Down here we haven’t heard any bombs or aircraft. Yet.
What we do hear, of course, is the media having their field day and what we don’t hear is the public. After much thought, I have a theory as to why the public has gone from being one of the most news-and-public-discussion oriented in the world, to one of deafening silence: we’re burned out; we have nothing left to say.
‘Yet’ it is hanging over us every minute, and we want to leave the evil to its day.
Nahariya isn’t so far away, and I reckon they’re already sick of closed rooms and all.
Quite a lot of people in places like Kiryat Shmonah ignore police instructions to stay in their protected area, or even to stay away from public places or places bombs have hit-of course we always knew that the Israeli public isn’t very obedient but this is weird-how can it be that even where the bombs are falling, people don’t take them seriously?!
Yesterday at my makolet (bomb shelter), one neighbor made some small, dry remark like ‘gotta have freezer-pops even if katushas rain’ and I (waiting behind him in the line) said ‘you get points for bravery-you’re the forst person I’ve heard even mention that things have gone from bad to grusome’.
Everyone else looked away.
Today, one neighbor said she listened to the news for 3 hours, then she simply couldn’t any more, so she put on the symphony fantastique.
However, she continued, that didn’t give much relief because whilst the music played, she had a sudden strong sense of ‘this time is the time we lose’. First, she went to shul to pray for a miracle and then, she came over to cry on my shoulder a little. Then my aunt called and wanted to tell me she’s feeling really pressured and this is bigger than things we’ve gone through before.
Yes, the feeling is that this one is big. But then, we’ve been wrong before too. But then, how long can a country keep going when the enemy only gets bigger and more desparate, when there are almost no natural resources, when the last 20 years have shown that israeli pluck and morale are confined to making money, when green cards matter more to israelis than greening the desert, when almost all new olim for the last-is it almost 10 years already-consider Israel their door to a better world, when the elected leaders worry most about their perks and pay, when the army spends more time persecuting people than protecting the country, when the very rhetoric doesn’t even try for Jewish values, when the public doesn’t even want to talk about it anymore-how long?
I could perhaps construct a counter list, but guess what? This list seems more relevant than the one that starts ‘Israel’s Achievements in High-Tech…’ and perhaps goes on to praise advances in high-market tourist accomodations. We’ve gone from a truly high civilization to shlock in possibly record time. And without any moral fiber, how’re we supposed to stay on course? With even better military hardware and %100 internet connection?
