Reality.

This summer I sat, dressed in full army attire at a simulation army camp, overlooking the beautiful mountains of Israel's Golan Heights.

<--- This was my view!

Those five days had been absolute hell for me: drinking out of a sandy canteen, sleeping in barracks with no pillows, getting bruises from crawling on the stony hard ground, going to bed at 9:00 with barely any food in our stomachs, and then waking up at 5:00 am to start all over again. My Mefakedet (commander) called me over, since she was Israeli, she could barely pronounce my name and ended up calling me Lorraine. In that circle I sat with 4 or 5 other Americans and and 4 Israeli girls from my group who talked about how excited they were to join the army next year. Although I knew it was a law in Israel to enroll in the army once you were done with high school, I still felt shocked. Next year I will be starting college having the time of my life, while some of my best friends will be risking their lives fighting for their country.

My society made a plan for me: graduate high school --> go to college --> get a job

I realized that my Israeli friends have a different social reality than me, they have been surrounded by the army all their lives, their mothers and fathers fought for the country, and they will just follow in their footsteps. Similar to how I am following what my mother and father did when they were my age.

Up until that day, I was close-minded, thinking that everyone was going to follow the exact same plan as me, but I realize that everyone grows up in different environments and that makes them the person that they are.