Feelings

I have this thing I can do where I can distance myself from things. It's not a good or bad thing, it's just sort of how I operate.

As a result, it's very rare for me to get emotional in public (unless I'm watching a TV series made my Jason Katims). Up until Saturday, I could only remember one situation where I got overwhelmed with "feelings." And that was at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, so I mean, really, does that count?

But on Saturday I was sent to write about local Sudanese celebrating their new country, The Republic of South Sudan. Just a few months earlier, I had interviewed a few of the Lost Boys who lost their homes and families in the 1990s. Their stories were similar to the ones my grandfathers tell about surviving the Holocaust.

And now these same men were celebrating their freedom.

I walked in and there was canned 1980s African music playing and women were greeting each other in high-pitched native calls that I'd previously only heard on TV. And they were wearing such beautiful, bright dresses and they were so filled with joy that they danced in the courtyard.

At that moment, I became overwhelmed with emotion for the second time.

I imagined this is what it was like when people like my grandfathers heard about Israel. At that minute, I understood. And not in a political way but in a pure celebration of being able to be who you are.