Why would anyone live here?

This morning we had the opportunity to visit a moshav right near the border of the Gaza Strip. It was beautiful;  they had farms, tennis courts, swimming pools, and houses that had floor to ceiling windows that opened to amazingly maintained gardens. It felt like being at an exclusive country club. It was so quiet, and so remote, but only because today was a good day. 

We met Smadar and she gave us a tour of the moshav, and told us what it was like to live there, and the conflict over the last few years. A moshav is similar to a co-op, where everyone does things together as a community but isn't as communal as a kibbutz. As we were walking around we saw beautiful murals. It wasn't until we stopped and looked that we realized they were bomb shelters. The school has an extra cover to protect the kids in case rockets were to hit. Each house has multiple safe rooms, with an alarm system to alert the moshav residents if rockets were going off. 

And when I say this moshav is close to the border of Gaza Strip, I mean CLOSE. I'm talking less than 100 yards from where most people live. These people live in fear of not knowing what was going to happen next. And all of us were thinking the same thing: why would anyone live here???? 

One of us asked her why should would live here, and her response really hit me. "I am Israeli. This is Israel. This is my home." It got me thinking about what I would do if this happened in my own community back home. My first instinct would be to definitely get out of there.  But then I thought about how hard it would be to leave everything, and to have my neighborhood separate. It would definitely be hard. 

We all enjoyed visiting, and seeing a lifestyle completely opposite of how we  live, but I think we're all thankful we don't live there. 

- Sydney