Reality – which one?

My soon to be 96 year old mother (ad 120) is struggling with fears related to post traumatic stress and it’s disturbing her sleep, moving from one state of consciousness to another; from dream (nightmare) state to alert. Today, I am going to start her on a new medication that the doctor said for her to take in the morning when she comes out of that “Twilight Zone”.

As I am preparing to assess if she is out of that state, I get an SMS – Stabbing on Ahuza!!!

I find myself reflexively responding – Oh my G-d!! I call my sister-in-law to hear that everyone is well and sit down and pray. Then I look up Times of Israel and read about what happened.

One person was injured in a stabbing attack in the central Israeli city of Ra’anana Tuesday morning, the latest apparent terror attack to strike deep in Israel as the country wrestles with an ongoing wave of violence.

The attack took place on the central Ahuza street in the city north of Tel Aviv.

The victim, a 32-year-old man, suffered light wounds to his upper body in the incident, a spokesperson for the Magen David Adom rescue service said.

The attacker was taken into custody after being seriously injured, the spokesperson said. However, it did not appear he had been shot.

I look out my window where I can see the main intersection between Ben Gurion and Ahuza. Except for the sound of sirens everything looks the same. Then the phone calls happen; everyone checking in with each other, strategies to carry pepper spray, giving people who are traveling safe spots in our homes for transitions, reminding us to be safe but continue on living our lives. Then I felt it, my mother’s “Twilight Zone”; her reality.

In fighting terrorism we are being asked to suspend one reality that does not include the threats with another in which the threats are our reality.

Not calling this the Third Intifada is a way to prevent us from dealing with our reality. We can’t rely on politics to tell us what is happening. The reality is that we are at war. We’ve been there before and we will get through this again. We’re in it together and it has to stay that way.

As we cope internally, so we must cope with the external realities of the international response or lack thereof. Burying our victims and visiting the injured in the hospitals while reading and hearing how we are violent and killing Palestinian children is a threat to the reality in which we must stay firmly grounded. Don’t let the anti-semitism suck you into a “Twilight Zone”.

Be safe and be strong.

PS I am now returning to my LinkedIn post that I was writing  when the terrorist attack happened. I’m not going to let Rod Serling’s (creator of the show “Twilight Zone”) voice be heard; telling me I “just stepped into the Twilight Zone”.