Almost a year has passed since the life we knew was taken away from us. We lost ourselves in the war, friends lost their homes or their families. Above all else, hundreds of thousands of northern residents lost their hope during the war.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs presented five cornerstones of basic human existence. Over the last 11 months, if he were with us today, I do not doubt that he would have incorporated another cornerstone that we discovered to be fundamental to our lives: the ability to plan ahead and hope for the best.
When over 80,000 residents were displaced, they didn't just leave their homes behind, they had their hope taken away. Nobody in the government or the army has been able to plan ahead or tell us when we are expected to return home.
Our displacement is like an abyss in which we have no control or knowledge of how and when we will be back. Our leaders keep making empty promises and erode our confidence in them. Even welfare and free accommodations with three meals a day are not what our souls need.
The other day, I was in the town of Moreshet in northern Israel after a rocket from Lebanon crashed there, causing extensive damage to residential homes. There, amid the chaos and destruction, I was able to smile for the first time.
The deafening noise of the Air Force planes flying above us deep into Lebanon was music to my ears. Finally, the IDF and the government are actively working for the beginning of our journey home. No more brilliant tactical moves, but the strategic step itself.
The scenes of hundreds of buildings and homes collapsing in southern Lebanon due to hidden weapon caches detonating confirm that the government is finally responding to our demands.
It’s not the loss of life across the border that brings relief, but the recognition that our own lives are being valued. The past two decades have been hard on the north, with a national reliance on either diplomatic or military solutions allowing the enemy to grow stronger. Now, the country is paying the price for that approach.
The coming days and weeks will not be easy, the rocket barrages from Lebanon will seek to destroy everything they can, but these are the dying flickers of the enemy's launchers and his strength. In a few days, our leaders will be tested once again. This time, we will not allow them to say that security has been restored as the enemy is deterred.
The war cannot stop until the knife is removed from our necks. Without victory, the lives we lost in the last year were in vain. Those who think residents will return to the north and wait for Hezbollah to rebuild itself and carry out its plan to conquer northern Israel must be dreaming.
The journey back home to the north has begun. The path we will tread has not been paved yet and will not always be clear, but now that we have begun to see the signs, we can believe it is not at a dead-end. There will be quite a few bumps until we get there but now we can finally dream and dare to envision our new life in the north. With or without help from the government, the north will blossom and heal with the fear we may be hurt again.