We read each name of the 15,613 children
who had been killed in Gaza.
We began at 10AM.
We had not even got to the 5 year olds by 3PM.
What does it mean to be part of a world that allows this?
Each child was a beacon.
A glowing light that was loved.
So many of us cried through the names we were given to read.
It took till 2.30AM to read every name out loud.
What does it mean to be a human in a world that allows this to happen.
A Holocaust survivor
his eyes full of tears and kindness carried the names he read like a prayer.
His voice tender as a cradle to guide thousands of lights to the stars.
This is all it means to be human.
To know the beating heart
of the world even when it is a wound.
The list of names roll on, even as the war is “over”.
The Pale Notebook 