On Greatness
For the last few days, we have been glued to Channel 10, even though - once Sharon was tranfered to ICU - there was obviously nothing new that the commentaters were going to offer. Not only nothing new to say - nothing new to do. The same script played out over and over again: Shalom - Shalom Shalom - what's your reaction - I'm praying for Sharon - what do you think will happen politically - this is not the time to be discussing politics - but that's a legitimate discussion - no it's now - thank you - l'traot. And yet we sat watching the badly buffering for hours, for no particular reason. Allison Kaplan Sommers has the reason:
Left-wing or right-wing, even if you felt like men like Yitzhak Rabin or Ariel Sharon were wonderful — or if you felt that they were completely wrong, completely misled, overly violent or completely corrupt, you never doubted for a minute that their absolute top priority was the security and well-being of the State of Israel and its citizens. Every success and every mistake they made flowed from his deep determination to see this country survive, thrive, and succeed. With figures like these as Prime Minister, we felt that there was someone watching over us. And when they vanish suddenly, whether by the hand of an assassin or the fickle hand of fate, it leaves us devastated, deeply insecure and very worried about the future.
More than the short-term fate of Israel, the emotional impact of this tragedy comes from watching greatness leveled. There is deep sadness in watching the demise of heros, and Ariel Sharon was among the greatest of heroes.
Left-wing or right-wing, even if you felt like men like Yitzhak Rabin or Ariel Sharon were wonderful — or if you felt that they were completely wrong, completely misled, overly violent or completely corrupt, you never doubted for a minute that their absolute top priority was the security and well-being of the State of Israel and its citizens. Every success and every mistake they made flowed from his deep determination to see this country survive, thrive, and succeed. With figures like these as Prime Minister, we felt that there was someone watching over us. And when they vanish suddenly, whether by the hand of an assassin or the fickle hand of fate, it leaves us devastated, deeply insecure and very worried about the future.
More than the short-term fate of Israel, the emotional impact of this tragedy comes from watching greatness leveled. There is deep sadness in watching the demise of heros, and Ariel Sharon was among the greatest of heroes.
