more familiar than before

Current events are disturbing. I don't want to get into a whole political discourse here, that's not what I'm about. At the same time, though, I have to say, the whole Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah conflict has definitely strick a chord with me. It's hit me closer to home than any of the other Israeli/Middle East issues have, I think.

There's a really simple explanation for this closeness. When I was in Israel in 2004 (on Birthright), one of the places we went to was a kibbutz near Kiryat Shmona, on the Israeli border with Lebanon. We met a man named Mike, originally from New York. He was now living on that kibbutz, working with the Magen David Adom (the Israeli Red Cross).

Mike from New York, as he was known, was an amazing speaker. He imparted on us some of the feelings he had after choosing to live in that area. He shared with us some of the past dangers they'd experienced on the kibbutz and some history of the area in general. We also learned that the area was fairly calm, at that time, though they knew that it would take very little for conflict to arise again. As they say, history repeats itself, I guess (in some form or another).

We were on that border, the border where so much has gone on over the last few weeks. I have felt much different hearing news about the 'conflict' in Israel and Lebanon that I have felt before. It's different, having been in the very place that rockets are flying over. It's different, almost more personalized, than thinking that it's just some place I'd read about or heard stories of... I remember the feeling I felt looking out over land below us, knowing that I was looking out into Lebanon. A different country, a border barely beyond us, yet such differences on the two sides of that border. It's amazing that two groups can be so physically close yet so far apart in so many ways. This picture was taken near the border. The land behind us is Lebanon.

So much of the region surrounding Israel is like that. So many different people, viewpoints, histories, and ideologies. It's no wonder there's tension in the area. I don't claim to have a solution to the problems of the region. But wow, what a long road ahead...