*Editor’s Note: Elephant Journal articles represent the personal views of the authors, and can not possibly reflect Elephant Journal as a whole. Disagree with an Op-Ed or opinion? We’re happy to share your experience here.

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Today I woke up.

I woke up in a home that was clean and safe.

A place that my son and I could embrace.

Today I hugged my son and let him walk to school, knowing the streets we live on are his to rule.

I watched him walk away from our home without fear, while the sounds of birds chirping were all I could hear.

Today on my side of the world, there was silence, without the fear of living in a society of compliance.

On the other side of the world, there is a mother somewhere who is afraid for her life, as she looks at her son with internalized strife.

They ran from their home in the middle of the night, while half of the world justifies what they think is right.

With no home and no safety, she struggles to breathe, while the feelings of anger deep below seethe.

She runs on the street with her son through the rubble, unable to find shelter away from the struggle.

All she hears in the night are the bombings and screams of her people who believed in so much more than just dreams.

She writes her son’s name on his arm just in case, they find just a limb, not a body, or face.

She desperately tries to stay resilient and strong, while knowing deep down in her heart this is wrong.

Through deteriorated buildings she looks for the light, while her young son shakes from devastating fright.

Through the chaos, she sings to her son with no hope that the world knows or cares about the boot on her throat.

She waits for death knowing that no help is coming, helpless and shaken but somehow still humming.

Today, I woke up seeing the world as a whole, realizing that every single one of us plays a role,

In the genocide of those who are innocent and unarmed, while our children run freely without being harmed.

Settlers are successfully winning the game, while children lose everything including their name.

Today, I woke up learning more than I know, of a story they fed us based on lies. Just a show.

They were attacked as part of a plan, that furthers the ideology of two murderous clans. [Editor’s note: we are not referencing all Jews, or all Palestinians, but any extremists who would use murder, rape, bombing, kidnapping torture as means to an end]

To take the lives and the land of the people they want, while they spend billions in war not just to protect but to taunt.

Today, I woke up seeing the truth of the matter, while they play in the blood on the streets that are splattered.

I think about that woman and her son, being harmed by the corrupt. And realize now, that today I woke up.

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