I came across a poignant post on Phyllis Chesler’s blog. It showed up in my Google alert for Israel refugees, but it has nothing to do with the refugees we write about here. I’m posting on it here because I like Phyllis Chesler and I am a longtime refugee myself, of the kind she describes. She begins:
For years now, newly arrived refugees have been contacting me. They write to tell me that they’ve lost nearly everybody they once knew. Their whole world is gone now. Some whisper over the phone. Others write long letters. They ask me how I’ve managed.
I am talking about ideological refugees from feminism, leftism, gay liberation, socialism, and progressivism.
Yes, that’s how it is. You lose almost everybody. Either they don’t want to talk to you any more, or you don’t want to talk to them. Reading and writing for this blog, I’ve read plenty of terrible refugee stories, and I’m not actually comparing my situation, or the situation of Phyllis Chesler and those who contact her, to real refugees who lose a lot more than their friends. But what she said struck a chord with me, so I’m posting on it here in case someone else wants to read her story.