When a Better Life Means I Might Not See You Again

A good friend of mine from Gaza, an amazing man who tries to maintain sanity and objectivity in an ocean of insanity, sent his son to school in Israel, a special school aimed at creating a generation of young and tolerant leadership. His son will never be able to return home, where he is now seen as a collaborator. He is going to the U.S., a new tattoo of birds released from their cage on his forearm, and will ask for refugee status. The tattoo is imprinted over a scar left from a wound he received from Israeli shrapnel in one of the vicious military conflicts. This young man is my daughter's age  -- they have shared costumes for various holidays in the past. I wish him only the best life can give. And his parent's bravery that has allowed them to let their children go to give them a better life -- beyond anything words can describe.