wednesday pm

I met 3 super sweet young Israeli kids this morning at breakfast. We had coffee together and spoke of our travels, etc. i felt an immediate affinity with them - their energy and spark and openness; it brought to mind (heart) Ayelet and Noa back in SF.
Anyway, it is evening now, and a shock has just gone through this quiet little hostel - someone burnt some toast in the kitchen, and it set off a fire alarm of the likes i hope never to hear again… like an air raid siren. The three of Israelis bolted from their room down the hall from me and out into the parking area in front of reception. where one of them collapsed there in the grips of a serious panic attack. Apparently, this is the same siren that sounds “when they are bombing us”. I held the one who’d collapsed tight, and made her breathe with me, slow breath in… slow breath out… while her friends repeated the mantra “you’re in New Zealand, you are not in Israel any more!!!”…it was super intense. After a few minutes she came out of it, and seems “fine” now.
it gives you pause, you know…i have been in war-torn countries before, but i know nothing of the reality of these kids, nor their neighbors in Palestine, nor the millions just like them all over this war-plagued world.
I just ate the rest of my chocolate.