Aziz Abu Sarra

You don't need to listen to anyone.

You just can't do it.

And this is not the world we want to live in.

We need to remember hope is a form of resistance.

Believing that we can make a change is a form of resistance.

But the moment you give in to that despair and say, my voice doesn't matter, that's what those who believe in bombs want you to believe.

you know, your voice doesn't matter, but ours does.

And one of my favorite poems is from Samih al-Qasim.

And in it, he says, even when I'm killed, I'm not leaving my hope, that I'm still not giving into despair.

And it's kind of a crazy sentiment, maybe, but it's one of the most powerful.

And the poem is called Travel Tickets, where he said, the day I'm killed, my killer rifling through my pockets will find travel tickets, one to peace,

one to the fields and the rain, and one to the conscience of a humankind.

So I beg you, my dear killer, don't ignore them.

Don't waste such a thing.

But take and use the tickets.

Please, I beg you to go traveling.

And this is our hope.

Everyone who reads the book is that you take those tickets and you act upon it.

You can do something.

We can't be silent and let somebody else use our voices.