This has been a pretty crazy week for the Mark family. Most weeks usually are, but this one may take the cake! I am in Israel with my husband and three children. We arrived before Yom Kippur and are leaving after Sukkot. Last week, we learned that while we were here celebrating the holiday my husbands grandfather fell and broke his hip, his great aunt was put on a respirator and someone very close to our family was succumbing to cancer. As you can imagine it has been a rather depressing week. Just this afternoon we attended the funeral of that close friend and his passing is truly a great loss for our family.
In the middle of all of this was today. Today, we were "lucky" enough to be in Israel on what can only be described as an awesome day. When I say awesome, I mean in it in its literal sense and not its usual slang. Today was truly an AWEsome day. By being here on this historic day, we were able to be part of the day Gilad Shalit returned home. The feeling in this country today is indescribable to anyone who has not experienced it. Today was a day so full of happiness yet so tinged with sadness. To see this man return home to his family, to think of his mother and father opening their arms to hug him for the first time gives me goose bumps. To imagine what he must be feeling and thinking, what each and every first must feel like to him, to look out the helicopter window and see the land of Israel...there just aren't any words.
But, it is not only about the wonder and the amazement and the joy. It is also about the price that had to be paid to bring him home. One must also think of all the family members who have lost loved ones to terrorists who walked free today. We must fear and worry about what the consequences will be. Will someone who was released today be next weeks terrorist? Have we set ourselves back by showing that we will go to any lengths to free one single Jew? I don't really know if there is a right answer or how one makes the decision. I am certainly happy that the decision was not mine to make.
I wonder what the world sees today. Being in Israel I can tell you what I saw. I saw streets that were empty because people were at home watching the news. I saw an entire nation waiting for its soldier to return. I saw tears in the eyes of everyone here. My sister noted the soldiers watching the live footage as they stood guard at the entryway to where she lives. I felt and saw a nation that told the world the the Jewish People are one. I felt the pride of this nation. I felt God. I wonder, is that what the rest of the world saw?
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