Almost from the moment I stepped off the plane in Israel, there were reminders of the hostages -
a display of the silver dog tags many war that say Bring Them Home Now, individual photos of those kidnapped down the long hallway to immigration, signs on homes, businesses, billboards, and in artwork and murals. These missing Israelis are top of mind and the displays are there to express visually what's happening mentally. Even though Israel is a country with over 9 million people it feels like
one big community and the loss and pain and worry is personal.
So, in Israel, the hostages can't be forgotten.
And in the rest of the world, they can't be forgotten. The hostages are likely cold, hungry, scared, and, as one mother of a hostage said, after over 100 days in captivity, they are all sick. We need to do everything we can to put pressure to #BringThemHomeNow. All of them. Men, women, young, old, all of them. We must do all we can.
For the last 10 days I've been wearing a piece of tape with the number of days Israelis have been hostages in Gaza. I had heard that Rachel Goldberg, mother of Hersch Goldberg-Polin has been doing this for many, many days and Hersch's family asked people to join them on day 100. That was reason enough to do it. Today I heard that Rachel had asked people to do it to help her carry the emotional load and without it seeming possible, it know means even more. I would do anything I can to help alleviate some of her pain and the pain of others who have loved ones held hostage. This is one thing I can do.
I need to do more too so I will keep sharing, and contacting representatives, and looking for allies, and reading individual stories of the people who are held hostage to remember that each person has a face and a name and a family and a personality and a life that should be returned to.
They can't be forgotten.
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