Photo: Sue Vincent
It was the best place to play hide and go seek.
At least, that’s what they wanted him to think.
It was also the best place to go missing.
Not that they’d tell him. …
He had no reason to suspect anything was amiss. Not when the whole troop of them had ran together all the way to the weathered monoliths that dotted the small glens by the ancient cliffs. Not when the game had ensued with much merry running and grabbing and stone-circling. Not even when most of the children had headed back home for supper as dusk neared, but he was invited to stay “and play a bit longer” with a handful of the most popular kids.
He was new in town. He felt included. He felt welcomed.
He should have felt scared.
“He just disappeared,” they later said. “We thought he’d gone home with the others.”
“It has happened before,” their parents nodded, wrapping arms around the shoulders of their feet-shuffling children and forming a united wall against the ashen faces of the boy’s parents, the newcomers who never should have come, who never could belong. “The boy must have wandered away in faded light and fallen into a sinkhole.”
Na'ama Yehuda 
Sounds like a case of nasty children, supported by nasty parents who’ve no liking of newcomers.
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Sounds about right … oy …
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🙂
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🙂
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Being the outsider in a closed community is always hard…but not always this hard…
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Thankfully … it would be impossible indeed if it was always THIS hard! … 😉
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It would 🙂
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🙂
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Definitely not a welcoming community!
Yikes!
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Yikes indeed!
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Thank you, Sue!
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Evil flourishes in the insular, ignorant,biased and also the young minds.
A frightening tale.💜
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Exactly, Willow! You’ve hit the nail on its head (no pun!!) and it is EXACTLY what I was reflecting on in this piece. Frightening and … alas … not all that far from reality in some places, historically and not-so-historically, where the ‘other’ is seen as dangerous and best-driven-away and where the ends appear to justify the means … oy.
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It’s a sad bad world
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It is also a wonderful, beautiful, amazing world, filled with love and glorious souls. It is perhaps about knowing both exist and doing what we can to lift the veil over the dark corners so sunlight can come in to clear out the taboos and open those closed minds to some fresh air …
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You are so right it’s all the power of positive thinking.💜
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And positive doing … 🙂
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Yes 💜
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