The Sad Story of a Soldier

On one of my soldier-son’s visits home, he mentioned how he had been thinking about Gilad Shalit. He had given a lot of thought about how miserable he must be (if he is even alive), and how he may not even know about how many people are campaigning for his return. “Who knows? Maybe he thinks he was forgotten.”
After about five minutes on this topic, I begged my son to change the topic. As a mother it was simply too upseting to let my mind go down that road. I certainly pity his family.
Unfortunately, as I told David, it is not so easy to give into demands. It only encourages more of the same. And I pray that I never haver to view it from more than a theoretical aspect. But one thing I feel very strongly: There should be NO deal whatsoever if Gilad is not alive, not like previous swaps, where we swapped terrorists for bodies. The Arabs have to learn that our soldiers are only valuable to them alive.