I Didn't Know

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9/11/2025 for The Children Of Gaza Poetry Contest sponsored by Matt Caliri

"Why wasn't God watching" ~ from the song Georgia Lee by Tom Waits

Genocide.

I can't remember exactly how shocked I was
learning about genocide
when we studied the Holocaust in elementary school.
Later, I read books about it:
Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank,
My, Friend, Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar,
Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies,
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl,
etc.

Those books replaced faceless victims,
living long ago, and far away,
to some extent,
with a real people,
in some sense,
in the room with me,
into my life -
so sad,
so unbelievable.

Brave people tried to help,
but ignorance, apathy, and evil
won the day.

There was a measure of comfort -
that was long ago,
that was far away,
I'm not like the evil perpetrators,
good people didn't know,
and, by pure luck,
at least I'm not a vulnerable victim.

At first, I thought history's largest scale,
most notorious genocide
was a freak historical occurrence.
Now, it seems genocide is the rule, not the exception,
repeating in every continent,
in every century,
throughout history.
Have we learned anything?
Do we care?
I don't know.

Do your own research - or don't.
According to Wikipedia,
"a United Nations special committee,[43] Amnesty International,[44] Médecins Sans Frontières,[45] B'Tselem,[46] Physicians for Human Rights–Israel,[47] International Federation for Human Rights,[48] numerous genocide studies and international law scholars[49] (including the International Association of Genocide Scholars),[50][51] and many other experts, Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians during its ongoing blockade, invasion, and bombing of the Gaza Strip""

At least 60,138 people have died in Gaza - 1 out of 37
70% of Palestinians killed in Gaza are women and children.
100% of the population is experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.
Is all this death and misery really necessary for self-defense?

Genocide.
I know.
Sometimes, I wish I didn't.

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