Have you seen the picture of Eden Atias?
He is facing the camera…beautiful…young…looking full of life…with a slight smirk that suggests he knows about his beauty…youth…and the full life he has.
And then, have you seen the picture of the seat he was sitting on as, exhausted from the beginning of his basic training, he fell asleep on a bus, never imagining that his beauty, youth and life would be cut short by the 16-year-old terrorist sitting beside him?
This is Israel. I’ve said that before. This is where I want to live. This is where I am entitled to live because it is my God-given birthright. This is MY land and I will not leave.
I am here in my land with my people and we are suffering together as we kindly smile at our enemies and talk about peace and negotiations in the hopes of a different sort of future. But I’m tired of it. I am so damn tired of writing out how tormented I feel, trapped in my land surrounded by a world that produces a sixteen year old capable of stabbing a man – a BOY – to death on a bus.
I am so so very tired…
and this…
and this…
and this…
and this…
and this…
and this…
all I want to do is scream…shout to the heavens…roar ENOUGH!
For now, I sit…in my safe little home…and try to live a normal life…like the rest of my people…who have no choice…but to lay a boy in the ground…and move on…as if…life can go on…
As. If.
Colloquially Speaking 