Where I come from, school is cancelled when snow is falling.

Where I live now, school is cancelled when it’s raining rockets.

Where I come from, children beg for iPods, video games and scooters.

Where I live now, children beg for a full night’s sleep, one without nightmares or running to a safe room.

Where I come from, people stock up on water, canned goods and batteries in the event of a natural disaster.

Where I live now, please stock up on water, canned goods, batteries and gas masks, in the event of an unnatural act of terror.

Where I come from, the sound of a siren is a signal for the fire department to mobilize.

Where I live now, the sound of a siren is the dreaded cue for civilians to run for shelter.

Where I come from, people volunteered for cleanup efforts, to haul away garbage and to clean up decimated areas.

Where I live now, people volunteer for government-sanctioned hasbara efforts, to ensure that accurate information is shared widely and that those littering the internet with lies will be thwarted.

Where I come from, the country is large, and there are rarely specific targets.

Where I live now, the land is tiny, and everyone is a target.

Where I come from, my family and friends opened their homes to Hurricane victims without power or heat.

Where I live now, my family and friends are opening their doors to those feeling the heat of rocket fire, who have no power to protect themselves.

Where I come from, war is fought overseas; in Afghanistan.

Where I live now, war is within our own borders; in Be’er Sheva, in Kiryat Malachi, and even near Tel Aviv.

Where I come from, a light in the sky is a shooting star, a miracle from G-d.

Where I live now, a light in the sky is the Iron Dome – a completely different type of miracle.

Where I come from, soldiers are faceless, nameless men in green.*

Where I live now, they are our neighbors, brothers, husbands, fathers, and sons.

(*Except for you Michael!)

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2012 at 9:32 pm and is filed under Agitation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.