I´m back
Just came back from Israel... ... Where I went for a wedding and where I saw a country that was depressed. Seriously. Every single person I met wanted to know how they can move out. The malls were empty, the stores were closed, and the only thing that was flourishing was coffee shops. With guards. Did you see the latest? Restaurants installing reinforced glass on their entry doors and locking them. You have to ring the bell, wait for the hostess to come to the door and profile you, and only then do you get to go in. I could not believe my eyes. Even the election activity - the youngsters in the main intersections - seemed more out of habit than real passion. I remember a few years ago when during an election, if you stopped at a traffic light, you would get swamped with people from a dozen parties all fighting for your attentiom and between themselves, just desperate for you to take their stickers. Now I had one older gentlemen politely ask me if I wanted to hear what he had to say. And people didn´t seem to care. The general vibe is not that of sadness, or even frustration or exasperation. It was that of hopelessness. As if nothing matters anymore. And I got it everywhere - from friends, in the shops, in the restaurants (where I seemed to be the only customer). Ouch. Even for me - and if you´ve read previous postings you´ll know -this hurt. I was glad to leave, but this time not only because I was going back home (here), but also because it was so sad to be there. *sigh*
