it is tuesday, june 10th. i wrote my 5th blog post a week ago already. i have not posted it. it did not feel right.
in the light of recent events that have transpired in our world lately, i am no longer sure how or what to feel. i don't know anymore what to share or not to share. i don't know how to speak of my last week of this life i am so fortunate to call mine, when i know how many lives are lost as i type these words.
i know, living in this world, that we are never free of suffering as a whole. to disconnect your thoughts from constantly orbiting around someone else's pain is simply choosing to be able to have a halfway enjoyable life at all. to acknowledge the pain, and the injustice, and to shift to something less heavy in order to cope is human.
but the same cannot be said about things when they take on this kind of magnitude.
there is a point at which we cannot simply look away to cope. a point at which we must acknowledge that it is our responsibility to carry their pain with us, so that they may not be alone with it. where we use our privileged voices in order to speak up for the oppressed. for the voiceless. for the ones who go unheard.
i have a tattoo on the back of my upper left arm. it is the word "glückskind" in a font i once decided i would use in my first book once i released it. above it, a little star with a smile, with striped tights and cowboy boots. the star was an impulse decision (the tattoo artist said the 2nd tattoo would be 50% off if i got two), but the word was something i was more than sure of.
it is a german word that translates to "lucky child".
it is a poem of mine i wrote a few years back about the immense privilege it is to live as i do. about how i wish i could free every person on this planet of homelessness. of hopelessness.
and while it dealt with a more specific cause, one i cared about deeply, i see my glückskind tattoo as more of a mindset i walk through life with. a constant reminder to not take a single thing for granted. ever.
and while acknowledging my pain and my struggle, i acknowledge that i have never come anywhere near the pain and struggle of others. people much less fortunate than me.
so this week, all i would like to leave you with is this little reminder. to never get too comfortable in your privileged reality. to always know that we live with the choice to unsee the despicable things done to others of our kind, whilst they have no escape. to be political. always and everywhere, because to say you're not is to admit to being ignorant. to be loud, to be bold, to not lose hope, to not underestimate the power of humans who fight for the same cause, to be the voice of the oppressed, to fight for them as they would fight for us.
because if we say we love freedom, but we do not care if it applies to everyone, what we love is not freedom, it is privilege.
free palestine.
and no one is illegal on stolen land.
resources to leave a mark:
for the people in gaza:
medical aid for palestinians (MAP) – www.map.org.uk
delivers emergency medical aid to palestinians in gaza, the west bank, and refugee camps.
palestine children's relief fund (PCRF) – www.pcrf.net
provides critical care for injured and sick children in palestine.
anera (american near east refugee aid) – www.anera.org
supports palestinian communities through food aid, health care, and education.
UNRWA USA – www.unrwausa.org
supports relief efforts for palestinian refugees across the middle east.
jewish voice for peace – www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
a jewish-led organization working toward palestinian liberation and anti-zionist advocacy.
adalah – the legal center for arab minority rights in israel – www.adalah.org
legal resources and documentation of human rights abuses.