Culture Shift

The Internet is a great place to see the world.

Today, April 29, is the 61st anniversary celebration of independence for the only functioning democracy in the middle east, Israel.

Happy Independence day Israel!

Yesterday, Israel recognized their Memorial day.



Memorial day remembers the soldiers and civilians killed since the founding of the nation. The numbers are roughly 22,000 soldiers and 1,200 civilians killed in war related conflicts. For all the news this area of the world generates I thought the numbers would have been much higher.


Don't misunderstand I am not trying to minimize the loss of even one life, it just shows how repeatedly spotlighting an ongoing news event makes it easy to lose a comparative perspective on a situation. The US had approximately 21,000 murders in 1995, although the number has decreased by several thousand in recent years, that number is close to the total lost over a 61 year period in Israel to war violence. Again, let me state the loss of one life is a tragedy.



A few statistics about Israel: Population - 7,411,000. (75% Jewish, 22% Arab, 3% other)

Area - 8,019 sq miles (the state of New Jersey is 8,729 sq miles). The gross domestic product is $28,400 per capita (compares to the US at $46,900 per capita).