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What
is a teenage Israeli boy doing this Christmas?
December Report 2004
from our correspondent Kay in Jerusalem
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| Last
week I was sitting in my neighbour's house sipping
hot black coffee, enjoying the quiet beginning
of the Jewish Sabbath. |
We had been chatting for no longer than a few minutes
when their teenage son suddenly burst through the door.
It was not a normal entrance. Oriel triumphantly arrived
in style on that rather glamorous form of youthful transport:
the skateboard. Clutching two bars of chocolate in one
hand and a Walkman in the other, he nodded a quick hello
and proceeded with great speed to the computer room,
knocking off the weekend newspaper on the hall table.
It was only a matter of seconds before we heard the
drones of Christian rock music blurring it's way through
the thin walls. 'Oriel' yelled his mother as graciously
as she could, 'would you mind sacrificing just a few
moments of your time to be with us, and please pick
up the newspaper?' An audible grunt was heard followed
by a rather reluctant Oriel making his way to the living
room to slouch himself next to his Father on the sofa.
I looked at Oriel; he was at that growing stage where
his limbs seemed to be out of proportion with the rest
of his body. His pale face yet dark eyes revealed the
unusual combination of Swedish and Israeli parents.
Reaching across to the coffee table he started drumming
a deft rhythm with the edge of his fingers.
'Oriel practices his drumming even when there are no
drums!' said his Father with a smile. 'How was your
week Oriel?' asked his mother. 'Fine,' answered Oriel.
A series of questions followed in a somewhat feeble
attempt to extract from the teenager a general picture
of his well-being. Each question was answered with a
smile but nevertheless a monosyllabic yes or no. 'Can
I see the speakers you bought for your computer?' I
asked. With that Oriel grinned and bounced up from the
sofa.
I followed him to his room. I was surprised to see how
tidy he kept it. Posters of Manchester United football
heroes were plastered over the walls and a modest selection
of contemporary worship albums were tidily arranged
on the shelf above his made bed. Oriel excitedly started
fiddling around with his computer in order to show me
the excellence of his new gift.
Suddenly the peace of the Sabbath was overtaken by the
noise of modern technology. 'Hey, listen to that bass',
yelled Oriel over the music, 'it's so cool!' His fingers
once again found the nearest piece of furniture that
would resemble a drum. 'Does your girlfriend like this
music too?' I inquired, trying to be as 'cool' as the
bass and not show my bewilderment at the enjoying of
such music.
Oriel grinned and immediately went to his drawer to
take out a picture of him and Katy standing together
outside her house in Jerusalem. He sat there waiting
for a comment from me about how pretty she was. 'You
two look great together' I said. Oriel did his best
to remain seemingly indifferent to my comments but I
could see that he was cherishing the moment of using
this opportunity to think about the one he loves. They
had been seeing each other for a few months now, usually
at weekends.
'I'm going to Jerusalem tomorrow morning' he suddenly
said with restrained excitement,' Katy and I are going
to the youth group, there's some new band playing'.
I grinned enthusiastically but felt that I didn't need
to say much to him, I was honoured that he had chosen
to share some precious things in his life with me: his
music, his girlfriend, his short-term plans. I sensed
that I didn't want to infringe for too long on his privacy
and it was better to return to the lounge leaving him
to listen to his music through his new speakers.
Sitting back with his parents I was aware again what
an estranged world teenagers live in. Everything for
them was new, fresh, exciting, plans were to be made
and their whole life was ahead of them…. or was it?
I knew that by the same time tomorrow night Oriel would
be back in his army base on the border of Gaza. Only
the Sabbath would once again separate childhood from
manhood.
Childhood consisted of future plans and dreams. Manhood
demanded that those plans and dreams were tentatively
held. Childhood was the freedom to skateboard within
the confines of your parents home, scattering newspapers
to the floor. Manhood required that not one move was
made without instruction from the commanding officer,
every negligent or clumsy step only succeeding in endangering
the lives of others.
Tragically, Oriel is only one of thousands of Israeli
teenagers stuck in a man's world.
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