How lucky we are...

I was going to make a very upbeat, happy post about how I am through with school and starting my summer vacation, but I can't. The attacks between Israel and Lebanon have really touched me in the last two days.

I read historical romances for the character's way of life. The strife and struggle of carving a family and future out of the wilds of an uncivilized land. And often I stop and think how far removed current Americans are to this situation. Have we ever gone hungry? Or been subjected to the elements? Or exposed to the brutality of war? Many of us can say we have never been any closer than the picture on the tv or the words on a page. But I suddenly find myself thinking of the children who aren't that lucky... The children being raised in Israel and Lebanon. The children who know what it is to be hungry and to know that leaving your home to find food could lead to your death. The children whose entire childhood memories will contain the sound of bombs, blasts and gunfire. And their mental images will always have rubble in the background.

Lately, I have been thinking of these people who are trying to just keep their families together and safe in the midst of something bigger than they are. The mother and father who need to protect their children, the teenagers who want to use the strife of their land to express themselves and set themselves out as individuals. And what about the couples? The young lovers who want to fall in love and marry and have a family. What of them?

But mainly, I feel for the children. Children who will now have to live with the nightmares their heads of state have created for them. The children who will try to see past the pain in the future and build a family for themselves. For everyone living through this crisis that is the Middle East, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

...Fiona...