David Roth

Ahmed al-Khatib
Ahmed had a plastic gun, a toy, that's all it wasHe got it from his uncle one December, just becauseThe older boys were rebels, and he liked to play alongAnd one day he'd grow up to be as big and brave and strongIsraeli soldiers often searched the Jenin camps and townsThey were looking for insurgents, they were always cracking downThe residents resented these intrusions on their homesThe rebels fired rifles, the younger boys threw stonesOne Thursday came another clash between the warring groupsAgain, the bullets, stones and rocks, the rebels and the troopsA soldier saw a gunman, and he fired at a boyThe victim was a 12-year old, the weapon was a toyAhmed al-Khatib was taken off to RamallahBut his wounds were such that he was transferred out to IsraelA hospital in Haifa where the Jewish doctors didEvery single thing they could to help this child liveDespite their greatest efforts, Ahmed passed awayA family's worst nightmare turned reality that dayThat's when they had every reason to exact revengeTo carry on the history of this hatred between menThey could have shouted out in anger, outrage, grief and painLetras de cancionesThey could have caused a riot against the Jews who'd killed their sonWhat did they do to face this darkest hour of their lives?They donated his organs so that others might surviveA liver for a baby, two kidneys for a childOne lung each a girl and boy, ages four and fiveA woman in her fifties got the organ that she'd needAnd a 12-year old received the heart of Ahmed al-KhatibSome were Palestinian and some of them were JewsThe family's intention was that no one be refusedThe neighbors asked the father about this decision he had reached"The heart that can forgive will bring us closer to peace."A powerful reminder of those who might forgetThe humanity of those who live on the other side of the fenceSomewhere in this world today, six people live and breatheThe legacy of those who cherished Ahmed al-Khatib From Letras Mania