i hear and see and can’t pretend i don’t.

🍉

i moved away from ‘home’ when i was 17, not because something happened at that age, but because it was by then that i had built up the nerve.

everyone who seemed to be able to protect and advocate for children was Out There. i left home intending to find these people but when Out, i learned there weren’t enough of them around.

i found the “think of the children” lip service was more about politics than actually thinking of or helping children.

the world children are living in today seems much more dangerous and scary than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

we don’t want to think about how buying a cup of coffee or bag or meal impacts someone else. we don’t want to think about what the logos we wear and carry tell the world.

it’s hard for me to separate the choices i make with where and who i align with.

more often, the adults around me made it seem like i was the problem. well, most adults. not my granny.

there were little things that told me who i was safe around. asking the same person who they knew or suspected of abuse for favours; air miles points for a flight, a job connect, loaning out a car for a wedding. little things that had nothing to do with the past but sent me a message in subtext, whether intentional or not:

we don’t hear you.

don’t come to us for help.

now i am at a big age where my choices can send the same message.

where i work, the things i ‘like’ and repost, clothes i wear, everything and all the things. i see the photos and the videos. i hear and see and can’t pretend i don’t.

i know now it is a matter of wanting to listen. doctors who have had to operate on their children. kids who look into a camera and start their sentences with ‘if i grow up’. Wael Hamdan Ibrahim Al-Dahdouh.

there are people who will use their power to help and speak up for children. i know them now because they are the ones who say they will never stop speaking about Gaza.

Ceasefire.

Ceasefire.

Ceasefire fucking now.

https://ceasefirenow.ca/email-your-mp

https://www.oxfam.ca/story/ceasefire-now-5-actions-to-take-for-gaza/

https://act.leadnow.ca/call-ceasefire/

For organizers and anyone who wants to learn more about Palestine:

https://decolonizepalestine.com/

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Photo: Eternal Flame Falls, Shale Creek, NY. A waterfall with a flame behind it.