No. Not again.

A series of attacks this past Friday in and around Paris have reminded us again that it’s not over. There are periods of time between such events when we go on and we have to go on. But then we are reminded of the ignorance and hatred and insanity of our world.

A few things startle me again.

Israel

When things like this happen, I am reminded of Israel. Because for all of my life, there have been terror attacks in Israel. And my friends and family there have told me for my entire life what the people of Paris are now saying: We will go on. We have to go on. We can’t let them win.

And it’s true. The people of Paris will mourn and investigate and confer with world leaders, and then they will go again to Cambodian restaurants and football matches and bars and concerts, even. They will keep on keeping on.

In Israel, when you walk around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, you can’t help but say, “Remember when this was bombed?” “Remember when they rebuilt this after the bomb?” And all of those places thrive now. Cafes I went to, restaurants, all of those attacked places are now places where the young people laugh and drink and eat, and they may not even know.

It will be like that again in Paris.

Excuses

I’ve heard a little bit from people on both sides – the left and the right – explaining to the rest of us in the confused muddle of the middle what they believe France did, or what the West did, or what we did here in the US to cause this to happen. After 9/11, I heard it here in the States. And I hear it every time I read or hear anything about Israel. “If we hadn’t done this and that, this never would have happened.”

As someone who has studied a lot of Middle East politics, I’m going to weigh in on the side of people who say it’s not about what we do or don’t do. For extremists, it’s not about what part of town or what part of a country we live in. It’s about who we are. Often, the “we” is “Jews,” sometimes it’s “the State of Israel,” sometimes it’s “America,” “democracy,” or “the West,” and sometimes the “we” is “anyone who does not believe what the extremists believe.” There are people who do not believe in our right to exist; they don’t want us to be alive. They don’t want us to live. That’s really it. What do we do about it? I have no idea and honestly, it keeps me up nights.

Of course the things we do politically have an impact; I’m not saying they don’t. But when it comes right down to it, extremists just don’t want us to live.

Comparing Tragedies

As a public person on America’s #1 sitcom, there’s not much I can do about this (or about most every single other important political world event); my sentiments, however heartfelt, don’t change things. I’m just one person and I don’t have the ability to fix everything.  I posted a blank dark image on Instagram and Twitter and a similar reddish-hued one on Facebook after Shabbat ended with the words, “Oh, Paris.” For me, there is no image to show right now. Because for Paris, everything about this period after terror is dark and murky and bloody and blurry. There are so many comments, though, about how everyone needs to care about the other places in the world where this “happens every day” and just a lot of mean comments that are unsupportive of Paris. Kind of like, “Get over it, you’re not that special.” People have commented that I need to do more about raising awareness for other acts of terror, for instance, Beirut (where 43 people died in a double suicide bombing on Thursday).

As a Jewish person who lost family in the Holocaust and who grew up under the specter of the Holocaust, I know all too well how much we as humans feel the need to compare suffering. “Is your genocide the only one worth talking about?” people hurl at Jewish people. “What about all of the other genocides?” and so on.

There is no need to compare tragedies. I know it’s human nature, but what if that mode of analysis was simply removed from the discussion? Then we could give attention to every tragedy without everyone’s emotions placing space between the issues at hand and the compassion of others.

Of course I care about every tragedy in the world. I make it my business to learn about it and talk with other caring intelligent people about what goes on in the world. I went to a party this weekend and I honestly found it difficult to socialize because of what happened in Paris. I have that experience a lot, though. When I see Syria’s conditions in the news, or Turkey, or Iraq, or all of Israel struggling and the Palestinian people struggling, it hurts me deeply and I can’t imagine how people can go on without making this the topic of every conversation. But I know that if that was how everyone operated, the world would be so dark, we would not be able to see the light to find a way out of the darkness. (This describes very well what clinical depression feels like, and this situation is, indeed, incredibly depressing.)

I started GrokNation so that we could talk about these heavier, deeper issues. I personally am doing my best to get to them all. Posting this very piece delays our previously scheduled GrokNation post, a piece about the refugee crisis (look for that one tomorrow).

When we comment on social media and when we go out into conversations with the world, instead of “tsk, tsk”-ing people for having compassion for Paris, let’s instead hope that this compassion can be a force for a global compassion that can somehow, in some way, try to protect us from the insanity and the hatred and the ignorance that ISIS is perpetrating.

And let Paris have its tragedy without making it less important because we think other issues or other tragedies might be more important. A multiple-level terror attack orchestrated by terrorists, at least one of whom was a French national, is devastating. Execution-style murders in the middle of a city and a hostage situation of this scale is very unique.

Until we have a magic wand or a Messiah moment or until God makes it known to believers and atheists and agnostics alike that this isn’t going to be how the world works, we’re all stuck with each other, folks.

Let’s behave like one people with one heart.

And right now, that heart is hurting.

Editor’s note: We at GrokNation are sending out wishes of support and warm thoughts to our French readers and their families, as well as to all those who were affected by Friday’s attacks. While we usually include “let’s grok” questions with our posts, we are leaving this as an open space for you all to react. Feel free to share how you’re feeling, share stories that inspire you, talk about your dreams for peace, or engage in other conversations that are constructive, supportive and encouraging. We’ll be reading and reacting to you as we can. With prayers/thoughts/wishes for peace…