They are trying to legislate gender

and make it illegal to be trans.

I have thought before

about leaving this country.

I am kicking myself

that I still don’t have a passport.

We were supposed to scout locations

in Canada

but life happens and plans fall away.

I used to wonder why more Jews didn’t flee Germany

at the first rumors

of what was coming.

But now I know the answer:

they had lives.

They had commitments

and jobs

and families

with children

and babies too young to travel.

And money to relocate

your entire life

doesn’t grow on trees.

They probably felt as stuck

as I do now,

with the family business to run

and no other source of income

and God, please, God,

don’t let it be true,

don’t let any of it reach us.

Friends are moving to other states

for safety.

I watch TikToks about people

in Florida

making emergency plans

to leave at a moment’s notice.

I watch others who can barely afford to

keep themselves off the street,

much less save money

to move to shelter far away.

I avoid the news.

Who wants to stare into the lights

of the train that’s going to hit them?

I don’t want to know the horrors that are coming.

I just want it to be quick

and then over.

We had lives here

and commitments

and families.