America, where "rocket's red glare" remains a mere figure of speech

Annalise Koltun is a 27-year-old American who is half-Jewish. She thought she would try living in Israel. However, when she got a job offer to return to America, she left behind the bus-bombs and rockets after two years, and returned to America.

There are two ways to know Iron Dome is working: by listening for the boom of a successful intercept, and by not dying.

After two years in Israel, I realized that I’m a half-Jewish American, emphasis on the American. Despite our shared genes, despite our classification by the Third Reich, despite our dark hair and mild lactose intolerance, I have less in common with my Israeli neighbors than with your average Wal-Mart shopper. Maybe 27 is too late to start over in a new country, maybe my Jewish father didn’t teach me enough (OK, any) Sabbath songs, maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough for God in the cracks of the Western Wall. Or maybe I just missed marshmallows, Christmas, Sponge Bob, the Verizon Guy, Starbucks, customer service, and country music. Whatever it was, when push came to shove and buses became potential bombs, I felt no great need to seal my fate to that of the nation of Israel, whether victim, aggressor, or something in between. I decided it was time for me to start planning my slow descent as well. I found my passport and bought a plane ticket back to the homeland, where the rocket’s red glare remains a mere figure of speech.

Read more here: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/begin-the-descend

Hat tip Gerard Vanderleun