When does a person stop being a person

When does a person stop being a person?

When people become statistic
When one dead child becomes one of a hundred
When news of killings become 'old' news or the 'same' news
When the extraordinary becomes ordinary

When does a human stop being human?
When we stop empathizing
When we equate one person with the whole nation
When one small child is seen as only the offspring of the enemy

When we see the enemy as less than human,
We too become less than human

- written on July 22, as Israel razes down Gaza while the world watches