*Poem about the Holocaust written for Peace Studies class, December 2000*
What is under that heavy coat you wear?
Are you truly as scary as you try to be?
Or are you, yourself, still a child?
A small being on this Earth
To whom bad things have come?
Yes I pity you.
I pity everything you are and have been
In the past months.
I pity you because you have no mercy.
You see us here,
Standing for hours.
Sometimes shot,
Sometimes beaten.
The choice is not ours.
It lies in your hands.
Our precious, jeweled lives lie in your hands.
And yet you show no expression.
No ounce of concern or worry
About what goes on around you.
Merely a weapon.
Yes you may carry the gun and the knife,
But you, yourself, are the weapon.
The shot that makes our hearts stop.
The punch that makes us cry.
You are the weapon that they use to destroy us.
Destroy our lives and our hopes and dreams.
Is there a joy for you?
Are we so awful to arouse these feelings in you?
How can that be?
I don't even know your name
And yet you see me as evil.
I am not the evil that ruins lives.
Kills innocent men, women and children.
It is your hatred that ruins us.
Your hatred of something you are not a part of.
I see hunger in your eyes.
Hunger for something I cannot understand.
Nor do I ever hope to feel the way you do.
How terrible would it be to wish these bad thoughts on others?
Is it really that hard to get along?
Not celebrate together,
But to leave each other be.
I am me and you are you.
The glory of differences
Is something you have not learned to love.
We can learn from each other.
Learn how to be different
And still accept each other.
To be peaceful
Is something I can only dream you will learn.
There is nothing gained or praised
From this experience.
We cry now,
And we will cry later.
If only you knew how it felt...
If only you knew.
- Sara Amin
