I love this image of a naked woman expressing herself with her body artistically, because she can. She lives in a democracy that celebrates diversity and expression. You won’t see any of that in Gaza. Artistic expression does not exist, and if it did, it wouldn’t be by a woman.
Xmas Eve, and I’m in the very best place I could be – the airport terminal, checked in for my flight home with a comfy seat, a sandwich, some coffee and two hours to sit and write without interruption. Every minute of every day I have so much to say, but then I get distracted by what snack I am going to have next.
I am following the news in Israel, but I have sort of returned to life. I can once again have a normal conversation with friends and I can once again derive pleasure out of shoe shopping. I think the decision to go to Israel has calmed me down a bit.
I wish I weren’t returning to normal though because normalcy means not being infuriated by every ignorant person who is calling for a cease-fire and protesting the war. It means that even after 80 days, people still have not deduced that a war against terrorism is a moral and lifesaving necessity for Israel and that the casualties in Gaza could so easily be avoided by the return of the hostages or the intervention of the Arab nations in the region.
Normalcy means that reporters are still reporting the information that the Ministry of Health, i.e. Hamas propaganda, provides. We have no idea how many casualties there are. It’s too high, yes, but the numbers that are being provided are made up propaganda.
Normalcy means that posters of the hostages are still being defaced and that the rapes of countless Israeli women is ignored, or worse, deemed as deserved.
Normalcy means that some of our family members are taking the side of terrorists against Israel.
Normalcy means the use of the word “genocide” to refer to war casualties, and not to refer to the elimination of the Jewish people.
Ah, it could have been a wonderful life if Hamas never existed. If the Jewish homeland were allowed to thrive as the pillar of democracy and diversity that it strives to be. It could have been a wonderful life had thousands of Jews not been raped, burned alive and killed on October 7th.
It could have been a wonderful life if 6 million Jews weren’t murdered in the holocaust.
For that matter, it could have been a wonderful life if oppressed people throughout history weren’t enslaved, murdered and tortured. If we were kind and generous by nature. If we didn’t have huge egos, and if we weren’t so quick to judge others. If we celebrated our differences instead of fearing and blaming them.
It could have been a wonderful life if life were in fact wonderful, but as long as we humans remain in charge, life will continue to suck.
So we find the beauty.
Merry Christmas.