A Not So Warm Welcome Home

A perverse welcome home greeted the eight Israeli trauma care providers who spent the last two weeks enjoying R&R in New York and Washington, DC. Even before they boarded a return flight home, their country had to defend itself against Arab extremists who would deny its very existence. The storming of border crossings was not a message of support for Palestinian statehood. No, it was a repudiation of Israel’s right to exist, period.

While they were away, the Sha’ar Hanegev region they live in and serve, on the edge of the Gaza Strip, was mostly quiet. It’s doubtful it will remain so.

Just hours before she left Westchester, Orly, a social worker, related to me a family story that epitomizes life for many of the young residents, on both sides of the border. Born and raised in conflict, children are conflicted by the everyday sights and sounds of battle.

Her nephew has known few days without gunfire or shellfire during his 10 years. Several months ago he was to go with his family to China. He exhibited abnormal anxiety. He was more afraid of light than darkness. He feared there would be too many lights on the streets of China at night. To him, light meant snipers would have an easier time sighting targets.

His brother, one year younger, had developed fear of the outdoors. He would leave the house only if his grandmother held an umbrella over his head, a shield, soft though it was, to keep him safe from falling rockets.

During a visit to Central Park last weekend, Orly watched children freely running around and playing. She became sad. She realized it was because Israeli children in her settlement restrict play to areas near bomb shelters.

Children are born into conflict, but the enmity and bigotry of their parents must be hard-wired into them. In the year I was born, 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific exposed this sorry state of the human condition in a poignant, honest song, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught.” Read the lyrics and ponder that until we break the cycle of intolerance, children will continue to fear the sunshine:

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!