What War Zone?

Today was my first J'lem terrorist attack (or piguah) for the year. I've been in Israel for bombings before and I've been in Israel for wars before. But this is the first one of this year and hence it warrants a blog post.

I was in a class on solutions to the agunah crisis (divorce issues) when a girl announced that there's been a piguah on a bus by binyanei ha'uma. The lecturer asked how many injured/hurt. She answered that no fatalities yet but over 20 people hurt. We had a moment where we all looked at each other and didn't know what to do. The lecturer then continued teaching the class while we all subtly started texting our loved ones checking they are alright. Those of us who have internet in lecture halls went online to check the news.

That was it. We basically went straight back on with our lives.

To be honest, every other time I've been in Israel it's pretty much been the same. Normal life goes on.

So how do I feel?

Well it was very close to my house. Not that I was at home but still. Also it was a pretty big reminder that I'm not living in the West but instead smack bang in the middle east.

Intellectually and emotionally it's hard for me as a westerner to understand why people would do these things. Particularly I find it hard in relation to Gaza where there is the option for autonomy and independent statehood in pre-67 borders but the rockets keep falling and not just on marginal towns like Sderot (not that it's ok there either) but also on major cities like Be'er Sheva. It's hard for me when I consider the London bombings and how middle-class people with tertiary degrees could execute such attacks. As somebody who likes to put it all down economic theory and Marx sometimes its hard to cope with totally foreign and strong ideologies. Particularly when we come from the west which is today largely an ideology free zone.

On the other hand I don't find it that hard to comprehend since, to be honest, I don't really expect much more from humanity. I mean for the most part the whole world has spent all of history in a constant state of war. Indeed most of Africa is still like that. I suppose it's all well and good that Europe and the West has finally gotten its act together but it took a couple of super giant big wars/genocides for them to learn. More then that, even in our law and order filled countries there is still murder and family violence and street violence.

I came to a realization when I was 16 that human beings suck.

So I suppose that today is no different than any other day. Except that today the suckiness was closer to home.