First,
They said I was overreacting.
That Jews and queer folk were safe.
That they weren’t coming for our
Rights
Freedoms
Families.
Then,
They said I was crazy.
For thinking that a war across the world
Had anything to do with
Me
My safety
My life.
Then,
They said I was just rambling.
When I said that the problems over there
Would find there way over
Here
To us.
To me.
Then,
Then,
Then,
Then,
Then.
So many thens.
So many feelings.
I felt them all,
Watching as bombs fell.
As children died.
As death tolls grew.
As rage skyrocketed.
As the world seemed to stop,
While a tiny island, across the ocean,
Fought a war they said had
Nothing to do with me.
They were wrong.
Then,
A man with hatred in his heart
Took a gun to a museum.
And he used that weapon against
Two people
A couple
Jewish.
And then…
The news started to spread and
Suddenly I felt even more alone.
Because, even in this moment of hate,
It was still all about the war.
It was still all about Israel.
It was still all about that tiny little country
Across the Atlantic Ocean,
Fighting a war they said had
Nothing to do with me.
But it does.
It has everything to do with me.
Because the attacker didn’t know them.
He didn’t know they were embassy workers.
He didn’t know them from a stranger.
But he shot them anyway.
Because
It could have been anyone standing there.
Anyone in the world could have been
They’re at that museum that night.
Anyone
Even
Me.
First
They told me that I was overreacting.
That they weren’t coming after us.
That Jews and Queer Folk alike were
Safe
Protected
Okay.
Then,
A war broke out in a tiny country.
And the world forgot its promise in 1945.
And everyone who wears a kippah,
Overnight
Became
Unsafe.
Because
What he saw standing there in front of him,
What he took aim at in cold blood,
What he took from this world
Were two
Young
Jews.
