Beauty in a Bunker
The percussion
is the last sensation to hit when the lethal combination of fertilizer and sugar
are housed in a cold steel casing and lobbed over to oblivious civilians. As
the proportionately small nub on the end of this hunk of hate taps the firm
surface of Gaza shrapnel and hundreds of nails slice through the air as the
seemingly impenetrable steel sheathing is peeled like a banana by the ignition
of two common house hold items. The final irony of these homemade missiles is
that of their composition, inasmuch fertilizer is used to provide nourishment to
sustain life and sugar is used to increase the enjoyment of consuming nutrition.
Though certainly this is no manner
to be mocked, the people of Sderot, a small town next to the Gaza strip, still
manage to tote a smile to rival that of any “privileged” American; this was in
effect solidified during my visit to Sderot today. As I stood just outside a
towering and fortified police station surrounded by ten thousand seemingly impenetrable
bomb shelters for the proud and tenacious citizens of Sderot a woman leaned
from her second story window and called out to my peers and I “Welcome to
Israel!!”,my group then retorted with a prompt and equally enthusiastic “Toda!!”
(the Hebrew word for thank you) while an old man rides by in a golf cart
alongside a police officer who blows a kiss to our young tour guide. Inherently,
the city of Sderot is inhabited by average, wholesome and welcoming human
beings who wish for nothing more than peace and normality.
Although, I was not surprised to find such
vivacious humans in such oppressive circumstances in the nation of Israel;
though my stay has been short I have discovered a reoccurring theme of
tenacity, honor, dedication and brotherhood amongst all the Jews I have met. This
is equally true for the children who live beneath these walls of fear; they
must invent song and games to drown out the sounds of blasts and paint their
shelters with colorful and friendly characters to attempt to have an enjoyable
childhood. Sderot is deterred from practicing that which comes so natural to
them and yet still continues to press for its right to do so, therefore this is
the greatest modern representation of Jewish tenacity and honor that I can
recollect. In this I bow to the people of Sderot and wish them a Shabbat equal
to their tenacity and will to live uninterrupted. Shabbat Shalom my friends.
Indubitably,
-L.N.
No comments:
Post a Comment