Lest I ever forget
Remembering Rachel Corrie
I first met you when you were a kid. About the age my son is now. I have a memory of you sitting In your bedroom playing with stuffed toys. Your father was friends with my step father, and I was soon to move to school with your sister. Our families thought meeting Sara would help me move. I didn't want to be in Olympia, I didn't want to be moving, and I didn't want to be near your preppy sister. I know I wasn't nice when you met me.
Being that our families were friends I knew of you for the next 10 years, then really started to pay attention to you in about 98. I would run into you at the co-op. You were active in the community. You were active in the Olympia movement for Justice and Peace. You organized a flock of doves for procession.
One day I got online and your face was on my computer. On the news page. Student killed in Gaza. I think I went into shock when I read the details. My friend said I started quoting Shakespeare but I don't remember. The week of your death was a black time in my life, your death, combined with other world events that I am glad you didn't live to see. Hard week.
There is a religious teaching that says something along the line of "Those who see evil in the world and do nothing to combat it are guilty of that evil" You were one who tried to combat the great evils in the world. And for it the Great Mother took you back to herself.
I can't go to Olympia without seeing you. I see your face on a T-shirt, I see your picture in a store front window. In your death you have become the inspiration for many. Those of us who look at your life (and others) and wish we had your courage. Those of us who have tried to pick up where you left off. I might never travel to Rafa life you, but there are things I can do to help bring this evil to an end. When I think of you my dear, I am more motivated than ever.
In your death, God has raised up hundreds of to stand in your place. May there be more.
ETA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie
I first met you when you were a kid. About the age my son is now. I have a memory of you sitting In your bedroom playing with stuffed toys. Your father was friends with my step father, and I was soon to move to school with your sister. Our families thought meeting Sara would help me move. I didn't want to be in Olympia, I didn't want to be moving, and I didn't want to be near your preppy sister. I know I wasn't nice when you met me.
Being that our families were friends I knew of you for the next 10 years, then really started to pay attention to you in about 98. I would run into you at the co-op. You were active in the community. You were active in the Olympia movement for Justice and Peace. You organized a flock of doves for procession.
One day I got online and your face was on my computer. On the news page. Student killed in Gaza. I think I went into shock when I read the details. My friend said I started quoting Shakespeare but I don't remember. The week of your death was a black time in my life, your death, combined with other world events that I am glad you didn't live to see. Hard week.
There is a religious teaching that says something along the line of "Those who see evil in the world and do nothing to combat it are guilty of that evil" You were one who tried to combat the great evils in the world. And for it the Great Mother took you back to herself.
I can't go to Olympia without seeing you. I see your face on a T-shirt, I see your picture in a store front window. In your death you have become the inspiration for many. Those of us who look at your life (and others) and wish we had your courage. Those of us who have tried to pick up where you left off. I might never travel to Rafa life you, but there are things I can do to help bring this evil to an end. When I think of you my dear, I am more motivated than ever.
In your death, God has raised up hundreds of to stand in your place. May there be more.
ETA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie