To panic or not to panic, that is the question.

Last week I was calmly watching all the 'bad' news on TV. I watched a brief item on France 24 about Iran firing a missile. The reporter did not seem concerned in the least that no-one had located the destination or final resting place for this innocent little missile. So why should I be afraid?

Seconds later I hear the emergency siren wailing. It's not the regular long tone we hear on rememberance day ... this siren is going up and down constantly and is basically demanding that I do something. Anything. So I stand up .. and keep eating my cornflakes!

You see, like most people in the world, I don't have a bomb shelter in my house (my landlord does not think we need one) so where do I run to? I call my kid on the phone and ask him if he's ok .. and he's fine. In fact he's bored out of his mind, participating in an air raid drill at the school .. he is safe and not being forced to learn anything either.

So here I stand, in my lounge, eating my cornflakes, and there is no missile heading towards my house. Do I feel relief? No .. I'm Israeli enough now to get mad. Mad that no-one told me about it. What if I had grabbed a bread knife and killed the friendly Arab maid next door in an attempt to 'take as many of them with me'? Would the courts be understanding?

If I had been the only one staggering about in their pyjamas wondering if its better to hide from an ICBM under the IKEA couch or kitchen table ... I would understand. But there were others in equally compromising situations.

I also found out that my not being fluent in Hebrew was not a factor as other Hebrew people had similar experiences. I was just not at the right place at the right time to hear the notice that went out.

Well here's my notice to the civil defence authorities! Next time there's a missile attack, you will find me on the veranda with my cornflakes, binoculars and video camera. I may die, but that video will get a million hits on You-Tube.

Oh .. did I forget to mention that I live in Israel. Where we do notice if a distant neighbour threatens to wipe us out and randomly fires missiles into the wide blue yonder! We take him so seriously that we build bomb shelters into every single home, office and shopping center .. and we've been doing it ever since independance. Lets just hope we won't be needing them anymore.

Shalom