I wrote the poem Love Stands after watching Macklemore and others use their voices to stand with the people of Palestine, particularly those suffering in Gaza and the West Bank. His willingness to keep speaking, even when there is a personal cost, made me think less about the politics of the moment and more about the posture behind it. What does it mean to love people who are suffering, especially when standing with them might cost us something? That question has also been shaped by my recent visit to Israel and Palestine. Being there made the realities of this conflict much harder to keep at a distance. I met and encountered people on both sides who lament the pain, loss, fear, and division that have become part of everyday life. There are Israelis and Palestinians who genuinely long for something different; they do not all want the division to continue. And yet, there is a painful tension in that reality. The people who live with the consequences of division are not always the ...