A Vigil

A few nights ago, there was a vigil in downtown Detroit to honor those who have been murdered in Palestine since early October. People were invited to step up to the mic and share about their family members back home. 

A guy about my age said that he could not get a hold of his sisters and nieces for the past week. 

Another talked about his uncle, a dentist and a father of young children, who was found dead under the rubble. 

One young woman named her dad, her mom, her sisters, her cousins. All of them murdered by Israeli missiles. 

A big screen scrolled the names and ages of children. Now gone. The screen kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. 

There is no legitimate justification for the loss of these precious lives. There is only a gigantic deficit of love and justice. A deficit dug by the distortions and lies of Israeli and US leaders. I left that night feeling the grief and heaviness. I left that night knowing that Gaza would serve as a spiritual and political litmus test for the rest of my life.