Thursday, November 15

Gaining Historical Perspective

DH was at work , minding his work-related business, when a co-worker, presenting information at a meeting, gets a call from her babysitter in Gedera.  "What should I do,  we were just ordered to spend the next few hours in the miklat."  Should she take the kids to her parents' house?  Stay at the house with no adult till she gets home?  Go to a neighbour?
Parents have to leave work early - if their work is within those 40 km from Azza, work is over for today or longer.   If not, they have to stop, abandon what they are doing, and get back to the kids.
They pick up all ten kids who are still waiting for a bus at Masmiya.  yes, the car has only 7 seats.  But leaving them out there exposed - is that better?
The makolet is open for a couple of hours.  People are trying to get out as fast as they can.  While they want to make each other feel better, each person is preoccupied with their personal worries.  One woman's preemie nephew has been moved to another hospital.  One grandmother ha five grandchildren serving in the army now.   Everyone is a bundle of nerves, fuses are short.

How many wars have you been in Israel for?  How did affect your mood?

Israel has had more than one war per decade.   And that is without counting all the "periods" of terror attacks, pogroms, and general anti-Jewish/ anti-Israeli activity by Arabs, that have been going on for over one hundred years.
Nerves in Israel are tight.  Moods fluctuate quickly.  it would be interesting to do a psychological study of the Israeli Personality.  But we all know , without any statistics, that an Israeli is a loving, caring, tense, hurried-and-worried, doing-the-best-she-can parent, sister, grandmother, daughter, who has been too too many funerals.

That our neighbours and coworkers are not complete traumatized is a miracle.

I think that it behooves us to show some appreciation for what "Israelis" go through and have been going through for all these decades, in order to enable our generation to make Aliya to a first-world country that was complete desert only 75 years ago.  
More understanding, patience and kind words to our Israeli neighbours, more emotional support, and more involvement in national issues, seem a good way to start.


My latest idea is to collect games to take to people living in their miklatim.  

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