After the Readathon

I read Minor Detail a few days ago. Today, I have been hooked on the news of a genocide in Rafah.

I tend to cry when things involve children. I have seen numbers saying that over thirteen thousand children have been murdered in Gaza. Thousands. So many of us are scrambling to respond to a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing. A Rachel Corrie quote has come to mind, and I have been repeating it like a mantra: “This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore.”

My readathon sort of fell apart after twenty-four hours, but the world is bleeding, and I am trying to listen to as many Palestinian accounts of this genocide as possible. Children should not be frightened that they might not survive. They should be in school, making friends, dreaming about what they will be when they are adults.

I’m not certain what to do. I think a lot of people are struggling with this brazen series of war crimes, wondering around the world what we can do to stop this. Sometimes, I take comfort in words, but now all words have petered out and dipped below the inky black waves. Children.

I think we all need to listen and then act now. Go read Minor Detail. Like Rachel Corrie, I don’t think that this is a radical thing to do.