Candle for Gaza

It took me a couple of days after I arrived back on campus to feel intellectually at home again. I was in a circle of people, holding a candle and staring at the Pakistani girl in front of me reading a prayer for the victims of the war conflict in Gaza. That was my first time holding a vigil.

"Let us not be too late for this crisis, let it not take the same trajectory that many did in the past, let it not be simply an object of intellectual engagement to be analyzed ex post facto, with people wondering where the conscience of the international community lay while the atrocities were perpetrated," she read. I was trying to listen but my eyes were glued on her breathing pattern and brown eyes, in which tears welled up. Then I looked around the room to recognize the emotion coming out of her voice communicate itself to the other participants.

There weren't more than 20 people in the chapel but they were all from diverse ethnic backgrounds and carrying the same hopes and dreams. Although the reason for keeping this vigil is truly horrifying, the actual event brought me inner satisfaction and humbleness. I felt proud to be sitting next to people who care and believe in peace. I was proud to share the flame of my candle with the next person in the circle.