What am I doing here?

There is plenty of fodder for pessimism here.

• My first day here someone said "I do not want to play at the camp because [when I'm there] I feel I am playing with my enemy"
• Today, someone said "Peace is not in my vocabulary." And this is someone at an organization that facilitates visitation to the region. They followed it up by insisting that the word peace is overused and therefore has lost meaning, not so much that peace is impossible. They prefer to talk about human rights rather than peace per se
• The news basically everywhere talks only of events that induce fear and further entrenchment on one side or the other

So what am I doing here? (exploring the streets of Jerusalem though obviously not shaving)

• Promoting ultimate and fun - many experts on human and social development note the importance of playing 
• A la Patch Adams, I twisted a couple balloon bears on the inter-city bus today and handed them to the ~six year old next to me. He was so dang polite and thankful!
• Visiting schools, gyms, and places where people play and play sports
• Today in one of the squares of old Jerusalem, a friend and I threw the frisbee with three different groups of guys - only a few minutes apart, groups of Arabs and Israelis were happily tossing with us
• Studying Arabic, both in books and in the cafes/markets/taxis/living rooms around me

Do we have good reason to be optimistic? Even if we don't have "reason" to be, might we be optimistic because of faith or deep-seeded hope?