A Year That Changed Us

On October 6, 2023 I had a worldview.

I believed that people were inherently good.

I had a Mr. Rogers neighborhood kind of outlook on the world, with an open mind towards everyone.

I would ignore the sensationalism of the news, focus on nature, art, and philosophy and look for the good in people.

But October 7th, hardened my soul.

It was hard to believe that humans, the most intelligent species known in the vast universe, could brutally kill, torture, and rape other humans who were celebrating peace and love at a music festival, and do the same to children, parents, and grandparents on Kibbutzim, all while filming and celebrating their horrific acts.

Could these people have any good inside their bones?

I started following the news.

I observed how biased reports from Al Jeezera and many others could be.

I thankfully found more reliable sources like the Free Press and The Times of Israel.

I was saddened to see the supposed finest education institutions, including my own, leading the charge, propelling and accepting anti-semitism on campus.

I was shocked to see that many Americans could side with known terror organizations and even revise their view of Osama Bin Laden .

I learned about irony in the worst way. That organizations founded upon peace, like the United Nations, could fund an institution like UNRWA, which employs terrorists and teaches children hatred.

I even learned that I was complicit in this: that some of my tax dollars funded UNWRA.

I began to understand what George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”

I heard my late grandmother’s words at the Passover Seder once more, reading the Haggadah, “This promise made to our forefathers holds true also for us. For more than once have they risen against us to destroy us; in every generation they rise agains us and seek our destruction. But the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hands.”

Today the holy seemingly comes in the form of drones that can save lives before entering booby-trapped buildings and the iron dome that can shoot down the thousands of rockets that are being sent from seven different fronts.

My grandmother’s words echoed in my head and I felt a sense that we let our ancestors down. I was shocked that this ancient curse could resound true in this modern world.

Yet I still continue to believe in the wise words of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. “I believe in man in spite of men.”

It has been a year that changed me, and for the first time I feel like we are living history.

It is consequential to analyze it, write about it, and seek truth.

As Wiesel said, “What was the alternative? To give up on humanity?”