Palestine is not flames, it is the beautiful water of the ocean. Palestine is not the blood the world ignores. Palestine is the fruit trees, the olive trees that grow as old as love. Palestine isn’t weak, Palestine is a strong culture full of love and joy, a fighter. Palestine is not going to be ignored. Do you hear the calls? Do you care? The shame I feel when thinking about college is deafening. I don’t deserve that life anymore then the kids martyred by Israel.

It brings me so much anger when we talk about spring coming, “how much we miss the summer sun.” Did you think of how the genocide in Palestine is affecting our climate? As we know around 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide have haunted our earth since Oct. 7. I need you all to see these connections. We are killing our earth, we are killing Palestinians, we are killing the beautiful land and culture of Gaza, and you are killing my hope. I am not any different than a 16-year-old in Palestine. My life isn’t more valuable, I don’t deserve to graduate while they are buried under the rubble of hate. Please, act for a cease-fire. The world needs your voice.

As Dr. Angela Davis once said, “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept.” Follow her words like there is no tomorrow because for some there won’t be.

Genevieve Clare Bird

Northfield