October 18, 2023
In someways, the situation in Israel feels better here than it looks from outside. People walk through the streets. Laugh, joke, smoke. Israelis have this kind of gallows humor to them. Like the mom and dad who got in an elevator with me with their two little kids and the mom said, “do you think this space is protected (I.e. would take a rocket impact?” And the dad said, “No way, this thing is like a tin can.”
But life goes on. Humans and Israelis (maybe all Jews) in particular seem to have a profound capacity to just keep living. And when you’re in the midst of it, you just can’t sustain worry all the time. It takes a lot of energy. So the normal routine begins to take back over.
But sometimes little things remind you of the situation. Like how today, when I went to get a doctor’s approval for me to buy a firearm. I went into the doctor’s office and she said: “don’t kill people frivolously with this.”
Then she said, “you’re from America right?”
I confirmed.
And she said, “well then you know the problem guns have caused in America. You know how many children get killed. We’re going to create that here. But we have no choice.” And she signed my approval form.
And even amidst it all, there is a profound coming together of community here. Sharing of food. Song circles. People offering whatever skills they have to others to just support. There is a mission, a purpose, that transcends greed or ego. I see it in the incredible willingness of people out of Israel to give. To do all they can. We feel it here. And we have that same desire. And it feels like it is the saving grace of this entire thing.