Exodus

"This was no army of mortals. These were the ancient Hebrews! These were the faces of Dan and Reuben and Judah and Ephraim! These were Samsons and Deborahs and Joabs and Sauls. It was the army of Israel and no force on earth could stop them for the power of God was within them!"

While I was on vacation for the Fourth of July, I finished "Exodus" by Leon Uris. This is the story of the creation of Israel after World War 2 and the struggle the Jews faced in gaining a land of their own.

It was coincidental that I finished this book over the Fourth of July weekend, but it really drove home the concept of freedom to me. Our family went to the beach with both sets of parents and Jeremy's brother's family and while we were there we got into a discussion about Obama and all the changes he is making in the way our country operates (and not necessarily for the better in my opinion, but that's a story for another post). Our country is amazing in the freedom it offers its citizens (and even those who are not citizens). Nowhere else on earth do people have the opportunities and advantages that we do. There have been people who have fought long and hard for those freedoms we enjoy, but by and large they are just given to us by virtue of being in the country. As I read this book about a people who have had to fight for every ounce of freedom, respect and advantage they have, I could not imagine living in a world where I had to fight for everything I had and it could all be taken away in an instant.

Being about Jewish people right after WW II, there are passages about their experiences and suffering during the war. With every paragraph I had the same feeling that I always do when reading about the Holocaust and things related. How can people possibly do such atrocious things to each other? I just cannot understand how people can look at someone else and believe with their whole being that the other person is so inferior that they deserve to be hurt in unimaginable ways? That was a time when evil was so prevelant and allowed to have such free reign.

I have read other books by Leon Uris (I highly recommend Mila 18 and QB VII) and have others on my "to read" list. I love the characters he creates and he balances history with fiction really seamlessly.