IN THE LAND OF HOPE AND DREAMS

… may we be lifted up to the Light of Change

In my last message posted on May 14th, I brought attention to some of the male courage that helps keep my hope alive … not all, but some. On that same night in Manchester, England, our own ‘born in the USA’ Bruce Springsteen opened his Land of Hope & Dreams Tour with a clear message of warning which has made him (no surprise) yet another target of the great orange wrath.

Back on April 17^th (seems such a long time ago) my post featured a poem by Lynn Unger titled “April 5”, in which she says:  I wish we were not ruled by broken men / who want to damage everything / that they cannot possess. I wish / I could tell you what we do now. How about we give this a try for starters?  

Holding the Light
By Stuart Kestenbaum

Gather up whatever is
glittering in the gutter,
whatever has tumbled
in the waves or fallen
in flames out of the sky,

for it’s not only our
hearts that are broken,
but the heart
of the world as well.
Stitch it back together.

Make a place where
the day speaks to the night
and the earth speaks to the sky.
Whether we created God
or God created us

it all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world
we are meant to repair
and stitch together
what beauty there is, stitch it

with compassion and wire.
See how everything
we have made gathers
the light inside itself
and overflows? A blessing.

How I wish there was a blessing we could pour from some enormous pitcher over what is left of Gaza, a great stream of love and warmth and food and comfort and the great music that is silence … no bombs, no screams, but rather lullabies poured from the mouth of the Big Dipper itself. A blessing over what is still Palestine and its’ brave and enduring people… a blessing stitched with compassion … and wire.

I have never met Mohammed Mohisen and it is unlikely that I ever will. While I admire many of the brave journalists who dare to speak truth about the genocide that is happening, it is Mohammed that I search out first. His May 21^st Substack post features this story.

A Little Girl

I saw her it was clear from her appearance that she once came from comfort, from a life of dignity.
She walked up to a street cart and quietly took three raisins.
When the vendor noticed her, she suddenly broke into a panic, running and crying, screaming through her tears:
“I swear I’m not a thief! I’m just hungry! I’m so hungry!”

The vendor ran after her and caught up with her.
Terrified, she collapsed and fainted in the street.
He scooped her into his arms, trying to wake her.

When she came to, she immediately opened her mouth and spit out the raisins she hadn’t even swallowed still trembling in fear and said to him in a voice barely holding together:
“I’m sorry… I swear I’m sorry…”

He kissed her forehead and told her gently:
“I won’t forgive you… unless you come eat with me. Just you and me okay?”

She looked at him like someone rescued from death,
and suddenly threw her arms around him laughing and crying all at once
nodding in agreement.

They walked back together to the cart.
He opened two cans of tuna and began feeding her with his own hands.

She sat there eating, swinging her little legs from the chair
like someone whose heart had been filled with so much joy,
it could’ve been enough to heal the whole city.

That little girl was Shahd Al-Sawwaf.
The occupying forces killed her while she was still hungry. 

Having looked into this child’s eyes, if you have the courage to read the entire post, I invite you to click here. If not, I understand, but … what will you do instead? 

Maybe you will consider investigating Rabbi Sandra Lawson, who in her recent newsletter encourages us to remember our shared humanity in a divided world. Or … check out Reconstructionists Expanding Our Conversation on Israel-Palestine, an amazing group of non-Zionist Jews whose most recent zoom call (Tuesday, May 27th) is focused on Project Esther. This program unpacks the threat it poses as an anti-democratic blueprint from the same Heritage Foundation that authored Project 2025. It was, in fact, Rabbi Sandra who introduced me to Project Esther, another authoritarian project masquerading, much like AMAC, (Association for Mature American Citizens) which is billed as the “conservative alternative to AARP”. Interestingly, Truthout’s May 23^rd post features an in-depth examination of Project Esther as well. So much to ‘uncover’, so little time. But as Holly Near so beautifully puts it … I am open and I am willing, for to be hopeless would be so strange.

In the hubbub that is our “everyday life”, may we hold our loved ones close and remember what is at stake in this land of hope and dreams. As Naomi Shihab Nye reminds us in her beautiful prose poem, “Gate A-4” … Not everything is lost.

Until next time,
Love, Sulima