My Semester Abroad

Last Saturday, I traveled two hours to find a protest in the capital of Switzerland, outfitted in journalist attire, microphone, professional pen and pad.

I left, miffed, that no one wanted the story.

The protest was over the bloody conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. As the protest organizers were supportive of the Palestinians, they jointly called for the cessation of Israel's aggression in Gaza.

According to International Coordinator of the World Council of Churches, Rifat Odeh Kassis, "We should not be patient against aggressive occupation." Instead, Kassis urged "All free people should write to put pressure on Israel."

I marched along (but not quite in tandem, so I could remain "objective") up the street a mile or so, until we stopped in front of the Israeli Embassy. Five guards in bullet-proof vests with serious weaponry stood waiting to greet us.

I mumbled something about not wanting to die by massive firepower, and a protester on my right chuckled softly.

As this was a peaceful protest — shouting and demonstrating, without physical violence — I reasoned that it was safe to stay.

After jotting notes and taking pictures of the 400+ sized crowd around me, I returned to the car.

Little did I know another story was waiting upon my return.

With a camping stove's transient flame, two drug users were squatting by the driver's seat of the car, melting white powder to liquid form. Others, in groups of two and three, were also crouched over their drugs. Although I was taken aback by this open-air consumption of what appeared to be crack cocaine, others around me were taking it in stride.

In fact, an eight-person movie crew was filming a bedraggled, drug-addict actor as he stumbled hazily through set-up piles of trash. The director, standing nearby, told me he was filming a scene for a short German film about loss.

Observing the many lost individuals squatting pitifully around me, I realized that another, closer-to-Bern protest ought to have happened.

Unfortunately for them, their voices were not heard.