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I See You
Author’s Note: I wrote this poem a while ago as I watched the Israel/Palestine situation devolve daily. I grew up Pentecostal and always heard this was complicated and unsolvable, and that I shouldn’t look into it. It seemed beyond my understanding so I was obedient. That is until I couldn’t look away. As a young teen, I heard stories of family friends who’d visited Isreal and I dreamed of the same. I wanted to be baptized in the Jordan River and see the places my Savior lived and breathed and preached. A trip to Israel remained on my bucket list for two decades. I no longer want to go. I cannot justify giving money to a country that makes its tourism dollars by attracting the world’s devout Jewish, Muslim, and Christian populations while senselessly killing their neighbors next door.
I have no issue with a country defending itself against verifiably dangerous people. My problem is that Israel is making no distinction between the innocent and the dangerous. In this poem, I call out the United States’ financial backing of this genocide, Christian nationalism, and several other things surrounding this that I find objectionable. While I’m nervous about publishing this due to the swift and unjust backlash weaponized against college students, professors, and others who oppose this conflict, I could not live with myself if I did not publish it. For my entire life, I have stood up for the hurting, the underdog, the outcast. As a Christian, my faith commands me to. In the Bible, Jesus commands Christians to care for and stand by marginalized people. I have never been able to stomach injustice. I am…