Old Friends

One of my summer goals is always to get together with old friends.

This is a lot more complicated this year.

“Hey! So great to talk to you? How’ve you been?”

“So nice to speak to you too! 

“Well, my people were raped, massacred and taken hostage by terrorists. The terrorists who did it simultaneously took great glee and pride in doing it and then convinced the west that it didn’t actually happen and also that it did but deserved it and not to listen to whiny Jews because none of us can be trusted and we control everything and the massacre was resistance and Jews were aggressors. 

“I don’t know what news you’ve heard or not heard and are open to and whether all along you’ve actually had unidentified anti-Israel bias or subtle and unidentified anti-Jewish assumptions and I don’t know whether this time we’ve set aside together for the next hour is going to be a catching up or a battleground and if I’m going to have to give you a history or geopolitical lesson and also my take on where Netanyahu is wrong but that Israel has no good options and that the IDF has done a great number of things to protect civilians and this matters to me greatly and involves centuries of trauma and of course I don’t want Palestinian babies killed etc. etc. etc.

“Also, NDR is graduating high school next year. How are you?”

Every day I think of friends I’d like to call but there is so much at risk if I make that move.

If you miss me, if you want to get together, please… call. When you do, let me know that you believe and accept my trauma and that I can talk about if I want to but that I don’t have to and that I don’t need need to justify my experience to you. Please treat me with the respect that you would of any friend who has suffered major loss or of any minority who is misunderstood. Please don’t be hurt if I don’t make the call myself. Please be brave and make it yourself instead.