Sit with that for a while

I saw a simple post this week that stated that more children have been killed in Gaza in the last 12 months than in the entire world in the last 5 years. 

I had to sit with that for a while. 

There are some facts that won’t leave me. 

I have to sit with them for a while even if they make me weep. 

I am aware that I live in a world of privilege where I can say things like “well it doesn’t concern me”, “I just don’t have the headspace right now”, “it is sad and so complicated what is happening in the Middle East”, “well it doesn’t really concern us,” “I just can’t cope with seeing those sorts of images on my social media”.

I could say all that, but I can’t. 

If the least I can do is bear witness, then that is the least that I can do. 

I read a beautiful book on the weekend by Kate Atkinson called Life after Life. Much of the book was based in London during WWI and WWII.

The main character Ursula, at various stages is a warden in London during the bombings. At one night during a particularly god-awful night, she said to herself, “One must bear witness” and then she remembers an old mentor’s voice telling her, “We must remember these people when we are safely in the future.”

The least I can do is bear witness. The bare minimum I can do

is remember these people when we are safely in the future.

'Never again' was meant to mean never again.