I’d like to see the release of good news please

Yesterday as I sat in the car after the funeral of our friend from high school. My friend, kind enough to give me a ride, sat in his uniform in the driver’s seat. His gun placed next to me and my bag. He started the car and said with a sigh- “In the army, we are all happy. Here on the home front, everyone is sad; this is not right”.

Of course this is what he sees on the home front! We just said goodbye to a father and husband who is not going to meet his baby girl, his wife due in a few weeks. And yesterday, I went to the shiva of another friend of ours who lost her brother, a husband, and father of six. Families shattered. Hearts broken. I don’t know what he expects. And every day, we wake up to two unbearable words- הותר לפרסום, it’s been approved for release to the public. Followed by pictures of new heroes whose names and faces will be etched on our hearts forever.

But he is also right. For so many, the focal point has only been the bad news. By doing that, we are missing all of the good. And there is so much good. I’m not saying we shouldn’t hear the bad, we need to know, we need to show our respect and give comfort to the families, we need to stay up to date. But where is my 6:00 AM push notification on all of the good deeds that people have been doing while I slept? That we are strong, that our resolve and our humor and our kindness and our love is going to help everyone keep on going? That the home front must go on living our lives to the fullest because that is what our soldiers are fighting for?

So I decided to make my own push notification. Because it looks like everyone else is too busy focusing on the bad. And I know, there is too much tragedy and pain. But let’s balance it out with good. Let’s remember what we are fighting for.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/720939536652545

Some days I am broken. Some days I am functioning just enough to get by. But I want to remind everyone that WE GOT THIS. I know it because I see it every day. Because we keep showing up for each other every day. Because this is the only way to do it. Together. With שמחת חיים (joy of life). With prayers and good deeds and everything else we know how to do. Each one using their strengths to give to others, to help.

So I’d like to tell you all it’s been released for publication that we are all praying for good news and that Am Hanetzach (the eternal people) are not afraid of a long way to go, because we know that in the end, we will prevail. Aaaand cut.