Yesterday we had a lovely day at the beach at Arsuf. We bought a little sun shelter, kind of a foldable tent with only two walls that provides shade. The sea was comfortably lukewarm and the sun shining, as always. After a dip and a tasty lunch (bureka filled with potato, egg and gherkins) I climbed up the cliff again and took off for a relaxing 80 minutes flight, soaring along the cliff in company with small birds of prey.

 

The pleasure becomes absurd when Israeli attack helicopters thunders by on the way to spread devastation in the nightmare of Lebanon. Here we are, playing and having fun at the beach and in the same very moment people are dying in a war just an hours drive away. Even the Israelis react on these contrasts of pain and pleasure, and they are used to living a life under threat.

 

The other night, when we went out for a drink on a bustling restaurant street, young kids were handing out blue flags to fasten on your car out of respect for the people suffering in the North. That is the Israelis suffering in Haifa and other Israeli cities and villages in the North, not the Lebanese across the border who suffer ten times the number of casualties. Quantifying suffering does not reflect the pain every single individual goes through no matter nationality. However it does provide a perspective of things.