Remembering to look at conflict from all sides. Remembering that suffering is not one-sided.

 Just to remind us that there is more than one side to every story here are some words:

A poem written after 9/11:

Spared

October 2001

'That Love is all there is, 
Is all we know of Love ....' - Emily Dickinson

It wasn't you, it wasn't me, 
Up there, two thousand feet above 
The New York street. We're safe, and free, 
A little while, to live and love,

Imagining what might have been - 
The phone-call from the blazing tower, 
A last farewell on the machine, 
While someone sleeps another hour,

Or worse, perhaps, to say goodbye 
And listen to each other's pain, 
Send helpless love across the sky, 
Knowing we'll never meet again,

Or jump together, hand in hand, 
To certain death. Spared all of this 
For now, how well I understand 
That love is all, is all there is.

Wendy Cope

And a poem written by someone now living in Cambridge originally but from Kibbutz Re’im in Israel, someone whose friends and relations have fortunately survived so far: 

 Spared

October 2023
“That Love is all there is,
Is all we know of Love”
– Emily Dickinson

It wasn’t us. We weren’t there
When terrorists attacked at dawn
Death and bloodshed everywhere
But we still live. And they are gone

Imagining how it would feel
Taken hostage by a gun
Or shot while dancing in a field
Not to see another sun

Or sleeping gently, unaware
When they approach and break the door
The sound of gunfire in the air
And then just silence evermore

But we are safe, and we are here
We weren’t there. We’re spared of this
I’ll softly whisper in your ear
That love is all. It’s all there is.
Guy Naamati

And not quite a poem but taken from a Gaza resident’s diary of the last week

Spared - so far

October 2023

Men in Gaza do cry.

When they lose their homes that they spend their whole lives building, they cry.

When they see their dreams and hopes getting destroyed, they cry.

When they realise how scary and uncertain is their future is, they cry.

And because they are human beings, full of feelings and emotions, they cry.

Ziad in Gaza

Just to remind us that we need people to listen to all the words.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!