Four years ago today
Today is an important day.
- Four years ago, today, the Second Lebanon War started.
- Four years ago, today, a woman was sipping coffee on her balcony in Nahariya when a Katusha rocket lander on her, and annihilated her.
- Four years ago, today, I went to the train station in Acco, expecting to board a train from Nahariya, only to find out that train service from Nahariya was canceled, and all trains were starting in Acco that day.
- Four years ago, today, I sat with my boss, Jeannette, in the Zim building at the entrance of the MATAM Industrial park in Haifa, having lunch, and speculating on the morning's rocket attack in Nahariya, and remarking on how surreal it was that here we were having a beautiful lunch, when just half an hour to the north of us a war was raging on. Little did I know that in two days the war would reach my city - my neighborhood.
While I hope it is one I will not have to repeat, the chances are small that we'll get to live the "quiet life" for much longer, as reports are coming in that Hezbullah has restocked and even tripled its supply of rockets. And that those they have can go several times farther than before.
What a wonder - four years later and I'm still haunted by that time.
Since my last post to this site, just under a year ago, I've gone through a lot more changes. For one, I've got a new job. For another, I've joined a health club (Holmes Place) and am working out several times a week. - I've even got a personal trainer.
My job is located just outside of Kiryat Shemona, in the Tel Hai industrial park. We are practically on the border with Lebanon. Kiryat Shemona is one of the places that took the most brutal hits in the war four years ago.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, you say? Maybe so, but one of the buildings several bomb shelters is only a few feet from my office. At my apartment, I've got a secure, reinforced room (standard in all new apartments/houses built in Israel these days). So, whether at home or at work, as long as I'm not on the road, I should be pretty safe.
Besides, what else can I do? That's life here in Israel, and that's life being born as one of the most hated peoples on the face of the planet.
But that's OK.
In the end, knowing who my people are, what most of them stand for, how most of them behave, I'd rather be one of them than one of those who hate them.