Good morning! If you’re new, my name is Jeremy. My wife Jessica and I moved to Iraq 15+ years ago at the height of the war. Today, our humanitarian work across 10+ countries has been covered by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, etc.

I help peacemakers like you 10X their impact around the world through a social impact collective called HUMANITE.

I write for those who still have hope.

Jeremy Courtney
HUMANITE

The Power of Personal Agency

Would you rather be happy and stuck or miserable and stuck?

It seems like a silly question, but a lot of people out here have apparently chosen the latter.

I saw some colleagues in Ukraine this week who run a “modular town” for Ukrainians displaced by the war. Rows and rows of mobile housing have been set up to host families on the run. Although families initially expect to stay for months at a time, as the war drags on, many will likely end up in this situation for years.

But here’s where the story takes a turn:

Rather than have a bunch of adults and children sitting around all day doing nothing but ruminate on the unjust situation they find themselves in, the “town” (what we would call a displacement camp anywhere else) has organized scheduled building, gardening, clean-up, play, educational, and entertainment activities.

I can already hear the detractors. Those Master’s degree experts who have not lived any of the things they comment on.

Making refugees do your gardening? So disgusting. Healing from trauma cannot be scheduled!

Well, not with that attitude.

But, of course, there’s no coercion in this camp. Just an open invitation to live for today and make your own future.

In all my years in the Middle East, I’ve never personally seen a displacement camp quite like it. But I can tell you that nothing hurts an individual, a family, or a people more than the stripping of their sense of agency. And nothing heals like reclaiming it.

So, not only do I think this “gardening” model is brilliant, I think it has something to teach all of us.

What’s the real Big Picture?

Is a garden going to stop the war?

No.

So it’s not hard to imagine the person who gets invited to come garden, harumphs, and says, “What are we going to do with a few more beets? Throw them at Putin? Lemme know when you start planting land mines!”

It’s understandable. Focused on the “Big Picture”, it’s easy to conclude that nothing else matters.

It’s either stop the war or sit here and mourn. There is no middle.

A lot of people around the world seem to have adopted this mentality.

But it’s not that the gardeners are any less stuck. They’re just a whole lot happier!

Still displaced.

Still hot/cold.

Still hungry.

But their borscht tastes better.

Their days pass faster.

And their hormones are more balanced due to the sunlight, the exercise, and the fruit of their labor.

Which ultimately makes them a lot less stuck.

So what’s the real Big Picture?

It’s common for people who want more peace in the world to be some of the most sour. After all, we are trained to see gaps between what is and what could be.

And “settling” for anything else is a capitulation to the prevailing systems of __________ (insert bad -ism here).

As if crossing our arms and refusing to be happy is a meaningful weapon against any real evil.

The truth is, no one is easier to control and defeat than someone stuck in the past. Words, stories, jokes, and symbols all become magic spells that whip them into a frenzy of someone else’s making.

Distracted.

Spinning out.

Kicking up dust and calling it “change”.

But no one is harder to control than those who refuse to stop planting, watering, and harvesting their dreams.

Bomb them.

Attack their identity.

Run them out.

You can even put them in rows of plastic boxes and call it a “town”, but they won’t stop digging until they find the soil that brings new life.

The Bigger Picture

OK, you may not be out here planting land mines. You may have realized a long time ago that taking a big chunk out of someone isn’t going to make you happy or bring about the change you want to see in the world.

But how much time have you spent recently with your hands in the dirt? Maybe it’s too much to think that you would be planting your dreams. Maybe it’s too scary to think about “putting down roots” in this town you’re meant to be passing through.

But in the grand scheme, maybe there is more than what could be. Maybe the Bigger Picture is what we still have and who we could be.

Whether under siege or underwhelmed, I want to keep building, making, and bringing life from dirt.

What about you?

Jeremy Courtney
HUMANITE Peace Collective

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