More Celebrations

This week marked a continuation of the relentless onslaught of holidays in Israel. On Tuesday night through Wednesday the country observed Memorial Day that is intended to first remember the soldiers that have died for their country and secondly to remember those who have died in terror attacks.
Immediately following Memorial Day, they begin celebrations for their Independence Day. To celebrate they have poorly done fireworks and very well done block parties everywhere. The next day (which is today) literally the whole nation (who are Jewish) go to the parks for afternoon BBQ's. It is an interesting to be in a country celebrating their independence when a large percentage of the population (mostly the Palestinians) do not share in the freedoms or the celebrations.
For all of the so called problems in the United States, it is good to know that more than anywhere I have seen in the world, in the U.S.A. everyone has a chance for freedom and fair treatment (compared to other nations). Also,I was surprised to discover that since Israel became a nation in 1948, the number of U.S. soldiers that have died for their country outnumbers Israel 5 to 1 and Americans killed in terror attacks also outnumbers Israel 5 to 1. We are enjoying a lot of aspects of living in Israel but we will be happy to be home in our country celebrating our freedoms this summer.