#BRING OUR BOYS BACK

     Today is day 6 of the search for the kidnapped boys of Israel - Gilad, Naftali, and Eyal. These are children ripped from their lives as students, as sons and brothers and thrust into horror and terror beyond words. How are these children supposed to cope with this situation? An adult with life experience cannot, so how are boys to do this?
     Israel is searching everywhere, finding much arms and ammunition, over 100 tunnels dug for nefarious purposes and the rumors are flying. Rescue is soon. They are alive. They are not. They are still in Judea and Shomron. They have been moved. Fatah frantic over move of Hamas and threat to "unity" government. Arab Israeli threatened for saying let them go and he sympathizes with them. His family threatens to do him harm.
     The families of the boys are exhibiting grace under the worst conditions one can imagine for parents, especially the mother of Naftali who seems to have emerged as a spokesperson for the group. Jews all over the world are putting aside their differences and asking for prayer, joining in huge prayer rallies, pleading for the safe return of the boys.
     There is no excuse for taking children hostage, not here and not in the children pressed into serving as soldiers in various militias in Africa. There is no excuse for raising children to become "martyrs". The world has flipped over the edge and these boys are the victims of a world gone crazy. Whether one is a parent of girls in Nigeria or boys studying in school in a seminary in Israel, one should be able to expect to receive their children back home, not hear that they have been kidnapped.
     I, personally, do not hold out much hope of a positive end to all this. I say my Psalms; I plead with G-d for a safe return; I cry for these children and these parents but I am not optimistic. The animals who have perpetrated this horror have been known to slaughter captives, have been known to kill children before and have no signs of humanity.
     All of us, be one a Jew, a Catholic, a Hindu, Sikh or Moslem - think of your children and then pray for their return and pray that they are not in a pain beyond belief. Pray for their rescue from the hands of inhuman beings. Pray for their families to be whole once again and pray that this never happen again. Join a Facebook page, take a picture and post it, holding a sign Bring Our Boys Back. Do something. The cries of these boys are rending the heart of any thinking, sentient being.