An Israeli Perspective
I lay around, out of the sun, this afternoon with the cats, just reading and enjoying the cool breeze that blows through the cafe at midday. Just me at one end and another man at the other. I left and rushed to get my laundry done - a bucket of water and a line strung between two trees did the job. When I got back, the sun had gone down but the man was still there.
I said, "Nice day, huh?" He said, "Every day is nice in India." I asked where he was from - he gave me three guesses. I guessed France first. He replied, "No, two more." I said, "Spain?" He said, "Think of the most difficult country on the planet." I remembered seeing the title of his book earlier in the day and it was in Hebrew. I shouted out, "Israel!" - not because of his hint but because of the title. His English wasn't too good so I let it go.
We talk some more and I find out that he is a 34 year old sheep herder who lives in the mountains. He loves what he does because in the morning he takes the sheep out to the green grass to eat and he gets to deliver the babies when they come to the world. He seems a very spiritual fellow, as he has read some of the same books as I and more. He loved The Da Vinci Code and Conversations with God. He has read two books on vipassana meditation but doesn't practice yet. He says he believes there is just one God and doesn't understand the fighting in his country.
I talk to him about how 9/11 affected us and he says that it happens every day in his country on a smaller scale. When he goes to town twice a week, he never knows when a bus or cafe is going to explode. He tells me about his kibbutz, one of the small communities developed by the Jews who returned to Israel after World War II. He tells how they built tall towers to see their enemies and then a tall fence in a circle around the towers. They lived in tents while the community buildings were being constructed. At the age of 3 months babies were placed in a communal area to live with the other children so both parents could work. At ten he began having nightmares, waking up at night and running to his mother at her house. Eventually his mother told the community she didn't care about their rules and that her son would live with her and his father. He feels this way of raising children provided him no kind example of a normal family and now he struggles to find it in his own life.
His grandfather was an initial member of the kibbutz and the man inherited his grandfather's home, since the kibbutz dissolved and people there now live in larger homes, separate from others. He is here searching, like many others, for answers as to how to go on, which way to go, and how to achieve happiness. I tell him he is just like so many men in our country who just want to settle down and raise a family but don't really know exactly how to do it. I wish him well and remind him that everything we need is right inside.
Peace to all!
Lynne
p.s. I can see a Muslim doing his daily ritual bows in a corner of the internet cafe. I love India - so accepting of its many religions.
I said, "Nice day, huh?" He said, "Every day is nice in India." I asked where he was from - he gave me three guesses. I guessed France first. He replied, "No, two more." I said, "Spain?" He said, "Think of the most difficult country on the planet." I remembered seeing the title of his book earlier in the day and it was in Hebrew. I shouted out, "Israel!" - not because of his hint but because of the title. His English wasn't too good so I let it go.
We talk some more and I find out that he is a 34 year old sheep herder who lives in the mountains. He loves what he does because in the morning he takes the sheep out to the green grass to eat and he gets to deliver the babies when they come to the world. He seems a very spiritual fellow, as he has read some of the same books as I and more. He loved The Da Vinci Code and Conversations with God. He has read two books on vipassana meditation but doesn't practice yet. He says he believes there is just one God and doesn't understand the fighting in his country.
I talk to him about how 9/11 affected us and he says that it happens every day in his country on a smaller scale. When he goes to town twice a week, he never knows when a bus or cafe is going to explode. He tells me about his kibbutz, one of the small communities developed by the Jews who returned to Israel after World War II. He tells how they built tall towers to see their enemies and then a tall fence in a circle around the towers. They lived in tents while the community buildings were being constructed. At the age of 3 months babies were placed in a communal area to live with the other children so both parents could work. At ten he began having nightmares, waking up at night and running to his mother at her house. Eventually his mother told the community she didn't care about their rules and that her son would live with her and his father. He feels this way of raising children provided him no kind example of a normal family and now he struggles to find it in his own life.
His grandfather was an initial member of the kibbutz and the man inherited his grandfather's home, since the kibbutz dissolved and people there now live in larger homes, separate from others. He is here searching, like many others, for answers as to how to go on, which way to go, and how to achieve happiness. I tell him he is just like so many men in our country who just want to settle down and raise a family but don't really know exactly how to do it. I wish him well and remind him that everything we need is right inside.
Peace to all!
Lynne
p.s. I can see a Muslim doing his daily ritual bows in a corner of the internet cafe. I love India - so accepting of its many religions.
posted by Lynne | 5:21 AM
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