A place of peace to mourn the victims of Pulse

Memorial for the victims of Pulse at Dr. Phillip's Center. 

The first thing that grabs your attention is a rainbow of color filling a massive set of windows in Orlando's Dr. Phillip's Center. It rests above an equally expansive lawn, a magnet of sorts for people in search of answers.

On this melancholy and humid evening, two weeks or so after 50 people were murdered at Pulse, a gay bar only a short distance away on the southern fringes of the downtown area, several dozen pilgrims wander about in quiet reflection. The public meeting spot, at least for the moment, has been transformed into sacred ground.

After all, this is the place a week earlier where 50,000 people gathered to mourn and memorialize the country's latest victims of terrorism and gun violence; the same spot where President Obama and Vice President Biden stood, heads bowed, to share a nation's grief.

"The Vice President and I told them," the President said of his meeting with family members of the slain, "that our hearts are broken, too, but we stand with you and that we are here for you, and that we are remembering those who you loved so deeply."

From a distance, the scent of jasmine offers a gentle welcome. The lawn, the site now of several impromptu memorials, is sprinkled with a jarring mix of stuff -- displays recalling the lives of the victims, messages offering prayers of hope and salvation; red, white and blue bunting and flags, burning incense (a sharp note of jasmine mixed with the coolness of lavender), and a vast array of flowers and flickering candles.

There are also hundreds of hand-written notes from friends, playful trinkets and spiritual gifts -- a small crucifix and rosary, a time-worn Bible and a tiny box holding soil, an attached note explaining, "from the Holy Land".

Flags, photos, cards and trinkets part of massive memorial.

On closer inspection, after days beneath an unforgiving sun and the torrid heat of central Florida, I note the flowers have begun to wilt, letters of love and remembrance to wrinkle at the edges and the colorful, patriotic banners to fade. In another few days, perhaps a week or two, the lawn will be swept clean and Pulse will become yet another painful memory of a place where evil once visited.

The names of the dead and injured in attacks stretching back decades are mostly forgotten in a world moving at the speed of light. Sadly, the locations are what we recall: Columbine, Blacksburg, Newtown, Aurora, Fort Hood and Charleston; San Bernardino, Chattanooga, San Ysidro, Washington, D.C. and Tucson.

The full list spans the country. No region is immune to the momentary madness of mostly boys and men directed by hate, fear and a grotesque anger fueled by job and personal issues, teen angst, mental illness and, most recently, cultural and ideological chauvinism.

As the sun sinks slowly below the horizon and the first stars of the night appear above the city's skyline, an agitated volunteer busies herself lighting a row of candles. A photographer kneels in front of a makeshift shrine and snaps a few photos and a family -- dad, mom and two youngsters --  take a final look around before disappearing into the shadows.

It turns out, for pilgrims and others, there is an answer to be found in this space. That becomes clear when I hear the thrum of music off in the distance. Downtown Orlando, after all, is filled with distractions for locals and tourists.

The noise feels jarring and invasive but it offers a painful, yet undeniable truth. Despite tragedy and death, heartbreak and misery, time never stops and life always goes on.

“Boston Strong” a way of life in Israel

Soldiers, trained in urban warfare and fully armed,
regularly patrol the streets of Israel to protect tourists
and the citizens of the country from terrorist attacks.

PHOTO / Nor Grebnief

The news bulletins out of Boston last week were unnerving. Once again terrorists were attacking fortress America, this time with bombs, and early reports focused on the dead, the injured and trying to figure out who was responsible.

Four days later one terrorist was dead, another in custody and the residents of Boston and its surrounding communities were breathing a collective sigh of relief. The casualties – four dead, dozens grievously maimed, hundreds injured – only captures a small part of the drama.

Truth to tell, an entire region of the country had been temporarily shut down; an army of law enforcement personnel – hundreds, perhaps thousands of officers and national guardsmen – had been pressed into service and the full weight and resources of the federal government and its intelligence agencies were on full alert.

For a brief moment there was a sense of loss and déjà vu, the fear that we had been down this shattered road before. For a day or two a noxious blend of anxiety and anger hung heavily in the air, fueled by roiling news reports that were often misleading and rumors that were mostly the stuff of paranoid nightmares.

Fortunately, balancing out all this turmoil were the good people of this great land; men and women filled with care, compassion and grit. While the professionals – police and intelligence services; doctors and nurses; yes, even the news media – went about their jobs, the residents of Boston and its suburbs found their footing.

They pushed aside the terror and offered one another aid and comfort. Even as the terrorists went about their grisly work and firefights broke out, even when one community was entirely locked down for a day, the people of Boston showed the country what it means to be strong – Boston Strong!

So the final moments of the ordeal – the flashing lights and sirens, yet another pitched battle between the remaining terrorist and police – felt more like a whimper than a bang. After all, it was clear how this battle would end. The strong people of Boston would prevail.

Now take this mighty effort and frightful ordeal that played out over a few days in Boston and think for a moment how difficult it would be if it happened again and then again and yet again. How would life change? What sort of compromises would be necessary to protect the safety and sanity of our citizens?

Now think about Israel.

Terrorist attacks, sadly, are part of the fabric of the Jewish homeland. The country and its citizens have endured decades of violence; thousands have died, tens of thousands been injured. The stench of smoke and wail of sirens is uncomfortably familiar in the tiny nation.

There have been bombings, focused incidents like the one in Boston, too numerous to detail. There have also been suicide bombings, rocket attacks, shootings, knifings and collisions, even a youngster stoned to death.

In 2011, eight Israelis were killed and more than 40 wounded in a multi-pronged terrorist attack north of Eilat in southern Israel. Earlier that year, a man, woman and three of their children were stabbed to death by terrorists in their home in Itamar, a village in the northern corner of the West Bank.

Two years earlier, in 2009, a teen was murdered by an axe-wielding terrorist in a small community outside of Hebron and a year earlier, in Jerusalem, three women were killed and another 50 people injured when a man driving a bulldozer plowed into cars and pedestrians on Jaffa Road between the Central Bus Station and the Jewish Market.

In 2001, three months before 9/11, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a discotheque, the Dolphinarium, in Tel Aviv. Twenty-one teenagers were killed and another 132 injured.

There were dozens of other attacks before and after these incidents. The good news is that in recent years there’s been a significant decrease in the number of such actions. Public safety and security, however, come at a price.

You’ll be frisked and your bags checked in Israel before entering most shopping malls or government buildings, museums, ballparks or bus stations, movie theaters, bars or cafés. Troops patrol the streets, armed checkpoints dot the borders and an expansive wall separates much of Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Remarkably, Israelis go about their lives unfettered by the loss of what some might consider basic freedoms. The guards, soldiers, security checkpoints and weapons have simply become part of the background noise of life, necessary safeguards when living in a dangerous neighborhood. Even tourists, initially overwhelmed by the massive show of force, grow use to the precautions and understand the merit in being prepared.

Last week, Bostonians and their neighbors got it right when they pushed aside their fear and took a stand, an attitude now labeled by the media and others as being “Boston Strong.” It turns out that the hugely popular rallying cry has been a way of living in Israel for years, an attitude that both protects and celebrates life.

Moment of madness transforms the world

The few blind spots that linger around my memories of 9/11 were filled in over the weekend as the media focused on the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York. The day has remained part of my life, a defining moment of the madness unleashed by terrorists across the world as we entered the 21st century.

I have little to add to the mix of remembrances from those on the scene – survivors, first responders, area residents, spectators and tourists. Meanwhile, a colorful assortment of bloviators – commentators, essayists, columnists and bloggers – have spent the last several weeks exploring and examining the impact of 9/11 and how the world has changed.

There’s been lots of arm waving and talk; politics as usual from the usual suspects and a few memorable, poignant scenes and memories from family and friends of the thousands who died on that cool, crisp morning exactly 10 years ago today.

About the only words lingering in my noggin at the moment about 9/11 and what's followed is a short chat between Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams during a segment on NBC’s evening news last Friday. Asked if 9/11 had the same sort of impact on the country as Pearl Harbor, Brokaw captured something painfully true about the epochal events that informed and defined two different generations of Americans.

Pearl Harbor, he said, was the opening salvo of World War II for the United States. The entire country was mobilized and the impact of the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval base was immediate and sustained. The sleeping giant had been awakened and virtually the entire country became part of the war effort – men were drafted into the armed forces, industries retooled to produce war materiel, food and consumer goods were rationed; there was a sense of national purpose and unity.

After 9/11 there was also a sense of national purpose and unity, Brokaw said. It lasted for about a month or so. Today, about the only people making a real sacrifice are the soldiers and their families actively involved in the war on terror. They represent less than 1 percent of the country.

It took allied military forces about five years to destroy the axis powers during World War II. To use a silly analogy, it was like ripping off a sticky band-aid – intensely painful, but quickly done. The war on terror, meanwhile, is akin to gently pulling away a bandage from the skin of the world – a painful process that seems to go on forever. My greatest fear is that a decade from now we will still be yanking away at a soiled bit of sticky stuff that is barely covering a growing and festering sore.

It’s been 10 years. I mourn and remember the victims, salute the heroes and offer my thanks and praise for those putting themselves in harm’s way. These warriors, let's not forget for an instant, are all that stand between us and the evil that remains a palpable force in the world today.

Never smart to wake a sleeping giant

I was still in bed, somewhere in that hazy zone between sleep and waking when the phone rang. It was my daughter Lauren calling from school in Kentucky, wondering if I was watching the Today Show, that something weird was happening in New York.

It had been a late night at work – that place with the printing press where I earned a living – and I remained groggy as I shuffled from the bedroom to our upstairs den to click on the TV. The Today Show’s gang seemed tense, all huddled around the coffee table on the set, talking about a plane hitting one of the towers at the World Trade Center.

As they chatted, live footage of the scene was being aired, a huge plume of billowing gray smoke spilling from a gaping hole in the North Tower into a cloudless blue sky. People stood about gawking, eyewitnesses offering up contradictory reports and on-the-spot analysts mostly agreeing that a small plane had veered off course and accidentally smashed into the tower. And then a second plane came into view.

I don’t recall who pointed out the second missile, but it only took a moment to realize that it was headed directly for the South Tower and only another few seconds before United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the building. In that instant it became clear that the United States was under attack and our lives would never be quite the same.

It’s been nearly a decade since the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 and finally the terrorist responsible for the death and destruction that day, Osama bin Ladin, has been killed. There was never any doubt in my mind that he would be taken out; little doubt in my mind that the U.S. will prevail in the war against terrorism.

Just as the Axis powers learned during World War II, it only appears that Americans are happily hunkered down in fortress America. It’s a huge error to mistake the country’s sense of laissez faire and goodwill as indifference or, heaven forbid, fear. Apparently Osama was asleep at Terrorist High on the day his instructor was detailing the thoughts of Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral and mastermind behind his country’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

Even as the first reports of success were filtering in, Yamamoto remained pensive, unwilling to celebrate what seemed like a mighty blow to the United States. “I fear all we have done,” the admiral told a few subordinates nearby, “is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

Of course the admiral’s fear proved true. Osama has also learned something about the tenacious spirit and resolve of a country and people filled with good cheer, willing to stand aside for awhile as bullies, tyrants and terrorists wail about in the dark. But a time almost always comes when the darkness fills the planet and the lumbering giant is once again awakened.

I like to think that the Special Forces commandoes in Pakistan, just an instant before unleashing their fiery hell, shouted out a hearty hello and announced they were the striking avengers for the thousands murdered and injured on 9/11 and the millions living under the tyrannical heal of Islamofascists. And perhaps for a moment, Osama understood what it means to be on the right side of history and regretted pushing his people down the path of darkness.

A footnote. Moments after the second plane hit the World Trade Center, I received a call from my boss telling me everyone was being called in early. I quickly showered and dressed and was just about out the door when the phone rang again.

It was Lauren, a little shaken and calling just to check in. I told her I needed to get to work and I’d be back in touch later. We said our goodbyes and then she added, “I love you … and be careful.”

So the world really had changed. It was now a little bit scarier, the sort of place you needed to let those you care about know they were loved and the sort of place where you really needed to tell family and friends to be “careful”.

The world, I fear, remains a scary place and the war against terror remains unfinished. But I like to think that with the death of Osama, the scales of justice have been righted once again and we’re all just a bit safer, at least for the moment.

Helen speaks and the world sighs -- oy vey!

With all the sturm und drang surrounding last week's activities by Israel off the coast of Gaza -- the international condemnation and political gamesmanship by the usual suspects, massive rallies and bloated headlines -- Helen Thomas managed to take center stage and provide some comic relief by week's end.

The dean of the Washington press corps, once the senior White House correspondent for UPI and now a columnist for Hearst, showed her true colors when she managed to put both feet and half her wrinkled torso in her mouth by suggesting that Jews in Israel should "go home" to Poland, Germany and America.

Caught a bit off guard during a short interview outside the White House, Helen, 89, told Rabbi David Nesenoff of RabbiLive.com that Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine."

She has been blasted by her colleagues, U.S. officials and politicians on both the left and the right for her, ahhh, candor. She has since apologized -- in a fashion.

"I deeply regret my comments . . . regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians," she said in a statement. "They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance."

You'd think Helen, who's covered nine presidents, beginning with JFK in the early 1960s, would be better at preparing an apology, perhaps actually focusing on her anti-Semitic declaration that Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine." My guess is that's exactly how she feels and never had any plans to backtrack from her beliefs.

And that's okay. In fact, there's something interesting and important to be found in this mini-circus and Helen holding on to her final 15 minutes in the spotlight. She has been critical of Israel for years, even as she was working as an "objective" reporter for one of the largest news organizations in the world. Helen has finally fessed up and shown her true colors.

Instead of tip-toeing around the contentious political issues that have simmered in the Middle East for decades, dropping buzz words about bilateral talks and summits, and the importance of a two-state solution, she said what she really thinks -- kick the Jews out of Palestine.

It's a belief that Helen in her dotage shares with thousands of academics here and in Europe; angry, festering mobs across the Arab world; and naive, idealistic liberals -- hey, I'm sort of one of them, except on this issue -- who think peace will come to the region once Israel is wiped off the map.

Helen has an excuse for her views. She's old and not quite all there. All the rest seem lost in some sort of parallel universe, where the laws of physics (up is down and down is up) and common sense (good is bad and bad is good) no longer matter.

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE: Helen Thomas (photo above), the dean of the Washington press corps, offers her solution for peace in the Middle East.

Making sense of a world gone mad

I don't know anyone who likes hurting another person. It's certainly not part of what defines most of us and certainly not part of the Jewish world view. But when you're being attacked, when there are dangerous, malevolent forces whose sole purpose is to attack you and your family, friends and neighbors, then only a fool or madman would stand idly by and wait for the blow.

That's the position the people and politicians of Israel have found themselves in since the country was created in 1948. For decades, Israel has battled its enemies with measured bluntness, often pulling its punches for humanitarian reasons. The most recent salvo was fired this week off the coast of Gaza.

Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla of ships attempting to run a legal blockade aimed at keeping weapons out of the Palestinian territory. Five ships were peacefully boarded. On the sixth, the Mavi Marmara, passengers wielding knives and clubs attacked the commandos. In the ensuing battle, nine activists were killed, dozens injured -- including commandos -- and hundreds taken into Israeli custody.

The incident has touched off a diplomatic maelstrom for Israel -- again. It's a drama that has been playing out for decades.

Just a little over sixty-five years ago, the world was picking itself up after 50 million people were killed during World War II. It was about then that many people looked around and realized that among the dead were six million Jews who had been systematically executed by the Nazis, not because they were enemy combatants, not because they were terrorists, not because they posed a threat to the Third Reich.

No, Jews were demonized to rally the masses toward war and murdered for one simple reason -- virulent anti-Semitism. The German people's moral compass was knocked askew and the country went berserk -- good became evil, evil became good. And for awhile it all made sense.

Out of the ashes and madness, a Jewish homeland was created on land that had been part of the Jewish experience for thousands of years. From the beginning there have been problems and from the beginning the Jews of Israel have made it clear they will fight for what is rightfully theirs to defend.

Sadly, we live in a world that has once again been turned upside down -- good has become evil and evil has become good. Terrorists lash out at Israel and are hailed as heroes. Unruly mobs demonize the Jewish homeland, its people and supporters. Politicians in Europe and across the Arab world cynically play to their constituents, telling them what they want to hear. The pattern recycles every couple of years and the death toll mounts.

The problems remain huge, a brierpatch of thorny issues that could easily take another generation to resolve. But this much I know is true. A picture is still worth a thousand words and the political cartoon above captures at least one simple truth. There may have been some peaceful protesters attempting to reach Gaza earlier this week, but terrorists were behind the effort.