Amman. Now music and city planning are seemingly two very different things but in this case they indirectly touch on the same issue- Palestinian immigrants. Orange Sky by Alex Murdoch was written in support of Palestine and Palestinian immigrants make up a good amount of the population in Jordan. The article on city planning in Amman highlights some of the achievements in the city but also the challenges it faces. The government has had a difficult time creating a sense of community and ownership because there are so many immigrants, both Palestinian and Iraqi. Even though Palestinian families have lived in Amman for generations, they don't identify as being from Amman, they're from the West Bank.
So how do you go about creating community and unity without discouraging unique and valuable national identities? Food for thought and something I haven't figured out yet.
Orange Sky- Alex Murdoch
New York Times article