Not so lonely

Day 1278 - a lone soldier died in the war. His family lives in the US and he decided to emigrate to Israel and after graduating from high school he joined the army as a lone soldier. His family was concerned that because of the fact that they don't live here not many people will attend his funeral. Someone got this message and published the story on Facebook asking people to attend and honor the fallen soldier and his family. The funeral took place at 11 pm tonight and thousands of people came to the cemetery at this late hour to pay their respect and show solidarity with the family and the country at this difficult junction. The police estimates that over 20,000 attended the funeral. I don't think anything came ease the pain of the family but at least they know that they are not alone and the country appreciate and thank their son for his courageous decision. My daughter came here especially for the funeral and so I joined her. We stayed only for the opening part, leaving the family to day their last goodbyes in privacy. It was beyond anyone's wildest dream to see this show of respect and love. It is why I love living in this country. The love, support and respect the coming together when things really matter and above all else the feeling of connecting to something bigger that us, the feeling that are never really alone here. And this in some strange way is part of why we are here on the edge of a very active vulcano.