from the IDF to the USA

I smiled.  It wasn't the biggest smile ever; my cheek muscles weren't burning, but my lips were still stretched back to my ears, revealing two rows of teeth.  The smile wasn't as big as the one I displayed in December. That one I could not shake for days.  From the moment I left the base until I stepped onto my flight, the smile never left my face.

My recent July smile, however, was a more somber one.  The last couple weeks in Israel dragged on like an overstayed vacation.  When I bought my plane ticket back in February, I thought I would want to spend a few extra weeks in Israel to relax and finally enjoy the country.  By the time July 1st arrived, I was more than ready to go home.  In all honesty, my last few days in Israel dragged on.  My mind was already out of the country, it was just the clock that needed to catch up.

When I landed at JFK in New York, Adam was waiting to pick me up.  It was the start of a two-week layover on the East Coast.  On the drive to New Jersey, we stopped at a Wendy's.  American fast food!  Oh man was it good!  I was definitely missing the ability to order a meal at a drive-thru.  So American, so wonderful!

Over those two weeks, I soaked up everything that means to be American.  I relished every opportunity to do something I hadn't done in a while.  Even the most basic things seemed more incredible than usual, even more so than my time home in the winter.  Now let's see here, what did I do...

-Played catch with Adam, probably the most American thing possible
-Turned right at red lights
-Ordered food in English
-Went to an Iron Maiden concert with David and Lena, my first hard rock/metal concert
-Watched fireworks on the Fourth of July
-Went rafting on the Delaware River
-Went to a Yankees game
-Traveled the New York subway
-Went out partying in NYC
-Never had to speak a word of Hebrew

I stayed in Brooklyn for a few days with a friend from high school.  One day, we took the subway to southern Manhattan to see the progress on the World Trade Center site.  I was last in New York in 2008 when I was still in college.  At that time, the site was still completely under construction, with a lot of noticeable wreckage covering the entire construction area  Now, however, an incredible amount of progress has been made.  The site is turning into both a place of sacred remembrance of the nearly 3,000 innocent lives murdered by terrorists, and a testament to the American resolve to remain greater than our enemies.

                   

A main feature of the new grounds are two bottomless square pools of water at the exact location of each of the two towers.  The names of the victims are etched on the granite on each side of the pools.  Water flows from these ground-level walls down about thirty feet to another level, continues toward the center of the square, and drops off into the bottomless chasm.  It's a senseless waste of water, much like the senseless waste of lives.  They are forever drawn down into the depths of destruction so long as terrorism is allowed to thrive.

The US "war on terror" of the past decade is only one part of a larger struggle.  Unfortunately, in our uber-hysterical need to be political correct, we attach a misnomer to a very serious and real threat.  The struggle we face is against radical and militant Islam.  Our war on terror is really a war on the growing radicalism and ever-violent segment of Islam that wish harm on the West, the United States, and Israel.

I tried, but could not find, who first said the famous (or infamous) quote: "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but unfortunately all terrorists are Muslims."  While it is not completely accurate, it encompasses the gist of worldwide terrorist attacks of the past couple decades.  Israel knows this all too well.  The US has been engaged in deadly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after being attacked in New York.  The World Trade Center site is becoming an incredible memorial to the lives lost on September 11th.  It is a hallow place.

I felt my journey came full circle and then some.  In Israel, I was trained to fight an enemy that more-often-than-not resorts to terrorist tactics; they want to instill fear and change people's actions and mentality through violence.  I return to America and see the consequences of their actions.  I return and remember that we must always be vigilant.  I remember that we must always fight for what is right.  If not through guns and force, then through words and speech.

So what does a lone soldier do when he returns home?  He may move on to other ventures like many of my friends.  Or he continues to defend what he fought for.  He continues to defend his people and his nation, both in the US and Israel.  He continues the fight.