The new reality of 'normal'

As I sit here writing this, my phone keeps buzzing with red alert after red alert. Red alert - incoming rocket! As I check to see where it is, I selfishly breathe just a small sigh of relief that it's not in Jerusalem or Beit Shemesh since that's where some of my kids are (the others are with me). I am grateful that it is not where I am sitting, but the sigh is very small, almost half a sigh. The reality is that no matter where it is, I still feel angry for the people who have no more than 10 seconds to get to a shelter.  For the elderly or sick who cannot run that fast. For the patients in the hospitals and nursing homes who cannot run at all. For the staff who says they just move the patients away from windows and then pray. Pray! Pray? That is all that stands in the way of protecting them! Thank G-d the children who were home alone yesterday when the rocket fell in their backyard knew enough to run to the shelter ... without their parents there! The children knew to run to a shelter when they heard the siren. Wherever you are, think about that for a second. This is normal for Israeli children. Does this seem normal to you??  

Erica Sassoon is a resident of Ma'aleh Adumim. She wrote this on Facebook May 11, 2021. Natalie Sopinsky of Hatzalah Y'osh sent it to Heritage.