All children are our children

I have hundreds of these photos probably, selfies of my daughter and I at the beach, squinting into the sun, catching a memory, affirming that we were there, together, happy, joyful. I am so, so lucky to have these shared experiences and memories. I treasure them, and I will never take them for granted.

Since last year there has been a heaviness behind everything. There is an emptiness, a hollowness, a dystopian feeling to our joy while the world allows for the destruction of the Palestinian people, land, and their homes, mosques, churches, olive groves, water, schools, universities, museums - of everything. And now we are watching the zionist entity unleash terror on the people of Lebanon.

Over the last year the world has been watching photo after photo after video of parents and children in Palestine being systematically starved, bombed, sniped, kidnapped, tortured, crushed by bulldozers, legs and arms amputated, orphaned - terrorized in every way possible. For months and months, day after horrible day. With the military, political, media, and economic support of western powers.

If you have felt powerless or paralyzed in the face of this enormous injustice, this stain on our collective humanity - you are not alone. But we do have power if we choose to use it. We can share information, we can talk about it in our workplaces, we can join marches, we can join direct action groups like Palestine Action here in the UK. We can meet with our MPs, write them, call them, pressure them to follow international law - to put in place arms embargoes on Israel and to let aid in to Gaza. We can boycott products that support genocide and apartheid. The No Thanks app is great for helping us to avoid supporting the zionist entity. We must continue and we must act with more even more urgency.

Every day the heaviness gets even heavier. It’s hard to be among people who are determined to ignore this holocaust of Palestinians, to be around those who are hoping they can keep their heads down and it will all blow over soon. But the only way to get through is through right action, loving action.

If we really value and love and cherish our children, we have to act on our knowing that all children are our children. They are all as wonderful, beautiful, worthy of love and care and protection as each other. No matter what the newspapers tell us, we must protect each other, our children, at all costs. Believe your own ears and eyes when Palestinian journalists are showing the truth and let’s all escalate our actions immediately.

If you are living in a location or situation where it isn’t easy to speak up or join an action, please reach out. There’s always something we can do but sometimes it helps to have another person to get you moving.

Ericka ❤️‍🩹

Beach selfie, 2024

Watercolor and posca pen on watercolor paper