Heart Open

I watched our yearly neighbour’s ritual of building a giant fire in the clearing at the back of their garden last night. There is something about fire. It means different things to different people.

For some, it means warmth, calm, comfort, the heat of a kitchen.

Perhaps a kind of misguided yearly celebration that requires a bonfire and fireworks.

For many others, it means danger, that the sky is falling.

When we discovered the spark of fire, so much was opened up to us. We could cook food, we could light caves, we could gather around and learn to communicate.

Candlelight, fireworks, gas, hot air balloons. Gunpowder, matches, bombs.

Fire is all of this.

I can’t turn away. I can’t pretend that this Nano Poblano isn’t hard this year. In the safety of our home, I’m currently protected from the material realities of what is happening to Palestine.

I have eyes though, and they’re wide open. My heart is wide open. My conscience doesn’t allow me to pretend that nothing is happening.

Of course it’s not just Palestine. It’s also Sudan, Yemen, Guam, Haiti, Hawai’i, Syria, Ukraine. Our shared humanity demands that we take notice. History is happening now.

Life is inherently political – it’s not something that we can ignore, because every part of life is affected by politics. How we live is directly and indirectly influenced by the kind of society we live in, and the way that domestic and international policies influence society.

If a government is spending your tax money on weapons for someone else’s ‘war’, then of course that affects how much money is available for domestic infrastructure, medicine, institutions, and social welfare.

If you personally would not want to give money to the global war machine, then why should we be happy that our governments are doing that in our name? In the UK, our government is spiralling deeper into outright fascism, becoming bolder every week, further entrenched in their own ideology.

I’m fundamentally someone who wants to be led by love and care. I feel that war and violence is deeply wrong, that it’s a waste of life and potential. I also believe there should be no borders, that genocide is an abomination, and all human beings should have what they need to survive and thrive.

Today was Remembrance Day in the UK. Two world wars – one of them where ‘never again’ was uttered, promised.

What do I hope for? I hope that one day, Palestinian and Israeli people will be able to look at the sky once more and be safe from raining fire. I hope that borders will be dismantled and segregation will end. I wish for the freedom of everyone.

My heart is wide open to that dream for people: a life full of possibility and safety, and not unimaginable suffering.

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