(Note: I use watered down language to refer to the genocide of the Palestinian people, this is an intentional choice due to the setting of this story in the early days when the Israeli government’s intentions were not clear.)
When the war in Gaza was in its early days, I heard an interview on the radio from a Palestinian who was ordered to evacuate his home and move to a refugee camp. As he was driving to the camp, most businesses were closed. But he happened to see a bakery that was still open. He stopped in. He told the interviewer that he didn’t want to show up to the refugee camp empty handed, so he bought as much bread as he could from the bakery to bring and share.
It was just a quick radio story in the middle of factual reporting, but I can smell the bread, freshly baked and covered in sesame seeds.
I have heard so many more stories from the war that are so much worse, so much more impactful, so much more life changing. But this story of the bakery and wanting to share bread stays with me. Why?
I think it’s because it’s a strange little bridge between everyday life and immense tragedy. And it shows how short that bridge is. How close everyone is to living in a completely different world.
What stories stay with you?
~Aline Harris
