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How easily the shift turns from oneself to one's country. All it takes is a crisis and a lot of hate.
Woke up to an all-too well known reality today. How we tried to forget, and pretend everything is going to be okay. We just lived our lives daily, not fearing to walk the streets anymore. And now it's all changed, so quickly.
You can always hear a television on, somewhere near, with the news on. No one seems to be watching anything else. I went to the gym this morning. No MTV, no sports channel. Just news. No arabs at the gym, I noticed. Maybe it was just a coincidence. I left the gym, to see a security guard from the university run after a person who looked like an arab, and gave him a bit of a hard time. I didn't see what transpired from that encounter.
I told my girlfriend this morning that we are part of only about 10% of the population in Israel who still sees people as people. I think maybe that's a high estimate. Jews and Arabs. That's all there is. I'm jewish, you're arabic. Therfore I hate you. And vice versa. People are all the same. Arabs, Jews, whatever, I guess everyone's looking for someone to hate and someone to blame. And the thing is: all this time many of us were leading a life of belief that things are better, and COULD be better. And now even Shimon Peres, noble prize winner, and left-wing extraordinaire, says there's no one to talk to. Imagine waking up and seeing everything you believed in is a lie.
Religion is one of the major reasons for war in the history of mankind. And it's really coming to life in Israel. It started with the destroying of Joseph's tomb, and has moved on to acts of violence against mosques and synagogues. So who's side is God really on? Who does He want dead?
I think Terry Pratchett sums that up pretty well:
'So, Constable Visit, there's a god on our side, is there?'
'Certainly, sir.'
'But probably also a god on their side as well?'
'Very likely, sir. There's a god on every side.'
'Let's hope they balance out, then.'
from Jingo.
Maybe I'll keep on updating this node during the day.
And to quote Shel Silverstein: "I think I'll wear my bright blue pants and my grey sports jacket and stay home with the girls."
Footprints lives in Tel Aviv and is a student at TAU.