As a colleague scrolled through Facebook earlier today, and let out a gasp, I instinctively asked if everything was okay.
I did not however, prepare myself for the response.
The gasp was a knee-jerk reaction to a post that had caught my colleague's eye. A post that described the anguish and turmoil of a friend whose entire family had just been tragically killed.
Surely, everything worth saying had already been said/and continues to be said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
My input seemed and still does seem, small and somewhat insignificant.
However, everyday for the past nineteen days, I have helplessly watched the numbers rise. The number of fatalities as I write this, is thought to be 45 Israelis, and 1049 Palestinians.That's not to mention the thousands injured.
Now, we've all read the numbers over and over again, and in instances like this, people become just that. Numbers. Mere statistics. But just take a second to actually digest that information.
These people; innocent civilians, women and children, are NOT mere numbers.
They are precious lives being wiped out.
One by one.
To put this into some sort of perspective, it's like the entire population of the Vatican City being wiped out in a number of days.
Now every single person, including you and me; has a story. From the 1049 Palestinian lives lost, some were just starting out and didn't even get to finish the first chapter. For others, including the family mentioned earlier, their story was prematurely and cruelly ended for them.
It occurred to me today as I sat lost for words. Not knowing how to respond to hearing something first hand and personal. Something that felt so different to the detached and disinterested reporter reading out numbers on the news. And that realisation was this; as a nation, we have become desensitised.
We feel nothing when we see images of dead children, let alone when we hear mere statistics.
The sanctity of life no longer seems to exist. Particularly when these lives (and deaths) appear to be so far away.
At this point, land, religion, ethnicity and all other divisions are irrelevant. Basic human compassion, morality, and ethics is what we need to strive for.
So as a reminder to myself first and foremost, sign every petition that you can get your hands on, donate more frequently than ever, and lastly, say as many heartfelt, sincere prayers as humanely possible.
And for once, let's unite for the sake of humanity, and pray for peace.
