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I Have 23,741 Brothers Who Will Never See The Light Of Day Again
Today we remember them.
The siren had just ended.
In Israel, one day before the annual Independence Day is Memorial Day. This year, we remember 23,741 fallen soldiers and 3150 terror victims since the state of Israel was founded.
For years, it was the one day I couldn’t be emotionally sold on. It felt distant. Something that will never happen to me. I don’t know these people, these soldiers.
I respected the fallen nonetheless even though I didn’t feel sad. I finally understood only last year.
My supposed indifference finally shattered when it hit someone close to me.
I have that friend, for privacy reasons we’ll call him Avi. Avi led a very challenging life. When he was in the army, he got hit directly by the enemy forces and was blown away by a bomb. His arm was crushed, and he got ricochets lodged into many places in his body. Avi was in his early twenties when that happened.
After many months in the hospital, he developed a pessimistic, bleak outlook of life. Around that time, he met his would-be bride. She was powerful enough to get him out of his low place and helped him return to a somewhat healthy life.
