Let Us Grieve - Bruce Silverman

[Larry Robinson]

Let Us Grieve


It’s too familiar,

Let us simply feel the hole in the

hollow pit where normalcy used to rest,

It’s too soon to disentangle the history, 

the politics, and offer insightful perspectives,

Let us simply grieve.


To be a Jew, today, is to feel the marrow in 

the bones once again hardening, steeling 

itself for the next Crusaders, the next Cossacks,

or the next Nazis who will reenact what we try 

to ignore with “it can’t happen here or again.” 

Let us simply pause, and then grieve. 


There may be a space between stimulus and
 
response as Victor Frankl taught, but it can’t 

be found amidst the noise of pundits, or the

rush to find meaning.

Let us grieve.


No, we are not alone as special victims of hatred, 

violence, and mass murder. But yesterday, today

and tomorrow, listen, carefully, and hear the plaintive

calls that must be heeded. They cannot be rushed or 

ignored. They’re as tangible as the fists and guns that

shatter too many souls over too many generations. 


So let us pause, let us grieve, for the horror we and so 

many others find ourselves in must be seen, and felt, 

and held, in its enormity. It’s real, and to minimize it

or to look the other way is to deny the humanity that

we all share, both the joy and the grief. 


So first, let us grieve.

	- Bruce Silverman