When did the word “love”
become a trigger?
And why did it become that
For me?
It happened,
not for the first time,
nor, I suspect,
for the last.
This undeserved response
to a word to warm
and comfort
and hope for.
a word, aspirational,
if you will.
I know the answer.
In this topsy-turvy world
of time-trapped PurimLit. "Lots." A carnival holiday celebrated on the 14th of the Jewish month of Adar, commemorating the Jewish victory over the Persians as told in the Book of Esther. Purim is celebrated by reading the megilla (Book of Esther), exchanging gifts, giving money to the poor, and holding a festive meal. At the megilla reading, merrymakers are dressed in costumes, people drink, and noisemakers (graggers) are sounded whenever the villain Haman's name is mentioned.,
where mistruths abound;
where truths don’t always agree,
the call to love
is being shaken loose
as yet another blanket
to drape over a field of weapons
and every manner of wicked abuse,
trying to hide them from view.
“I am sorry,”
I wrote in a lesson on conflict resolution
“I cannot love a Jihadist.
It is simply
Too much to ask.”
For now,
for sure,
please,
with a smile,
do not ask me
to love
that neighbor.
