I've talked way more about this on my blog than anywhere else. But as I write this, the genocide in the Gaza Strip has been going on for nearly two years now. It shouldn't be controversial to call it a genocide. And it shouldn't be controversial to say that genocide, wherever and to whomever it happens, is wrong. I mean, it's crazy that I even have to say this, and a testament to just how messed up everything is right now.
Right now, starvation is being wielded as a weapon of genocide against the Palenstinian people, just as it was against the Irish in the Potato Famine, and elsewhere across the globe. And I wonder if all of human history is nothing but a repeating cycle of genocides being perpetrated against other peoples by peoples who were historically the targets of genocide themselves in the past. And my heart aches. And I wonder, why can't we just stop doing this? It seems like it should be so easy to just...not do this anymore. But the cycle continues.
I'm frequently guilty of referring to media too much. Of using references to media to contextualize everything I encounter or experience. But a quote from Kingdom Of Heaven, a film I've been rewatching a lot recently keeps popping into my head:
"A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that."
History is going to take note of what we all do right now in response to what is going on. The world is watching. And as the saying goes, "one day, everyone will have always been against this." But people are going to have to account for their actions in this lifetime, and perhaps beyond. And people should know by now that saying "I was just following orders," is not going to cut it.
But for everyone else, there are ways to help: