---

Gaza - Caracas

This short documentary (2:42) was made nine years ago... It is amazing how fast the time passes and how relevant still are the most valuable humanist messages.

We were but three filmmakers, struggling against the difficulties of poverty and the corruption of the cultural institutions. However, in our tiny team of researchers-artists, there was a strong commitment and a great clarity of purpose: to make films that would show the most beautiful qualities of the people that resist the worst difficulties that we can imagine.

In this video, Chilean-Palestinian psychologist Nelly Marzouka explains the power of resilience developed by the Palestinian people. Through her personal history (since she also had to emigrate) we understand the drama of Palestine, as well as the capacity of human beings to overcome traumas and catastrophes.

At that moment my restless mind, always inclined to philosophy and psychology, kept asking if perhaps the so-called "resilience" (a trendy concept) could be no more than a flowery name to hide a mere resignation.

Now, 9 years later, living and suffering the catastrophe in Venezuela, I can understand the matter far better.

Surviving to... perhaps, someday, live

Resilience indeed arises in the acceptance of a terrible reality and, in that sense, it does contain a great burden of resignation. But it is not the bitter resignation of the desperate. It is, instead, the wise resignation of the one who understands and accepts the inevitability of his misfortunes, his inability to radically transform his situations.

Life overwhelms me. I'm unable to solve this... but I'm still living, and that's an opportunity.

_{This last shot was, for us, a symbol of the phoenix, the mythical bird of the eternal rebirth}

This, which may seem unfortunate to those addicted to optimism, is actually a very powerful attitude to resist the worst tragedies. Accepting our reality, regardless of how painful it can be, is the first step to feel peace in the midst of conditions that we cannot change.

We must understand that the world transcends us, the vicious games of politicians and powerful people do not stop, and our longing for a better life is not a factor that determines the end of our social conflicts. Our voices are inaudible and our suffering invisible to all those who feel themselves too big to look down.

But while we might not be able to define the outcomes in the societies where we live, we can still decide our reactions to the difficulties of our lives.

It is our firm awareness of our responsibility towards those things that really depend on us, which makes the difference between a resilient lifestyle and the chaotic and confused lives of those who only increase the pain of the world with each reaction, for their inability to respond wisely to life... their inability to accept what lies beyond our desires.