Happy New Year - some musings

Well, it's 12:00 a.m. and let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year. I spent mine in the bomb shelter in my apartment listening to a rocket from Gaza fall outside. It's been a crazy few days here in Israel. I think living here for three years and not having too much going on has spoiled me.
We spent some time down in Ashkelon working in the pediatrics department at the hospital. When the rockets started flying, they had to transfer as many patients out as they could and they moved the rest of them down into the basement. I heard the sirens going off and heard the rockets falling there but they still seemed distant and I felt so safe cocooned down in the basement with the kids.
We finished our time in Ashkelon and made it back to Be'er Sheva just in time to enjoy the folks in Gaza sending their first missle into Be'er Sheva. Since then it's been a fairly constant event. It's been so long since Be'er Sheva has had to deal with rockets that the sirens have stopped working. They worked for the first attack but now we're having to listen to the radio for them to announce the impending boom.
It's a strange way to "ring in" the New Year. I remember years past, listening to the fireworks across the way from Dad and Mom's house. Sounds almost the same...but it has such different meaning. One a symbol of celebration of a year past and hope for the new year ahead, the other a symbol of rage and hatred for so many past wrongs and indignities on both sides. A continuance of a conflict that has gone on for centuries. When the bombs finish falling, we hear the Israeli Defense Force airplanes flying over to drop their payload and in the distance the booms as they retaliate for the rockets dropped in Be'er Sheva and the surrounding areas.
It's strange how one sound can mean so many different things.
I find myself straining to hear every little sound. Wondering when the next boom will fall. I know we have an exam coming up and I need to study but every sound has begun to distract me. I jump as a car backfires while driving by. The revving of a motor sounds like a distant siren. I find my teeth clenched and my shoulders tensed. This is no way to study or bring in the new year and yet so many millions of people spend their lives this way. I'm thankful for my country, thankful that I have had the opportunity to spend time outside the country so I can rejoice in the freedoms we have there. Most of all, I'm thankful that the Lord is my light and my salvation, therefore, whom shall I fear.