There is a lot going on in the world right now. As we think forward to Giving Tuesday in a few weeks, I want to put a plug in for the International Rescue Committee. IRC is connected to physicist Albert Einstein and evolved out of his efforts to secure safety for people fleeing Nazi Germany. Today, they are active in supporting displaced survivors of genocide, ethnic cleansing, armed conflict, and natural disasters worldwide.
One of the reasons I decided to give to IRC monthly (note: I don’t donate a big sum, but even small amounts add up over the year) is that there are so many situations going on where people need help, one horrible thing right after another. It’s so much at once that I am overwhelmed at the thought of weighing which absolute strangers’ lives are more virtuous or deserving than others — that is for the judges in Hades — and my giving to charities enables them to operate at scale for the masses … for humanitarian aid experts to be strategic and help as many people as possible around the world.
To be candid about the specific events of the past month, I have nothing to contribute to conversations about the current crisis in Gaza. My ignorance is, in fact, immense. To peel back the curtain slightly, I thought Hamas was a person until October 13 when I realized the pronoun-antecedent agreement didn’t make sense, and once I was corrected, I learned that many Palestinians don’t even like the organization. I know that South Africa has recalled its diplomats from Israel, which seems significant to me given South Africa’s reckoning with its apartheid period. I also know that a lot of people who are antisemitic are using this conflict as an excuse to vandalize synagogues and intimidate Jewish communities around the world. I have greatly benefitted from reading the conflict profile from Genocide Watch and especially an accompanying alert that helped clarify aspects of the ongoing conflict and its history.
Practicing auspicious speech means having the presence of mind to know when one is out of one’s depth and to instead focus on what one does know. The cycles of birth and death we all experience shackle us lifetime after lifetime, driving us as if we are yoked until we decide to say enough, and we glorify these cycles without realizing that we are winding bonds around ourselves ever and ever more tightly. This is why I try to direct what little charitable impact I can have as a SINK to causes that address people suffering in the aftermath of violence and natural disasters.
IRC is one of the more active voices trying to secure protected humanitarian aid corridors for Gaza right now. My heart goes out to the Palestinians in Gaza (and especially to the families of the thousands of dead children), to the families of the Israeli hostages, and to all those suffering and grieving loved ones.
KALLISTI 