One Small Voice

I’m flawed. As a human being I try to be aware of what my flaws are, and work on them. Recently, I’ve become acutely aware of a flaw of mine, that I don’t think I was aware of before. My flaw, is that I tend to assume people are pretty much the same. And that they’re genuinely good. When October 7 happened, I believed the world would condemn the massacre, the rapes, the kidnappings. I believed the world would rally around Israel, calling for the hostages to be released, supporting them in doing whatever was necessary to bring them home. When Hamas started posting the lies, saying the IDF did it, and there were no rapes, I thought for sure people would see the propaganda for what it was. I thought people would side with the country that was attacked, and not the vicious terrorists who committed the atrocities. I figured people would feel for the families who suffered horrific losses and for those whose loved ones were being held by savage terrorists. I thought the world would take the word of a democratic nation over that of a terrorist organization. I thought organizations like the UN and the Red Cross and women’s organizations would be there to help and to support the Israelis in the aftermath of Oct 7, and check on the well being of the hostages. I thought celebrities and people of fame would use their podiums and their voices to speak out against terror and hate, and to demand the hostages be released and Hamas surrenders. And I thought the humanity of the world would rise above Jew-hatred and racism, to support the people of Israel in their most horrific moment since the Holocaust, after one of the most barbaric massacres in history. How wrong I was. How naive of me to think they could stop hating long enough to have compassion. How naive of me to believe that people have the ability to think critically. How naive of me to think celebrities would risk their celebrity status to call out for the return of hostages against a rising tide of terrorist supporters. How naive of me to think that international agencies, which have never cared about Israel in the past, would make checking on Israeli hostages a priority. Or something anywhere on their list. So yeah. I’m flawed. Because I keep thinking people are going to be different. I keep expecting people are going to be different. I don’t expect Hamas to be different. Or Hezbollah. They are what they are. As are the radicalized Islamists who support them. No. I mean the others. The people who aren’t radicalized. The ones who jumped on the Hamas bandwagon because it was “politically correct” or because they were paid to. Or because they wanted to. I thought everyone would care about a 9 month old held hostage by a a savage barbaric group of terrorists. I thought everyone would be able to see through lies and propaganda. I thought everyone would see the truth. And know which side of history will be the right one. I thought everyone had humanity and integrity. That’s my flaw.