Bucket list trip to Israel
I can’t imagine living in a country where you could find yourself in a shooting war at any moment. But the Israeli people take it in stride. And in spite of the fact that many of them are “packing,”and their security measures are intensive, they are some of the friendliest people I have ever encountered.
A few years ago Tammy and I went to Israel. This trip was on both our bucket lists and we found ourselves in a fortuitous situation in which we could have our own personal guide, a good friend named John Melancon, and could stay at his apartment in a small community called Gilo, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
One of the things that impressed me early in the journey was the extraordinary and unique security measures that are taken to protect the people of Israel, who are in a perpetual state of war with folks around them who, for various reasons, want to annihilate them. Those measures began even before we set foot on Israeli soil.
At Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, as we waited to board a flight to Tel Aviv, we were called to the El Al counter at the departure gate. At the counter, a young man struck up what appeared to be a casual conversation with Tammy and me. In fact, it was so casual it reminded me of any “howsyurmomanem” conversation that happens everyday somewhere in the South. After a very brief chat, the young man thanked us for our time and we returned to our seats.
“What was that all about?” Tammy asked. “That was a security screening,” I replied. “He was trying to figure out how dangerous two yokels from Arkansas could possibly be. Which is probably why he only talked to us a minute and a half.”
One day John took us outside of Israeli-occupied territory and on our return we came through a military checkpoint. A young girl, maybe 20 years of age, engaged John in a jovial conversation as she checked our passports. Her sing-song Jewish vocal inflection was mesmerizing but did not mitigate the unease I was feeling at the fact that the whole time she was talking she had an automatic rifle pointed in our direction. And I’m pretty sure that, if she had felt it necessary, she would have emptied an entire mag into our car without blinking.
Another day we went to a local outdoor market called a “shuk.” A shuk is like a farmer’s market on steroids. It featured multiple shops that sold nearly every variety of fruit, vegetable, nut, spice and candy imaginable, plus a lot of other stuff. This particular market covered an area about the size of a football field and, at the time we were there, was being visited by about ten thousand people. It was popular and it was crowded.
Waiting for the masstransit electric train back to Gilo, I saw an interesting sight; a young man, about twenty years of age, was seated on a bench waiting on the train with us. He had on a white tank top, khaki shorts and sandals. To complete the ensemble, on his lap he had an automatic rifle with a grenade launcher attached to it. And nobody batted an eye.
I can’t imagine living in a country where you could find yourself in a shooting war at any moment. But the Israeli people take it in stride. And in spite of the fact that many of them are “packing,” and their security measures are intensive, they are some of the friendliest people I have ever encountered.
Doug Chastain is a retired teacher and is currently a largevehicle transportation specialist for the Siloam Springs School District. (Okay, he drives a bus.) He is also a grass maintenance technician at Camp Siloam. (Yeah, he mows the lawn.) You can contact him at dougchastain@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.