Shelter

I walk around my neighborhood a fair amount, and one thing I can tell you for sure: there are no bomb shelters. Not a one.

Another thing I can tell you for sure: there is no need for shelters, because no bombs are falling on the Seattle metropolitan area. In fact, I’m pretty sure no bombs have fallen on Seattle, ever.

BUT, if, for example, British Columbia got all belligerent and started firing incendiary devices on their neighbors to the south, shelter construction would begin.

Who would build them? The feds? The state? The city? The neighborhood association? The PTA? I don’t know, exactly, but somebody would take it upon themselves to build shelters to protect the citizens of Greater Seattle.

It can’t be that hard; it’s old technology. Bomb shelters were used extensively during World War II. If you had reason to think the bombers were coming, you would run to the shelter and huddle there with your neighbors until the shelling stopped.

So this is what I can’t understand: over there in Gaza, the citizens know exactly when the bombers are coming. The Israeli army drops leaflets, broadcasts it on TV, and even sends text messages to the residents telling them which area to evacuate. But mostly they don’t, not because they’re stupid but because there’s no safe place to go.

There are no bomb shelters.

Let’s think about that for a minute. Hamas, which has built networks of tunnels with which to smuggle in weapons, has built no bomb shelters. Hamas, which has engaged in an unrelenting series of rocket attacks on Israeli citizens for years now, has built no bomb shelters. The big brave “men” of Hamas, who store their munitions in schools and hospitals, consciously and deliberately draw Israeli air attacks on their population but have built no bomb shelters. They send mothers out to swallow the Israeli bombs. They send babies out to play in the rubble.

I enjoy walking around my neighborhood, blissfully free from the threat of sudden death by missile fire. Vancouver has shown no signs of taking up arms against us. I very much hope that the residents of Gaza and the residents of Israel someday have that kind of lifestyle. I fear it shall never come to pass.