Went on a belated anniversary trip with The Wife this week, 3 days and 2 nights at a Spa here in the Holy Land. It was awesome, chilled by the pool, ate good food, and just spent some nice time catching up with each other after a really hectic year.
The trip was on the whole uneventful, but there was one thing that happened when we cam in which has been sitting with me.
I parked the car and came in to check in, and as is normal in Israel, there was a guard at the door. Before I even had a chance to show him my carry permit, which is required to be shown at the entrance to virtually every building in the country, he stopped me and asked if I had a permit. I answered that of course I do, and showed it to him, but he was still very obviously uncomfortable. I then walked into the reception to check in. After finishing checking in with the very friendly and helpful front desk staff, I was approached by the security guard's supervisor, who again asked to see my id. I showed it to him, but then he said, "what do you plan on doing with your gun while you are here?" Now this is the first time I have ever had a reaction other than enthusiastic support from a security person about citizens that carry, usually when I show my id as I enter a building the reaction I get can vary from a nod and smile to a comment of "glad to see other people take security and safety seriously," from the guards. Without even thinking about it I responded that I was hoping they had a safe in the room that I could just leave it in, because I didn't think that it would work well as a flotation device in the pool." He responded seriously, saying that he would be happy if I left it locked up so the other guests would not feel uncomfortable.
I didn't put much stock into it at the time, but as I left, I thought about this again. that reaction is indicative of a bigger issue that many people suffer from. The idea that we can feel safe if we can just cover up enough, close our eyes enough, not listen to what others say or do, then, if we don't know about it, if the issues are not in front of us, they don't exist. If we don't watch Iran's death to Israel marches, they can be trusted with nuclear technology. That if we don't report on the rock-throwings and fire-bombings on the roads, then there are no injured children, and we have a partner for peace. If nobody sees the gun, then there is no need to protect ourselves.
Unfortunately, this is not how the world really works. The Iranians are going to develop Nuclear weapons, children are being hurt on well travelled roads by rock attacks every week, and unfortunately, we still need violence to combat our enemies. No matter how we try to hide from it, the world is not a safe enough place yet, and the only way to fix that, is to first see the problem that needs to be fixed.
