Imagine

Imagine a breaking news story just shortly after 12 noon that a terrorist bomb has gone off only about 30 minutes from your house. What would you do? What your reaction be? Would you get in the car and go to the mall? Would you allow your children to go down to the city youth center? Would you be able to step through the normal course of your day.....putting your sadness and fear to the side in the name of maintaining a "normal" life? As many of you probably already know, I terrorist bomb exploded today in Jerusalem. It was placed in a phone both and detonated in a crowded area. One person was killed and many were wounded. My delegation and I spent the day here in Modiin....safe. I have spent my life hearing and reading about this and it struck me today the comfort of reading about it from across the ocean. This is very frightening. This bomb went off not far from where I was when I visited Jerusalem over the weekend. We in America have absolutely no concept of what this is like. We might think that we do, but we dont! The history of the Israel - Palestinian conflict has been filled with rehtoric, accusations, mis information, mistakes on both sides, and anger. Hamas, the terrorist group that is most likely responsible for today's attach ( they have also been lobbing shells out of Gaza toward two southern Israeli cities for the past week) has always been clear that they have little interest in negotiating with Israel....their focus is on the total destruction of the Jewish state. This was their first attack in approximately five years.

So have you considered how you might respond if this was near your home? Let me share with you what I witnessed here in the hours following the announcement of the bombing.........life as normal! Nothing stopped....no one hide in the basement......people lead their lives. I think Noa saw the look of fear on my face and she said to me, "This is Israel." The only precaution she took was to limit how much of the TV news her children saw. This evening Noa took me to the youth center that she works at. Meeting there this evening where about 50 teens who are part of the Youth Movement her in Israel. This is a group a teens that represent a variety of youth groups and schools around the city of Modiin. These are not youth groups that are attached to a Temple, the way we might think of youth groups. These are groups of teens who invest considerable time, energy and creativity toward making their city a better place to live. Any teen can come to this group with an idea for some type of social action project. Ongoing projects include working to increase the understanding and acceptance of gay teens, a group that brings together Orthodox and secular teens for discussion and increased understanding, a group that received training in juggling and other "circus acts" who put on shows for poor kids and children that are hospitalized, and a program led by teens to do away with graffiti around the city. I was surrounded by energetic, intelligent and socially conscious teens who lined up to speak with me about their specific program. This Youth Movement is all over Israel and teens are truly changing their communities for the better. Their energy was infectious and they had me laughing as they all kept apologizing for their english...which was quite good. There was no indication anywhere in the behavior and demeanor of these kids that a terrorist bomb had exploded 30 minutes from their home. Some of you might ask if this is a form of denial.......I dont think so.......my sense is that Israeli's are completely realistic about these occurences. They just have learned how to not let this stop them from living. I think about aspects of American culture that have become about victimhood and I cringe. There is no one here who buys into that type of mindset. Life is to be lived....to be lived well.....and you cope with adversity. What choice do you have?

We left the Youth Center and went to the mall in Modiin to get something to eat. As we drove into the underground parking lot, we were met by a security guard who was searching everyone's trunk. But other than this, there was no other indication that anyone was worried. Parents and children strolled through the mall. I found myself very hyper aware of my surroundings....that didnt appear to be the case with anyone else. We ran into a friend of my daughters who works in the mall. Again, there was nothing in my interaction with her that would lead you to feel that she is worried.

I dont know how these people do this???  Its too simple to say that "well they dont have any choice." I cant argue with that but it is more than that. The Israeli people have worked too hard and for too long to settle this land, to make things grow in the desert, to become one the leading technological countries in the world, and to create a citizenry and culture that that has the strength and fortitude to not only withstand repeated terrorist threats over the years, but to fourish is spite of them. I listen to the words of terrorist organizations like Hamas whose  goal is the complete destruction of the state of Israel. And then, over the past few days I have had the opportunity to see what I have seen. To see what has been created here.......to break bread with a group of people that have a life force that I am jealous of. I know deep in my heart now that Israel isnt going anywhere.

What would I do if a terrorist bomb exploded 30 minutes from my house? I dont have a complete answer to that question right now. I could only hope that I responded like an Israeli.

P.S. -  This is my first attempt at keeping a blog. At first, I was only going to keep a simple travelogue.....you know...here is where we went....here is what I saw. For those of you who have been reading this, I think you know that it has been more diary like than travelogue like. I hope that none of you who have been reading this have had any kind of  "Keith...TMI!!!!!!"....experience……this trip has been more personally meaningful than I ever thought it would be and I am looking forward to reading back over this blog when I get home. I so appreciate all of you who are reading it and sharing this incredible experience with me.

I love you all

Keith

P.S.S. - I visited two very interesting schools today. I will share more about them tomorrow. I need to get to bed....bye