Crimes Against Humanity

I could say many things about what makes us, human beings, beautiful creatures. The waves of joy and hope I have lately are greater than they've ever been. And that's not going anywhere.

And on a darker note, what also makes humanity so unique is our compulsion for destroying ourselves and one another. We are of course the opposite of this too, but this post is not about that.

It's about the crimes against humanity—ourselves—happening right now. Regardless of any side, ideology or belief system, what's happening in the Middle East right now is sheer horror...and it is horror unique to the human family.

I don't actually know how we're supposed to even talk about what's happening if we're not willing to look both outside and inside ourselves at the drive to literally kill and exterminate fellow members of the human family—to eliminate beloved members of this beautiful species out of the ecosystem of life, including thousands upon thousands of children. It's become commonplace at this point.

I confess that something hit me tonight like it hasn't yet because I spent a long time watching some of the most graphic and violent videos of what's happening right now in Gaza.

I say "graphic" but this is reality. I don't know what else is worth watching now besides facing this the best I can. This is the reality of what's happening in the human family right now. It felt important to watch the videos and the more I watched, the more it hurt. The more sick I felt. The more helpless I felt. Enraged. Paralyzed. Frozen.

I have never witnessed anything like this, and that's just over a screen.

These are our family members - fellow souls, brothers and sisters of our human family committing one crime against humanity (us) after another. These are thousands upon thousands of souls who've barely been on Earth that long—each one carrying a gem of leadership, magic, love and power inside of them—and they're being destroyed left and right.

It is terrifying that human hearts and hands even have the ability to do something like this.

The term "crimes against humanity" feels like one of the worst euphemisms we have - generalized, political, bobblehead talk from men in board room.

We are destroying ourselves.

We are ripping our limbs and hearts and intestines apart and don't know how to stop.

We are addicted to being on top of the ecosystem at all costs.

This is not new.

We are not just a self-congratulatory, powerful species living out manifest destiny, scientific discovery, and materializing heaven on Earth.

We are being forced to see on the outside what we deny on the inside.

We are a part of this DNA and can let the horrors into our own hearts now, localize what's global into our flesh and bones and feel the unimaginable.

Some days I can't bear to feel it. Other days I'm being asked to feel more than I could ever imagine.

We are part of this.

You would think the organism of Humanity would contain a security system in the heart, of the heart, a special valve—one that would never allow a crime against itself to occur.

But no. Quite the opposite.

Yet figuratively or literally, I do have hope for that valve. It does not come from ideology or self-righteousness or terrorizing another to do what we think is best.

I wish I knew the way, but I don't. I feel in my heart of hearts that this is so far from our nature. And yet here we are. I looked in places I haven't yet and this is what's coming out now.

We can look outside of ourselves and say, "That's terrible what's happening."

"We can't allow any more crimes against humanity."

But we must keep looking at the horrors, and feeling the unimaginable because the unimaginable is happening right now, and we are well past the point of no return.

Below I am including two Instagram accounts here that include many videos that, if watched, force a confrontation with the reality of what's happening right now.

@palestine.pixel2
@palestine.pixel_