No Longer Looking Away

The e-mail message had no content. Only a subject line, which read “Enough already. Sign me up.”

The e-mail came from a rabbi to Jewish Voice for Peace this summer as the attacks on Gaza were occurring, says Rebecca Vilkomerson, JVP’s executive director. It stood out for its simplicity, but it was part of a wave of new interest in JVP, something Vilkomerson says happens every time the region is in the news due to Israeli military action.

Ferguson on My Mind

Outside my house, two young African-American boys, maybe 9 or 10, scoot by on skateboards. One is carrying something on a leaf and stops to show me a giant slug. We chat about it a bit; I tell him that I looked up what kind of slug that was recently but now don’t remember.

He tells me the other boy had tried to run over it but he saved it. I give him a smile and thumbs up, not because I have any strong feelings about saving slugs’ lives, but because of the compassionate impulse behind it. He zooms off. A few minutes later the other boy comes back, looking concerned and says “You wanted me?”