We were not supposed to be afraid of them. After all, they were the articulate. Inquisitive. Supposedly enlightened.
It was the latter which scared us. The assumption. The expectation that if they have found their way here, they are automatically allies, and not foe.
And yet, they marched with those who sought to do us harm. They justified what should not be. They claimed superiority through intellectual high-ground dressed as morality.
A repetition. It was. Of the past.
And so we learned to hide. Our names. Our true identity. Our truth.
Lest we be hunted.
In the name of peace.
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Photo credit: © David Stewart
Na'ama Yehuda 
My heart breaks for all the innocents. On both sides.
Poignant and well done, Na’ama.
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Yes, it none of it makes sense and it is none of it how it should be. May hate end. May terrorists no longer reign. May safe childhoods return.
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No. Terrorists have been around forever, it seems.
Safe childhood seems to be most difficult in most areas, in some way, shape or form.
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ugh. yes. it boggles the mind that humans haven’t figured out how to let people be people and let kids be kids.
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No. Humans are so flawed.
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oy. xoxo
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xoxo
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As I commented elsewhere, I suspect while there are humans, there will be inhumanity. Seems a lot of people saw that in this image.
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Yes, alas, humans can do awful things to each other, and somehow try to justify it in the name of this or that. The image was indeed evocative, and in these times, perhaps the themes lurk close.
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Very moving
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Thank you. May people find a way to see the human in each other, for it is there, and always has been, if only we choose to see it.
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Yes, defining each other by generic labels is so hurtful and harmful for humanity. Don’t use “all” say some people instead.
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Indeed! Or, say “this and that person is” or “a person who acts that way is.” Labels of making another, an ‘other’, have never had a benefit to anyone but those who seek to abuse power in the name of pseudo-this or pseudo-that.
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Absolutely right Na’ama. I wish we could understand this simple fact
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Here, proof that some of us already do, and I suspect, many more of us already do. Here’s to passing it on.
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👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
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You’d think, after all these centuries, that we’d have learned something. It seems we have not.
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I would like to think that we CAN learn, and that some of us are trying, but that many do not want to, or need to make sure others won’t. It is disheartening. May saner hearts prevail. One day. Soon. Soon can’t be soon enough.
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a cautionary tale indeed…
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Alas, all too real, and all too worthy of cautioning against.
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Such a warning. Well done.
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Thank you! Hate is a weapon, and it is often used to make another, an ‘other’.
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The line ‘they marched with those who sought to do us harm’ resonated with me. So many could be included in that description – the ‘enlightened’ ones of your story, but also those who aren’t so enlightened, but still swell the ranks of the evil-doers for reasons too many to number. A very moving piece.
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Thank you, Margaret, and yes for the elucidation you added for the many who could be part of that description. Be it they are ‘enlightened’ in the view of others, or see themselves as such … whether they are indeed or not at all … Glad this resonated …
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Na’ama Y’karah,
Enlghtened? Intelligent? That’s the most terrifying part of it. We shake our heads, wonder why and stand, mouths agape as it happens again and again. Well written piece that makes my stomach hurt.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I hear you. I hear you. Yes. Indeed.
xoxo
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