by Megan Pierce

Created on: June 22, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

There is a chance you will be changed by what you're looking for. "We should be inspired by people... who show that human beings can be kind, brave, generous, beautiful, [and] strong even in the most difficult circumstances." These words were taken from one of the many journals of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American peace activist, who was killed when an Israeli bulldozer crushed her to death outside of a Palestinian home in Gaza. Her death is honored and recognized every year on March 16. Her memory is also celebrated in music, art, films, writing, and live plays, which was most recently displayed at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus on April 6, 2009, a little more than six years after her passing. The live play focused on Rachel's life in Olympia, Washington to her time in the Middle East as a peace activist.

Her personal words of faith, strength, dignity, and peace have been echoed in many books, especially her own journals, diaries and emails to her family and friends. She describes her time in Palestine as chronic, insidious genocide. In much of her writing, Rachel confesses that because of the constant destruction to innocent lives, she starts to question whether or not humans have an internal goodness anymore.

Even in the midst of confusion, hatred and rubble, Rachel tells her mother "that I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances which I also haven't seen before." I think the word is dignity. After her death in 2003, Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig decided to establish a foundation in her memory, and to help shout out their daughter's words to the rest of the world.

The play itself stirs up Palestinian sympathies and a radical reaction to genocide and innocent killings. It also has a message that causes some disputes about Rachel's view on peace, justice and human capability. The intense dialogue of Rachel's journals and emails reflect her desire to connect with other people, especially those who are suffering or hurting.

Her writings of the Middle East are filled with compassion towards the innocent Palestinian civilians, and disappointment towards the Israeli Army and the government behind its support. She places a strong emphasis on making efforts to help other struggling countries by physically being a part of the conflict. In a song written by Ed Mast to eulogize her death, he writes in her memory:

Did she think she failed?
She did not retreat. Did she think he would?
Or did she simply refuse to give up on him, on them, on him?
Did she simply refuse?
Was she chosen, or did she choose?

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