Ally, I don't often comment on your posts, but I read every word, and I nod like a crazy person because you have a clear, incandescent voice that distills outrage and despair into a call for compassion and empathy. And because I am a person who seeks solace in books, I also want to recommend Colum McCann's novel, Apeirogon. It's a gutting, gorgeous novel based on true events, particularly the friendship between an Israeli father who lost a 13-year-old daughter in a suicide bombing and a Palestinian father who lost a 10-year-old daughter to a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli border guard. I read a review that called the book an "empathy engine," which I think is such a perfect term, and applies to your writing, too. Thank your writing, your grief, your outrage, and the power of your words.
Thank you so much, Irena, I will order this book immediately. I can’t thank you enough for your words, too, because that is always my hope. No one needs another essay that will just add to the rage or despair. I am always trying to hold onto some hope, even if it comes out like rage some weeks. Thank you for seeing that and understanding me so clearly 🥹🙏🏼
I don’t know if you read Joanna Chen’s gorgeous essay “From the Edges of a Broken World” when it was first published in Guernica, and then retracted? I did, and was astounded when they pulled it. If you missed it, you can read it here. I suspect you will also find it exceedingly painful and beautiful and worth everyone’s time: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/03/18/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
Oh, wow, Ally. So much overlap between the article and the book. Unbelievable that it was pulled, but at the same time absolutely believable. There is so much rage and pain on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, not helped at all by hot takes on social media and elsewhere (*really,* Guernica??) by people who appreciate neither the Gordian knot of Middle East history nor nuance. Empathy is the only thing that's going to get us through, and yet so many people refuse to see it.
I ordered the book and can’t wait to read it. Honestly that essay is the best thing I’ve read about the entire situation to date. There is no way forward if people are going to insist on this monolith/binary way of viewing everything. It doesn’t serve anyone, and it isn’t even real. Thanks again for your comments, Irena, they mean so much to me 🥹🙏🏼
I dropped my daughter at work this morning, then drove home listening to Eve of Destruction, 'over and over again'.
It's strange to feel the same emotions I felt in my adolescence; to have the same lyrics be so applicable to what is happening in the world today.
Trump isn't Nixon and Iran isn't Vietnam, but the patriarchy and bigotry are still going strong. I have to say, this actually feels worse, since then we were (seemed) more unified against corruption, and of course, there was no AI.
I believe we will see better times, and justice done, though I couldn't say exactly when. Evil can be vanquished, but it has a nasty habit of making a comeback.
Thank you Ally; I know this is draining work, and I appreciate you. Take care🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
I agree, it does feel worse because it seems like we ought to know better by now. “We’ve seen this film before and we didn’t like the ending.” Are people seriously going to maintain their loyalty to this hollow, self-serving man to the extent that they’ll send their *children* to die “in service to their country”? He’s changed the objectives of this war four times in four days. They can’t even get the messaging straight.
The part that hurts so much is the kids, everywhere. The innocent people who want no part of this. I understand there are some people celebrating, just like there would be some people celebrating here if a certain thing happened. But if it happened at the hands of another Mad King who —possibly? reportedly? —thought he was anointed by Jesus? Jesus! Anyway.
Meanwhile it’s the billionaire authoritarian men in their last decade wreaking the most destruction and guilty of the most grievous corruption and heinous crimes, and we’re all screaming at each other. They did a great job with that part.
I agree we can fight evil/greed/corruption/misogyny/bigotry/racism back again. I think more people need to see who the perpetrators really are. Who is benefiting from this system? Because it isn’t 99% of us. I just hope we get it together sooner than later. I went and listened to Eve of Destruction and had a good sob. Thanks for being here as ever ❤️🩹
Amen sister. Everything you said. My husband told me this morning that he longer possesses the super power he had for 60+ years—the ability to sleep soundly through the night. I don’t understand how anyone can at this point.
I so relate to that sentiment, Martha. I barely slept last night. When I do get a decent night of sleep these days, it happens because I’ve had four nights of fitful sleep or little sleep at all. Hugs to you, thank you for being here ❤️🩹❤️🩹
I'm glad there are people who are able to write about this because I know it is hard. I hope it helps some to get it out of your head and into ours. We are all in this real life nightmare together and I do mean all. 😢
It always helps me to try to get my thoughts organized and out of my head somewhere I can look at them, and it helps even more when other people are like, omg, me too. Or wait, what? Lol. Anything where we are in a conversation together and not trying to deal with this nightmare in little boxes by ourselves feeling scared. So thank you for being here, Mary, and for being one of the people who always makes me grateful I battled through the weeds of the thoughts that didn’t make it into the essay ❤️🩹🥹
It is such a moral failure to allow children to suffer anywhere. I can’t wrap my head around it. Sometimes when I write about these things someone will say, “did you say this when children were dying in ____?” And the answer is yes. I’ll always say it, wherever children are dying, and the minute a person can’t, something has gone wrong. I don’t know how we’ve gotten to a place where people want to try to weaponize empathy or come up with terms like “toxic empathy” but good luck to them. Some things should be easy to figure out. Thanks so much for being here, Stephen ❤️🩹
You and me both, Alice. It is astonishing, terrifying, enraging and utterly depressing. I remind myself again and again, this is 39% of the voting public, not the country. Which still does not help very much. I wish we could shut down Faux News. I know that wouldn’t solve everything, but I bet it would help. Hugs to you, thanks for being here ❤️🩹
It's unreal, isn't it? After yet another unbearable thing, I'll see a headline saying his approval rate just plummeted... all the way down to 39%. I'll never understand it.
I resonate with this so much. I had to find a way to metabolize my rage at all the evil folks out there and the indifferent ones who enable them last year before it consumed me. Now I consider staying positive and focused an act of rebellion as I refuse to let them steal my joy from me. I have been getting more involved in my local arts community too because the folks out there still making shit for the sake of it are the ones who haven't given up and who I want to surround myself with. Hope it helps and their creative energy rubs off on me. I need all the help I can get.
I don’t know how you find all the right words. That video of them praying over him? What the ….?? Ick. It’s like an orgy of predators and enablers. Terrifying.
This one took days, and I kept walking away from it because I felt sick. That video is insane. Who are they praying to? The god of death, destruction and gold leaf appliqué?? Smh. Thanks for being here, Francesca, I appreciate you so much!
Hi Ally, somehow you hit all the notes once again. (For me, and for many others, judging by the comments.) Thank you!!
One of the things that struck me was the theme of humanity (and all of Earth’s other living creatures) being on this rotating rock in the middle of nowhere for a brief flash—and look at what we’re doing with that.
I’m reminded of a passage in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (Tom Robbins, 1976), in which a character says something along the lines of, “Of all the ways we humans could structure our society, why have we chosen one of the worst?”
Indeed. But we could choose a different way. Possibly all of these current disasters might ultimately propel us in a new, more helpful direction. I am hoping for that with every quark of my existence.
I am hoping for that, too. I am hoping we get these awful people out of office, regroup, and have a serious conversation in this country about who we want to be, and how we can make sure nothing like this ever happens again. We need to be addressing so many issues so there's a safety net and not this feeling that "coastal elites" have taken over the liberal side of things. There's a real conversation to be had about ways we've failed to address far too many people in need, but we can't even get there until we put out this 15-alarm fire. Thanks for being here, David, appreciate you <3
Ally, thank you for your words, as always. I agree with Irena: your writing is always an empathy engine. I'm not sure how everyone isn't just completely unraveled by the bombing of the school... as if a thing could ever be justified by ANY objective, let alone this completely aimless endeavor by a bunch of deranged, soulless goons. How people continue to support any of this is beyond me. I don't have anything reasonable to offer here, really, other than my own devastation and anger over what's happened, and happening, and my gratitude that you're always holding up the light.
I appreciate this so much, Rob. I don’t know how anyone is still supporting this man and this administration, either. It is beyond me. I don’t know what people are seeing that’s making them feel like, yep, more of this is what I want. Smh. And I’m never in favor of war. I know that’s a radical stance for some people, and that’s okay. I just do not know wtf we’re doing or why killing each other ever seems like the way to go. Sending you and the fam a ton of love. Thanks for being here ❤️🩹
Ally, I don't often comment on your posts, but I read every word, and I nod like a crazy person because you have a clear, incandescent voice that distills outrage and despair into a call for compassion and empathy. And because I am a person who seeks solace in books, I also want to recommend Colum McCann's novel, Apeirogon. It's a gutting, gorgeous novel based on true events, particularly the friendship between an Israeli father who lost a 13-year-old daughter in a suicide bombing and a Palestinian father who lost a 10-year-old daughter to a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli border guard. I read a review that called the book an "empathy engine," which I think is such a perfect term, and applies to your writing, too. Thank your writing, your grief, your outrage, and the power of your words.
Thank you so much, Irena, I will order this book immediately. I can’t thank you enough for your words, too, because that is always my hope. No one needs another essay that will just add to the rage or despair. I am always trying to hold onto some hope, even if it comes out like rage some weeks. Thank you for seeing that and understanding me so clearly 🥹🙏🏼
I don’t know if you read Joanna Chen’s gorgeous essay “From the Edges of a Broken World” when it was first published in Guernica, and then retracted? I did, and was astounded when they pulled it. If you missed it, you can read it here. I suspect you will also find it exceedingly painful and beautiful and worth everyone’s time: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/03/18/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
Oh, wow, Ally. So much overlap between the article and the book. Unbelievable that it was pulled, but at the same time absolutely believable. There is so much rage and pain on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, not helped at all by hot takes on social media and elsewhere (*really,* Guernica??) by people who appreciate neither the Gordian knot of Middle East history nor nuance. Empathy is the only thing that's going to get us through, and yet so many people refuse to see it.
I ordered the book and can’t wait to read it. Honestly that essay is the best thing I’ve read about the entire situation to date. There is no way forward if people are going to insist on this monolith/binary way of viewing everything. It doesn’t serve anyone, and it isn’t even real. Thanks again for your comments, Irena, they mean so much to me 🥹🙏🏼
I dropped my daughter at work this morning, then drove home listening to Eve of Destruction, 'over and over again'.
It's strange to feel the same emotions I felt in my adolescence; to have the same lyrics be so applicable to what is happening in the world today.
Trump isn't Nixon and Iran isn't Vietnam, but the patriarchy and bigotry are still going strong. I have to say, this actually feels worse, since then we were (seemed) more unified against corruption, and of course, there was no AI.
I believe we will see better times, and justice done, though I couldn't say exactly when. Evil can be vanquished, but it has a nasty habit of making a comeback.
Thank you Ally; I know this is draining work, and I appreciate you. Take care🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
I agree, it does feel worse because it seems like we ought to know better by now. “We’ve seen this film before and we didn’t like the ending.” Are people seriously going to maintain their loyalty to this hollow, self-serving man to the extent that they’ll send their *children* to die “in service to their country”? He’s changed the objectives of this war four times in four days. They can’t even get the messaging straight.
The part that hurts so much is the kids, everywhere. The innocent people who want no part of this. I understand there are some people celebrating, just like there would be some people celebrating here if a certain thing happened. But if it happened at the hands of another Mad King who —possibly? reportedly? —thought he was anointed by Jesus? Jesus! Anyway.
Meanwhile it’s the billionaire authoritarian men in their last decade wreaking the most destruction and guilty of the most grievous corruption and heinous crimes, and we’re all screaming at each other. They did a great job with that part.
I agree we can fight evil/greed/corruption/misogyny/bigotry/racism back again. I think more people need to see who the perpetrators really are. Who is benefiting from this system? Because it isn’t 99% of us. I just hope we get it together sooner than later. I went and listened to Eve of Destruction and had a good sob. Thanks for being here as ever ❤️🩹
Amen sister. Everything you said. My husband told me this morning that he longer possesses the super power he had for 60+ years—the ability to sleep soundly through the night. I don’t understand how anyone can at this point.
I so relate to that sentiment, Martha. I barely slept last night. When I do get a decent night of sleep these days, it happens because I’ve had four nights of fitful sleep or little sleep at all. Hugs to you, thank you for being here ❤️🩹❤️🩹
I'm glad there are people who are able to write about this because I know it is hard. I hope it helps some to get it out of your head and into ours. We are all in this real life nightmare together and I do mean all. 😢
It always helps me to try to get my thoughts organized and out of my head somewhere I can look at them, and it helps even more when other people are like, omg, me too. Or wait, what? Lol. Anything where we are in a conversation together and not trying to deal with this nightmare in little boxes by ourselves feeling scared. So thank you for being here, Mary, and for being one of the people who always makes me grateful I battled through the weeds of the thoughts that didn’t make it into the essay ❤️🩹🥹
Hugs
when we can't take care of children, we are doomed. when the corruption is so complete that empathy is viewed as a problem, we are doomed.
netflix will not save us.
It is such a moral failure to allow children to suffer anywhere. I can’t wrap my head around it. Sometimes when I write about these things someone will say, “did you say this when children were dying in ____?” And the answer is yes. I’ll always say it, wherever children are dying, and the minute a person can’t, something has gone wrong. I don’t know how we’ve gotten to a place where people want to try to weaponize empathy or come up with terms like “toxic empathy” but good luck to them. Some things should be easy to figure out. Thanks so much for being here, Stephen ❤️🩹
I am flabergasted that nearly 40 % of Americans still approve of Trump.
You and me both, Alice. It is astonishing, terrifying, enraging and utterly depressing. I remind myself again and again, this is 39% of the voting public, not the country. Which still does not help very much. I wish we could shut down Faux News. I know that wouldn’t solve everything, but I bet it would help. Hugs to you, thanks for being here ❤️🩹
It's unreal, isn't it? After yet another unbearable thing, I'll see a headline saying his approval rate just plummeted... all the way down to 39%. I'll never understand it.
I resonate with this so much. I had to find a way to metabolize my rage at all the evil folks out there and the indifferent ones who enable them last year before it consumed me. Now I consider staying positive and focused an act of rebellion as I refuse to let them steal my joy from me. I have been getting more involved in my local arts community too because the folks out there still making shit for the sake of it are the ones who haven't given up and who I want to surround myself with. Hope it helps and their creative energy rubs off on me. I need all the help I can get.
I don’t know how you find all the right words. That video of them praying over him? What the ….?? Ick. It’s like an orgy of predators and enablers. Terrifying.
This one took days, and I kept walking away from it because I felt sick. That video is insane. Who are they praying to? The god of death, destruction and gold leaf appliqué?? Smh. Thanks for being here, Francesca, I appreciate you so much!
Hi Ally, somehow you hit all the notes once again. (For me, and for many others, judging by the comments.) Thank you!!
One of the things that struck me was the theme of humanity (and all of Earth’s other living creatures) being on this rotating rock in the middle of nowhere for a brief flash—and look at what we’re doing with that.
I’m reminded of a passage in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (Tom Robbins, 1976), in which a character says something along the lines of, “Of all the ways we humans could structure our society, why have we chosen one of the worst?”
Indeed. But we could choose a different way. Possibly all of these current disasters might ultimately propel us in a new, more helpful direction. I am hoping for that with every quark of my existence.
I am hoping for that, too. I am hoping we get these awful people out of office, regroup, and have a serious conversation in this country about who we want to be, and how we can make sure nothing like this ever happens again. We need to be addressing so many issues so there's a safety net and not this feeling that "coastal elites" have taken over the liberal side of things. There's a real conversation to be had about ways we've failed to address far too many people in need, but we can't even get there until we put out this 15-alarm fire. Thanks for being here, David, appreciate you <3
Yes, a conversation about how to build a society that works for all—keeping in mind that image of a gorgeous, fragile blue and green planet! ❤️
Gutting.
Truly :(
Ally, thank you for your words, as always. I agree with Irena: your writing is always an empathy engine. I'm not sure how everyone isn't just completely unraveled by the bombing of the school... as if a thing could ever be justified by ANY objective, let alone this completely aimless endeavor by a bunch of deranged, soulless goons. How people continue to support any of this is beyond me. I don't have anything reasonable to offer here, really, other than my own devastation and anger over what's happened, and happening, and my gratitude that you're always holding up the light.
I appreciate this so much, Rob. I don’t know how anyone is still supporting this man and this administration, either. It is beyond me. I don’t know what people are seeing that’s making them feel like, yep, more of this is what I want. Smh. And I’m never in favor of war. I know that’s a radical stance for some people, and that’s okay. I just do not know wtf we’re doing or why killing each other ever seems like the way to go. Sending you and the fam a ton of love. Thanks for being here ❤️🩹
Your well crafted rage always brings me hope. 💗
Thank you so much, Eileen. That means the world to me.
Ooof that thing about "this is what we do with earth"...yeah fuckin hell man.
💔
💔❤️🩹 hugs, Cathy