If we aren't talking about the important things, then why are we talking?

Looking onto Gaza, in the distance

Ever since I first traveled to Palestine in 2019, I have wondered why everyone is not talking about what is happening there. It is the same way I felt after traveling to Cambodia, and to Bosnia, and learned of the horrors that happened there in recent decades. I couldn’t imagine how the images of civilians shot dead in the street did not make the whole world cry out in pain. I couldn’t imagine how one could not see themselves in those images, see their children, see their parents?

I know there are many heartbreaking and terrible situations around the world, but it seems that so many people don’t bother to talk about any of them.

For the past ten months, I have followed the daily reports coming out of Gaza. Some by professional journalists, some by social media personalities-turned-reporters, and some just by average people, sharing their everyday lives. I have seen them say goodbye to their homes, and sometimes return to find their whole neighborhood turned to rubble. I have seen them lose family members, the loves of their lives, every single thing they owned. I have seen them be displaced, multiple times. Having to pick up and start again, over and over, in the middle of the cold night and under the hot sun of the day. I have seen them leave their country to become refugees, again. I have seen them die.

I see all this grief, destruction, perseverance, and somehow also, faith, while I sit in my comfortable home, scrolling on my telephone. And amidst this daily, ongoing struggle for life, I then see the carefree lives of others. Sometimes, I have to admit that carefree life is also my own, although I also devote significantly more time to raising awareness about the situation in Palestine. Scrolling through, I see people celebrating their joys, what they are having for breakfast, their latest vacations. What I am not trying to say is that we should not celebrate our happy moments. What I am trying to say, is that we should have some awareness that we are not the center of the world. We should be aware and acknowledge that we live in a presumed bubble of saftey at the expense of someone else who does not. And, I think what I see a lack of the most, is the awareness that our presumed bubble of safety and prosperity is just as precarious to us as it was to those who have seen their worlds’ shatter at the drop of a bomb or a natural disaster.

When we understand that we are just as vulnerable as our neighbor across the border or across the sea, we can’t help but want to do something to help, even if just to keep telling their stories, to help make others aware of what is going on beyond our own little worlds. I truly believe that while we may not be able to make everything better, we can start by being better people ourselves, in our homes, and in our communities. And I believe that by making more conscious choices - with what we buy, with whom we interact on social media and in real life, and with what we give our attention to - we can make a real impact. And that impact can inspire others to do the same.

There was a time in my life when I was under the influence - sometimes of consumerism, sometimes of celebrity, sometimes of politics. All things that have been designed to distract us from what is really important. When I scroll through social media now, and I see people hawking their codes for online retail giants, convincing people to spend their hard-earned money on useless junk, it all seems so trivial and superficial to me. These aren’t the people I want to follow, these aren’t the people I want to be like.

The people who are my heroes, the people who I check on first thing when I wake up each morning and before I go to sleep each night, are the people who are doing something brave, the journalists and the people of Palestine. People who are spreading the message to the world of what is happening to their people. Often, at great personal risk and personal cost. And often, sharing their deepest pain and grief, and finding a void staring back at them. A cold world, that doesn’t seem to care. I hope they know that there are people out there who do really care. People out there who are following them everyday and who appreciate and admire their sacrifice. They are my inspiration. They know what it means to truly believe in something. Please keep talking about Palestine. Please, keep talking about the important things.

love,

greer