We were uninvited spectators; that I knew. We had forgotten about our suffering Palestinian brothers until the very moment they needed us the most, and even then our passion faded as the last gunshots left their barrels. Quietly we would wring our hands, whisper to each other in appropriate monotones, dig the last $10 out of our bags and leave them in the donation bin. Journalists and news networks couldn’t ignore us for our outspoken sincerity, for our solidarity and determination to make right by what was wrong and improve that which was broken.

But in the long run, what have we really done? Do we now  remember the 1,205 killed? The 5,300 wounded? The countless families torn apart? The sobbing widow, the bereaved son, the grief-stricken orphan?

The pictures are what I look for now. Not ones of the dead, but of the living. The unwounded with dead eyes, who suffer empty, broken hearts still beating. What do they think, I  wonder, when they hear of the rest of the Muslim world that casually turns a blind eye? Do they feel saddened? Outraged? Or perhaps they are accustomed.

As soon as the siege ended, we forgot, not because we didn’t care but because our apathy regrew. Year after year, Palestine needs us more than ever and we remain passive, convinced of our own helplessness. What could we have accomplished had we remained as unified as we were this day last year, December 27, and the 23 days that followed? It should be our goal to strengthen our resolve, the Muslim Ummah, and most of all, inspire the flickering light of hope in those who have seen nothing but darkness.

When Palestinian children make the news, it’s often–let’s face it–because they’ve died. A combination of “no news is good news” reporting and the simple sadness of everyday life in Israel and Palestine create a bleak portrait for those of us trying to follow the everyday lives of relatives, friends, or even strangers. So what are children from Gaza doing on the news, if they’ve escaped unharmed?

They’ve broken a world record–the most kites flown in the air simultaneously in the same location, to be exact. Thousands of children from the Gaza strip gathered along a beach in the north of the region, in hopes of shattering the previous record of just over 700. But this isn’t just about a world record–this event reveals more about the situation in Gaza than it might seem at first glance. So what’s the big deal?

1) No inspector from the Guinness Book of World Records was sent to verify the claim for “security issues”. Sure, we all knew things weren’t safe in that region of the world. But this really does demonstrate what constitutes as “safe” relative to where you live–five thousand children gathering on a beach without incident is a giant leap forward for the Palestinians, but it was deemed too hazardous for one adult European inspector to verify the world record. Indeed, what constitutes “life as usual” in the Strip still seems to outsiders as life on the edge. While the calm is nice for now, there is still so much progress to be made.

2) Five thousand children gathered as part of a summer program in Gaza–and no rockets were fired. Due to Palestine’s “third world” status, the population tends to skew young. There are just as many kids as there are adults, and they need an education in hopes of being mobile and having their voices heard. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) sponsors, along with its usual school-year fare, a summer program to get Palestinian children engaged with their education in the off-season. Education in Palestine has gotten a bad rep thanks to documentaries such as “Promises”, which tend to paint schools, internationally funded or not, as crumbling propaganda factories. The kite-flying was sponsored by a non-governmental organization (NGO), but was a peaceful affair simply to motivate kids and break a record. Moral of the story? Palestinians outside of the government recognize that their youth need to be engaged, and have the skills and know-how to pull off a successful program on a community level. (The real stunt is going to be pulling this off at the ballot box.)

On the surface, though, it’s a beautiful image: thousands of children from a war-torn area lifting homemade kites to the sky in hopes of having their voices heard–and for the joy of time spent in peace.

And as always, good press certainly doesn’t hurt, either.