My five-year-old nephew refused to sit on the couch, curling up on the cold floor instead. When I tried to lift him, he screamed, \u201cMy bottom hurts.\u201d I gently raised his shirt and froze\u2014there were scars, far too many. I called my daughter-in-law.<\/p>\n
She laughed mockingly. \u201cMy father is a judge. What do you think you can do?\u201d I dialed 911, believing I was saving him\u2014never realizing I had just started a war.<\/p>\n
Part 1: The Silent Witness
\nThe winter sun filtered through the lace curtains of my living room, casting patterned shadows on the Persian rug\u2014a rug I had bought in Beirut in 1982, back when the sound of shelling was my morning alarm. Now, my mornings were filled with the whistle of a tea kettle and the chirping of cardinals in the snow-dusted oak tree outside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My five-year-old nephew refused to sit on the couch, curling up on the cold floor instead. When I tried to lift him, he screamed, \u201cMy bottom hurts.\u201d… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t