First Word

 

{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a globe-hopping 150-word prompt based on Google Maps.  Each week we go to a new location, which this week is the city of Lod in Israel.  If you go to the link above, you can see the city today in 360 view.   I’d like to say that I really have enjoyed participating in this prompt weekly, or at least as often as I can get to it, and I appreciate the people who run it, for all the hard work they do.

One of the things I noticed, perusing Google Maps, is that one of the roads in Lod is named after Hubert Humphrey.  Humphrey was a statesman for many years (1948–the year Israel was founded–to the seventies) and a Democratic candidate for president,  from the State of Minnesota. But I was puzzled, as to why this Senator might be so well known, in such distant parts. 

I discovered he was a huge proponent of US support for the state of Israel, at some critical points in history, when US support seemed to be wavering.  He has written and spoken quite eloquently in defense of this position, and his speeches can be found–typewritten–on the internet. He used the now iconic phrase “special relationship” to describe how the US should regard Israel, condemned the UN for calling Israel “racist” (considering the tragic suffering of the Jewish diaspora prior to the creation of Israel), and also used the concept of the desert blooming, to describe Israel prospering with US support. 

Another influence on this piece is an acquaintance of mine, who had indeed done compulsory service in the Israeli army, despite being a woman.  This service was (and is) not required of women in this country, and mere participation by women in combat was (and is still), for some, a very controversial thing.  Having lived in a relatively peaceful, draft-free society for many years, I was somewhat shaken by the idea, that national service becomes unavoidable, in situations where the very existence of the nation is under threat

Thank you for the prompt, and thank you for reading!.}

 

 

Blonde and brunette, they pushed buggies down the garden path.

“The future scares me,” Fiona complained. “My son might get drafted!”

Hedda shrugged, brown waves rippling.  Her girl cooed, and reached for invisible butterflies.

“She might serve, too,” Hedda replied. “I did.”

Fiona’s forehead wrinkled. “You? Among all those men?”

Hedda laughed. “The Enemy worried me more than them!”

“’The Enemy?’”

“You know, the people who want you dead?”

“But…”

“In Israel, everyone serves. You’re surrounded by people, sworn, to eliminate you.”

“Surely, a peaceful solution…”

Hedda stopped her stroller. She struggled to stay calm.

“Suppose you inherit a patch of land,” Hedda began.

“Unless you care for, protect and defend it, all your forefathers’ hard work will be lost. Cultivation and culture have many enemies. Neither can survive, untended.”

Fiona nodded.

“But with a little vigilance…”

“Yes?”

“You might even make the desert bloom.”

Beaming, Hedda’s daughter gurgled: “Bloom.”