To Be or Not To Be in Washington, DC

​To be or not to be in Washington, DC
My heart is in the East; my soul is in Washington, DC
My body is in Ocala - wanting to be elsewhere
Sitting at my desk, I am watching and listening to my colleagues and fellow Jews
As they March for Israel - so our voices are heard.

My heart, while in the East, is painfully breaking as I see the hate rise;
“From the River to the Sea” and other hateful quotes are spread.
I shall not hide who I am - and I hope my children and all children are proud;
We fight, we counteract hate, we breathe, we live, we will not give up.

Our fight is not new, it never ends, and what would the world be like if it did?
What would our world be like if we weren’t continuously the scape goat?
Imagine a world in which we embraced and loved all, just because?
The hope of tomorrow is what keeps us going on.

There is so much work to do here, now, today.
We get up, dust ourselves up and march forward.
We remind ourselves not only of the hate in our past,
But also of the love, the embrace of others, and we sing
Hineih Mah Tov U’manayim; Shevet Achim Gam Yachad!