Wired

Technology is both a blessing and a curse. When we first came to Israel in 1978, no one had ever heard of a cell phone. Today every Israeli carries one and our tour group of 31 all have their own Amigo phone with the ability to make calls, to receive calls, and to use the phone as a walky-talky among the tour group. Sound good?

I was about to pitch the whole lot of those cell phones into the Mediterranean as we drove north from Ben Gurion Airport towards Haifa in the early evening tonight. Between the varied rings and the beeps and the general enthusiasm over all the electronic possibilities, the ancient feel of the country of Israel is just lost for me. We first touched Israeli soil at a high spot overlooking the city of Haifa. As we blessed the wine and drank it, the damn phone started to ring. Argh!!!!!

I even have second thoughts about bringing a computer. Maybe it’s the fact that I have had so little sleep in the past 24 hours, or maybe it is the fact that I am allowing myself to think about reading e-mail, posting on my Blog, downloading pictures, instead of focusing on why I am really here.

We arrived the day that Israel is springing forward in time, robbing another hour from an already short night. Our wakeup call is for 6:15 and the bus pulls out at 8:15 prompt. I am sure everything will look better tomorrow when I am more rested. But I wouldn’t put a major temper tantrum over the cell phones out of the realm of possibility. They simply don’t belong here.