how easy

we cry out for peace

and offer our prayers

while continuing to mutter

angry words about others

under our breath, pausing

to stir the kettle of bitterness

brewing in our hearts,

quietly planning the revenge

we would wreak upon all

those we think of as evil.

we recoil in revulsion 

at the images we see

displayed on our devices

of rubbled buildings and

bullet-holed kibbutzes,

of little children carried 

lifeless from their homes,

of hospitals reduced to morgues,

while never having given

a thought to the plight,

the fears, the nightmares

of those on both sides 

until these last few days.

we like, love, share

social media postings, memes,

pictures, diatribes posted

by people who know 

no more than we do

(about the history, the land

or the faiths or the politics,

the reality, the hopes, the

solutions tried over and over,

the promises made and broken

then recycled once more)

simply because they appeal

to our emotions, or the outrage

of those who add fuel to our own.

Lord, in your mercy . . .

(c) 2023 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman