When The Words Are Gone: A Question for the World

Dec 14, 2025, 6:28 PM

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What do you do when there are no words?
What do you do when you want to speak but the words won’t come out?
When they can’t get from your throat to your tongue to your lips?
When they are sitting in your heart begging to be heard?
When you’ve said them before, and before, and before that, but now they are gone?
When you’ve yelled them, when you’ve cried them?
When you’ve taught them, when you’ve whispered them?
What do you do when no one wants to listen?
When it seems no one cares?
What do we do?
Please tell us, what do we do?

About the Author

Cassie Schwartz, Ed.D. is an educator from the Chicagoland area who has dedicated over two decades to public education as a teacher and principal. Guided by the tenets of tikkun olam (repairing the world), she is a lifelong advocate for equity and a safe, fair public education for all. Her recently defended doctoral dissertation explored the experiences of Jewish American educators in the post-October 7th landscape.