VEGAS MASSACRE

WHY WE NEED TO LEARN HOW TO BE ISRAELIS

Exclusive: Barry Farber notes training, attitude Jewish state has in face of violence

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “It’s better to light one candle than merely curse the darkness.”

That first lady never heard today’s crowd’s caliber of cursing, but her point is well taken. What say we skip the cursing and preaching and lamentation and hand-wringing, and see if we can come up with a candle or two to light our way out of the all-consuming darkness of the Las Vegas massacre and the ease with which a mass-murderer slaughtered a mini-population and left over 500 injured?

First let’s dispense with any and all talk of gun control. No amount of legislation will ever keep firearms out of the hands of murderers. Ever! If you disagree with that conclusion, you’re beyond naïve, you’re beyond stupid, you’re downright dangerous. You may score a delay in the wrong hands acquiring those weapons somewhere along the background check and mental health fronts, but never forget you’re talking about inconveniencing the killer for a while, not saving lives.

It’s time to reconsider a draft, and not the old-fashioned “You’re in the Army Now” kind of draft, although there’s much to be said for that, too. My military experience lasted 21 months and ended in 1953. Nonetheless, if (God forbid!) there were a national emergency I would be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and definitely not a helpless old codger good for nothing but getting in the way!

Here’s a little life-saving trick straight from the Boy Scouts. Whenever you go into a movie theater, a concert hall or any enclosed area, study and plot your moves if you should suddenly have to get out in a hurry. If there’s a panic, you will panic, too, but you will panic in the right direction.

We’re at war. If only one side is fighting in a war, the silent side is at a distinct disadvantage.

In any future draft, everybody goes, male and female alike. No deferments for college or parenthood. Shift the new Selective Service agenda away from close-order drill and more into learning how to be Israelis. 

Despite constant and constantly successful terror confronting them, Israel has succeeded in forging a strong society. As a journalist I spent one day training with the Israelis. Impressive. Eye-opening. One exercise consisted of eight people sitting in a semi-circle. We were told to spend one minute observing everybody else. Then the instructor had us turn our little chairs around and began to bark, “Farber, what color sweater is Isaac wearing? Is Kineret wearing short sleeves or long? Does she have a wristwatch? On which arm?”

The point here was getting and staying in touch with everything going on that might suddenly become relevant in an investigation.

Here’s a toughie. Americans need a philosophical reformation on the war we’re in. We Americans regard the Las Vegas catastrophe as a misfortune in which some 60 lives were lost. In Israel there would be no joy, no dancing in the streets, but the Israeli outlook would be more like, 

“Thanks to the police and first responders, hundreds of lives were saved!”

It’s a wrenching readjustment to spend a long and happy lifetime with most of the horrors happening “over there,” and then be forced to make peace with the awareness that “over there” has finally arrived over here. It takes a champion of philosophy to contemplate lifting your eyes and thanking God for a lifetime un-blighted – until now! – by the reality of terrorism and mass murder.

You don’t have to make that leap all at once. You can learn to appreciate loved ones more and more, hug them tighter and more often and be thankful for days uninterrupted by attacks. You can formulate some new prayers, maybe one that begins, “Our Heavenly Father, thank you for yet another day of no heartbreak!”

You may slide into the conclusion that, being in the Middle East, Israelis are somehow hardened and better able to take brutal developments. Now may be a good time to remember that England, our Mother Country, suffered a 9/11 almost every night during the Battle of Britain! And life kept on going on and on until victory!

I find it helpful to fix the image of Sir Winston Churchill in my imagination, shaking his fist at Adolf Hitler as German bombs fell all around and shouting his famous line, “You do your worst and we shall do our best!”

Be nice to a first responder.

I’ve long been a fan of Mark Twain’s challenge to adversity.

“Fear knocked at the door,” said Twain. “Faith answered. No one was there!”

http://www.wnd.com/2017/10/why-we-need-to-learn-how-to-be-israelis/