What We Do During the War

It is March 15, the war with Iran began on Saturday, February 28. 

February is a short month so if we do the math that brings us to a 15 day war so far. 

Two weeks and a day feel like two months. 

Only once has shrapnel from a missile fallen anywhere near where I live, which isn't all that far from Tel Aviv a very large metropolitan city. In Tel Aviv citizens have suffered casualties, nine people, I think, the city a favorite Iranian target. 

Everywhere, however, civilians, citizens carry bullseyes on their backs. This is not how it used to be. It used to be the kids in army fatigues at risk. I wanted to hug them when I saw the on the street. 

Theoretically a target, FD and I should worry.  But we're not worried. 

Not a video, although it looks like one. Missile hits a street in Tel Aviv, no one hurt.

 

The IDF, Israeli Defense Force, and the IAF, Israeli Air Force, keep us safe. Israel's defense technology is superb if not perfect. Only a very small percentage of Iranian missiles have landed in Israel these past two weeks.  Even the cluster bombs have not accomplished what Iran had hoped they might, which would be to scatter death and destruction in every direction.

So far, so good, despite what you read in the press. The media, have you not heard, lie for clicks and advertising. Your friends in Israel are doing fine. We are all good little soldiers. We follow the rules, sheltering when we must, which is often, to be honest.

Despite the general assumption that the country is protecting us, none of us is confident that the next bomb might not wind up in our bedrooms. So when we hear an alert we throw a coat over our pajamas and head off to a safe place, most of us have one in the house or in the building, if not, near by. 

We go either to a miklat, a large community bomb shelter, or to a personal mamad a steel enforced room inside the house or apartment. Our miklat is on the first floor of a five story building. We're up top. It's annoying but we head down there. Wouldn't you?  

It is never fun, it is always an interruption, day or night even if we unconsciously wait for it. Nobody likes this. On the other hand, victory cannot be for the enemy, it has to be ours, preferably with few, if any, casualties. At the end of the war, no conclusion other than victory is acceptable. So we don't complain and make our showers quick. 

Last night I joked to my son-in-law that my coat and shoes are ready to jump into at a moment's notice, my version of a fireman's bedside boots.  

This craziness goes on multiple times during the day, not just at night, great fodder for comedy, which is keeping me sane. Reels on Instagram, FaceBook, YOHAY_SPONDER! So worth the price. The short videos are all about the irony, the lived reality, and the creativity necessary to survive a war happily. Whistle while we duck.

Today I took a walk, made sure to be no more than ten minutes away from home, it's a science getting in steps in this climate. But I have to be able to turn around and get to our miklat if necessary. As I walked I thought, why am I not blogging about this? It isn't exactly everyday stuff! It isn't normal. I'll want to read about my thoughts, my feelings some day.

Or not! 

It is what we do, is all staying safe is what we do. Some of us anticipate it will be how we live the rest of our lives, strange sort of trauma, not seeing anything, really, only anticipating the possibility of seeing something. Tertiary trauma.

We'll always think of it as what we have to do. What we do. Stay safe. It is the mantra our grandparents, Holocaust survivors, whispered whenever we did anything, literally, and we shrugged it off.

Staying safe is a verb, it is the wartime activity of adults and kids, the kids have class on Zoom. To be safe. 

It feels very much like Covid but running out to get groceries is no big deal, despite the rush to get out of the store quickly, and there is no problem accessing general medical care, pharmaceuticals, even shopping for arts and crafts or anything, really.  I do miss the simple social pleasures, going out with friends, the pool. Such are small sacrifices. 

The library is open, yay. We're Jews.

Now I understand what they meant when they said, when we first got here, it was during the war with Hamas: You came? You came here? You came here to Israel? During a war yet? 

Yeah, man, and we ain't leaving.

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