What if? How come? Why Me? can easily flip to: What if not? How come it isn't (or didn't)? Why not me?

My sister and her family live in northern Israel where it's quiet, for now. She has a teenage girl and three older boys. The eldest was an officer in the army, but he moved to Colorado last year. Safe. The second didn't go into the army because he suffers from panic attacks. Safe. The third is entering the army in about two months. Unknown. They were all supposed to join their friends at the concert that got slaughtered, but one didn't feel well and they collectively decided to bag it. Surreal. They have friends who died and now they're all going to the funerals.

Unreal.

My window, too, looks out at a forest.

I, too, wonder what the trees wonder when they, in their timelessness watch us scramble on the ground, probably in the same manner that we watch the ants scramble, and they watch smaller microbes scramble. Reversing it, the trees look up and see the limitless stars and feel that they, themselves, these timeless trees, are also mere blips.

Thank you for your essay. It brought me forward and into a much-needed calm. More trees, please. As many as we can fit.