...like a single drop lucid and heavy...

Her cousin is one of the cutest children you will ever see. Charming, polite, and completely beguiling. He is also four years old and easily frightened, which makes living in the terrifying environment of Gaza particularly difficult.

She came home on Wednesday, and we have been hearing about how it was to be back in her hometown of Rafa after four years. The culture shock was more than she had anticipated. Used to the safety, calm and luxury of Toronto, she was unprepared for round the clock curfews, military planes and helicopters flying constantly overhead, and bombings and missiles close enough to be seen.

One afternoon, the house was quiet when all of a sudden the sound of an approaching plane could be heard. The house began to shake and through the window, an Israeli missile was seen as it flew past and crashed into a building 200 metres away from her home. At the first sounds of the plane, her cousin wet himself and burst into tears, embarassed because all of his relatives witnessed his shame. They hardly noticed though: his loss of control, like the missile and bomb attacks, happen more and more these days.

What are we doing? All of us, everyone - what are we doing, when innocent people are dying around the world, and four year olds can't even control their bodies because they are so afraid? What are we doing, and what can we do?