Taryn Thomas

And so I remember like visiting like a Drew's family and then seeing a missile remnant in their backyard.

And I would go to Shabbat dinner and see like an empty chair

Uh with a glass of wine that no one would drink because they're leaving it out for the hostages to come back and so I I just knew that the fear there was old and it was generational and it was a it's just a cycle of fear and I and and Eventually that fear became mine.

I on my fourth day there.

I had experienced my own missile my first missile which is um

I remember mine.

It's interesting to say.

And so being on the ground and just praying, I just realized how ironic it is.

A few years ago, I was praying for the divestment of these systems.

I'm now praying to help save me.

And I hear the interception of the Iron Dome and we get up.

we go to the market and everyone resumes life like normal vendors opening up the stalls and like people are just like you know kids are running around and i was just like wow like fear here is just so routine and people build their lives around trauma and like just like i just recognize so much being like my privilege as an american

to not have to experience war and missiles and things like that, because to me, that was very traumatic.

And it just kind of felt embarrassing that, you know, to them, this is just a day to, you know, I only got a slice of their cake, you know?

And so, yeah.

And I, I, I realized like then it's, it's just so easy for a lot of the pro-Palestine activists to call for war and violence from the safety and comfort of your home thousands of miles away, you know?

And so I think a lot of the issue is like this distance.

Yeah.

Yes, you can find me at, it's Taryn Tho, I-T-S-T-A-R-Y-T-H-O on Instagram.

And you can email me, taryntho at stanford.edu.