A Mid-East Story.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:48 pm

I'm posting this in E&C 'cause of expected reactions afterwards, both pro and con.

Yesterday, early morning my Mrs took her father and wife to the airport in Tel Aviv. On the way back at around 3am she had a blow out in the rear left tire of the car she was driving. She called me straight away to let me know what was going on (i was feeding the baby at the time) and as she was speaking on the mobile she said that a car of Arab guys had stopped and were walking towards her.

Now the place she had the flat was inbetween the towns of Bet-Shean and Afula, those of you that follow these things would know that Afula is quite close to the green line and has been subject to many attacks in recent years.

Anyway, here i am talking to the mrs (she's called Talia) with my mobile cruxed between my chin and ear, trying to feed the baby and panicking at the situation she's describing to me in real time. I've felt fear quite a few times in my life-- haven't we all? I've never though felt fear like this before, where you feel so bloody incapable of doing anything, but i digress!!

So she's telling me these Arab guys (around seven of them) walked up to her (and i can hear sketches of the conversation from the mobile) and told her to take it easy, they would change the tire. They asked her why she was travelling alone. One of the guys gave her a jacket, 'cause it's been bloody cold recently. In short!!! They were perfect gentlemen. They followed her for three or four kilometers after changing the tire to make sure she was ok before they turned back to the route they were originally on.

I must admit, i'm a bit emotional as i write this, because i'm imagining what might have been. Me being emotional though is not the point of the story.

So what is the point? Am i surprised that a group of Arab lads helped a lone Jewish woman in the early morning? For all my left wing views and beliefs, i have to say that yes i am. As soon as Talia told me their race i got scared, and i hate myself for it.

She says now that she's glad it wasn't a group of Israeli lads coming back from a pub somwhere, drunk, buzzed and looking for action.

I'm glad too!!

So, when you're in your bar, or in your office and the "A"-rab conversation comes up again. Take a sip. and cool it aa bit.

FC

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:51 pm

my street smarts told me that they were comin to help after i read into it a bit.

Awesome story too.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:01 pm

Political correctness be damned, people are still afraid of each other. I don't care what anybody says, there will still be racial strife as long as people feel like this.

I'm not condemning you, of course. It was a natural reaction, and just shows the state of affairs you and everybody else is in.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:35 pm

At least your fears are founded in reality.
Around here I still see old white women clutch their purse with both hands and turn tail to evade when approached by a black kid on the street....as if the large majority of punks they face aren't white

bash · Post by **bash** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:48 pm

Flabby, I'm relieved it all ended well. I suggest looking into those types of tires that will still function even when punctured (the term escapes me at the moment). But don't reward people too generously for doing what they should. Cheers, mate, and may all your interactions with your Arab neighbors be so civilized.

PS Don't be too hard on yourself for your knee-jerk reaction. It's perfectly understandable in your environment. If I lived where you do I'd be a one-man militia.

In other news, when are we going to have *the wall* thread? I'd like to know your views on it.

Sting_Ray · Post by **Sting_Ray** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:54 pm

Run-flats. Like 250 bucks a tire... but you can drive like 50 miles at almost highway speeds with no problem.

Glad everything went good FC. Shows that you can only judge people fairly on an individual basis...

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:52 pm

Don't hate yourself for being practical, be thankful that they were above the senseless violence of the times.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:04 pm

Don't be that hard on yourself FC. Everyone has their prejudices. It is unfortunate but true. It is how we strive to overcome them that matters.

I am glad everything worked out.

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:57 pm

Indeed, the terrorist radicals are a very small fraction of the arab population in the Middle East and do not represent a great majority of any sort.

roid · Post by **roid** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:19 am

hey where did my post go?

i had a big psychosematic study into FC's situation, damnit.
it had drama! it had emotional transference! it had more psychiatric expressions than you could shake a stick at!

sigh (i must've broke the DBB with it, i've been breaking the DBB a lot lately ^_^)

basically it said: FC don't be too hard on yourself, your reaction was understandable, you were perceiving the situation through your wife's scared eyes, you can't be objective in that situation. coz all you knew was your wife's fear, because your only explanation of the situation was comming through your wife's eyes. you weren't there to be able to sum up the situation FOR YOURSELF, calm her and tell her everything was gonna be fine. so you were basically living your wife's fear, through the phone. emotional transference.