I read the articles about you, but I don't read the words.
Some things I think I cannot know, and so I don't.
Words like: torture, rape. When they say it about you I think, "I don't know what that means.
I don't understand."
"I gave my safety -
I gave it up to know the truth."
And again I say,
"I don't want to know what the truth is, I'm not sure I can.
I can't see you right now."
"Friend.
This is war.
This is what war is.
It's where I was,
it's what I saw and couldn't look away from.
You think you are the only one?
Who loved someone who was tortured?
Someone who drank up this life and laughed too often?
You think you are the only one.
I went to hear those stories and to tell them to you, so you would know.
I gave my safety so you would know
and not look away anymore.
I've seen war from the inside out.
I've known fear through my bones.
I've known love like you wouldn't believe.
Everything I went to report, I lived instead.
I became a part of the war.
You can't talk about me without talking about Syria.
About the war and the causes and who funds it.
About the refugees and the ones who cannot leave.
I am one person among so many.
You cannot talk about my torture without naming Syria.
Without knowing so. many. more.
Names we don't know.
My story happens every day.
Don't know my story without learning why."
Friend, this is war by Sage Schick for Kayla Mueller, killed by ISIS in 2015