Jerusalem bombing

It seems stupid to say that bombings affect you differently when you're right next to them, as if everyone else hasn't already figured that out. And it's true. When I heard the explosion, I was concerned for a few minutes. I thought it might have been a shotgun firing, and Beth thought someone may have found a suspicious object, and called the police in to dispose of it (which they apparently do by blowing the things up). Then a few minutes later Beth got a call from a friend who'd been listening to the Israeli news, and heard it breaking that it was a suicide bombing. I was pretty shocked. The Be'er Sheva bombing was bad, and technically way worse in terms of death toll, but I'd actually heard this one. What was most surreal was waiting for all the news reports to flood the net. I think Google has over 215 related links on the story now, all with different words and slightly different takes on the story. But I was here when no one outside of Jerusalem knew about it, when it was just something that affected Jerusalem residents, instead of world politics and the Middle East at large. I don't think I've ever had such a clear experience of knowing that some event I was connected to, however distantly, was shortly to become major news all over the world.

But aside from those emotional differences, not much about this bombing has affected my life differently from Be'er Sheva. There's a flood of news, everyone shares a few parts with each other, and then goes on as usual. I'm studying for my Hebrew final right now, for Christ's sake, even though five hours ago some woman blew herself up near a bus station and checkpoint not five minutes away from me. And so is everyone else in this building. No evacuations, no hysteria, just sirens and helicopters for a few hours before nightfall. I wonder how many residents of French Hill will be getting up tomorrow and going to work as usual. That is, if the strike's not still on. Sheesh.

Latest from Google at 8:00:

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aPKzJxySUKVs&refer=top_world_news