Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.
But I do not just want to sit here and Remember.
I do not want to visit a memorial
And feel the chill of stones.
Of ice.
Of fear.
I mean…I do.
But I do not just want to sit in my room and watch documentaries and cry.
I do not just want to read stories of trauma and cry.
I want more.
Because this is not just the Past.
We are not just the Past.
We are Present.
We are Future.
We do not just Defend.
We Attack.
We Transform.
Today, when we pause and reflect,
We do so in order to gather strength
To jump forward
And set fire to the world
With our existences.
Today, I remember in order to…
In order to…
Today, I will spend 5 minutes Remembering.
Because that is vital.
But today, I will spend 10 minutes Acting.
Because that is why I am here.
And I will do something that makes
This world a bit more encompassingly beautiful and kind.
This day
Is about immersing in memories.
Transmitting memories
And Creating memories.
“Hypocrisy is screaming to the sky”
Because Never Again does not mean sitting in silence.
As the world turns
And refugies suffer
And terror is enacted
And a child is bullied for wearing a hijab on the playground
And a woman is bullied for taking of her hijab in a mall.
And who is right?
Who is wrong?
And we bully. And we attack.
And, just as frightening,
we stand silently.
A man harassed me on the train the other day.
“I just want to sit here quietly,” I told him.
He would not stop.
My eyes searched the train.
Searching
For someone to tell him to back off.
I made eye contact for a moment.
And then,
Nothing.
Just the voice of this man.
And his leg next to mine
As he refused to sit somewhere else.
Never again,
Means educating myself
To be a little kinder,
A little more empathetic,
A little more generous,
To those who are different than I.
Never again means taking 2 minutes of silence.
To reflect.
And then yelling.
For justice.
Let us all be
A little more.
Photo from The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
