I just realized that it's been a week since I've done anything on this blog!! This is a busy time for me at work as we need to get a lot of reports out before the end of the year. Alhamdulilah, I made it this far! Few days ago, on Dec 29th, it was the beginning of the Islamic Year (A.H 1430) while the world watched as our brothers and sisters were being killed in Gaza!The pictures and testimonies at the Palestinian Holocaust Museum are heartbreaking. We see these images, watch the news on tv, but our lives go on, we eat out, go shopping, buy gifts for our families, and laugh as if we were watching a movie and not the news. We have detached ourselves from the reality of the News, the reality of death. We are so used of the news of death that it doesn't feel real anymore,it's like watching scenes from a scary movie,we're scared for a few minutes but when the movie is over, we forget everything, we're back to our normal happy life, after all it was just some images on a screen. As, I'm writing this, I'm sitting in my comfy office with my heat on, sipping on my morning coffee, and I feel like I'm not much better than the rest. But today, I beg to differ, when the lights will go out, when the count will begin for a new year, when the world will celebrate on their successes and accomplishments, when champagne glasses will be raised and toasted, wishes of health and prosperity exchanged, it will not be a happy new year for me. Tonight, my thoughts will be in Gaza, for all those families who will sleep on empty stomachs, terror in their hearts, darkness in their homes. My thoughts will be for all these mothers in Gaza who are tearing at the loss of their children, the jobless fathers who can't feed their families, the elders who are waiting for death...Palestine, how more can I cry with you? Tonight, I beg to differ, it will not be a happy new year for me~
Dedicated to my fellow brothers and sisters in Palestine, specifically Gaza. We will not watch this genocide and remain apathetic. We will not allow another “Holocaust” to happen, God-Willing. We will not remain silent.
As we sit surrounded by luxury, engrossed in our own lives,
We tend to forget about the world’s struggles and strife.
I cry, I write, and I speak,
For my brothers and sisters in humanity, those helpless and weak,
For the innocent Palestinian lives taken all in just one day,
For the children who lost their mothers in Gaza today,
For the civilians, trapped, living in blockade,
For the bloodshed that continues decade after decade,
For the severely injured who have no access to medical care,
For the elderly folk, who are not even spared,
For the demolished homes and destroyed olive trees,
For the men and women who are not even in their own land, free,
For the dreams, hopes, and optimism, completely crushed,
For the Palestinian voices, all muted and hushed,
For the genocide occurring afore our own eyes,
For the déjà vu of a Holocaust, buried among justification for the sake of security and other wretched lies.
I cry, I write, and I speak,
For the situation around the world, seeming so dark and bleak,
For the censored media and news we are being fed,
While others lose their homes and their family members, dead,
For the baseless vilification of the people of Palestine,
For the apathy and the forgetfulness, both your fault and mine,
For our tax dollars going to fund rockets, bombs, and annihilation,
For this country’s full support of the collective punishment and decimation,
For the thousands who live and die, knowing nothing of this occupation,
Too engrossed in their personal lives, not even caring to expose themselves to this human rights’ violation.
I cry, I write, and I speak,
For the innocent people of Palestine, may God bless them with strength after they were weak.
But I cry, I write, and I speak even more,
Begging us all to learn, read, write, demand and act, I implore.
(By Mai El-Sadany)
