What Should We Fear?

What would you do if your house was on fire and your child was inside?

Call the fire department.

But what if there is no fire department, or no one will come? Then what would you do?

Anything. You would do anything in your power to stop the suffering and save your child. Maybe you would run into the street and stop traffic to beg for help. Call local news stations. Bang on the doors of your neighbors’ houses.

Oh, but those are not the appropriate ways to ask for help. You should call the fire department and wait for them to come.

They are not coming, you say. My child is in the house, you say.

When is it appropriate to speak about genocide? Who are you allowed to tell? In what places will you be permitted to protest and mourn?

The events in Israel and Gaza are felt by people in our own community. They are grieving. They are outraged. They are desperate to stop the suffering.

You may have heard that County Council Representative Liz Walsh has introduced a resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. It will be put forward at this evening’s meeting. There will be no public testimony. While I wish that the resolution included clear language condemning the terrorist acts by Hamas, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to raise this issue before the council. I do think that without explicit mention of the return of all hostages, it is incomplete. I hope it will be amended.

A meeting of the County Council is, after all, the closest thing we have to a town square. Let’s talk about it.

When you are trying to rescue your child from a burning house, anywhere you turn might be a source of help. So you try.

It is possible to care about what happens in Israel and Gaza. It should not be so difficult to convince people that mourning lives lost does not make anyone “pro” one side or the other. Wanting to stop suffering is human.

What should we truly fear? Being able to walk by on the other side of the street and say, “Well, that’s not any of my business.” I honestly can’t think of anything scarier.

My Jewish friends are grieving. My Muslim friends are grieving. We cannot bind up their wounds by being silent.

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