Remember when?

(image by safary248 on pixabay)

In the Sopranos, Tony famously says “Remember when” is the lowest form of conversation. I couldn’t disagree more with this statement because sharing memories is what brings people together. Reminiscing about the past with old friends brings meaning to our lives by giving us a sense of the trajectory we have followed. Discussing past cultural and historical events creates common ground, which can bring even strangers closer together.

This is why having a day of Remembrance around war and peace has endured. It was created after WWI but has endured through many other conflicts. Even if you never had anyone in your family who served in the military, it can be spent as a day for reflection on how to bring peace into our lives and the lives of others.

These past months, I have found the war in Gaza so aggressively one-sided and so upsetting to watch, with peace talks dragging on and little hope of de-escalation on the horizon. Benjamin Netanyahu is behaving more and more like a homicidal maniac, who is enacting genocide against the Palestinians. It is the ultimate cruel irony for the Jewish leader to be behaving like Hitler.

This November 11th, I feel powerless, but also especially compelled to take some small action towards peace, so I will make a donation the UNHCR (the United Nations High Commission for Refugees). They provide help for displaced people around the globe. Even if Israel is trying to shut the UN out of Gaza at the moment, I know the money will go towards easing somebody’s suffering somewhere.

If Kamala Harris wins the American election, I hope she will apply more pressure on Israel to stand down and will stop providing them with a never-ending supply of weapons. We need world leaders to start enacting sanctions against Israel for their flagrant war crimes against civilians and journalists.

So, let us continue using the phrase, “Remember when…” as a conversation starter to help each other process events from our past. Only through finding common ground will we learn how to avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over again.