Standing up by sitting down

By | June 8, 2026

Near the start of our son’s graduation yesterday from the Jewish high school he attended for four years, after the graduates marched in, we were asked to stand for The Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah.

My wife, my son, and I remained seated. My daughter and her boyfriend stood for the Star Spangled Banner and then sat for Hatikvah.

I suspect others remained seated, but we couldn’t see them; our view was blocked by all the people around us who, even now, fail to take a stand against fascism and genocide.

I choose to believe there were others sitting whom we couldn’t see. I choose to believe some day there will be enough people sitting that we’ll be able to see each other. And I choose to believe change will come. Not as fast as it should, to be sure, but it will come.

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