Feel-Good Friday: The Awesome Israeli Bus Driver Edition

This is a great story to end a less than great week in news. Sometimes the most simple of gestures are the most meaningful.

Picture it. No, not Sicily, as Sophia would say during one of her stories on The Golden Girls. Israel. A bus stops and a young IDF soldiers gets on and sits next to the bus driver. Her name is Noa.

She struck up a conversation with the bus driver. She told him about her missions and the challenges she faced. She mentioned that she had just left the field and she hadn’t had time to eat.

The bus driver took matters into his own hands. He pulled the bus over at a nearby restaurant. He took money out of his own pocket and handed the money to her. He said, “There will be no hungry soldiers on my bus. With everything you do for the country, it’s the least I can do for you. Now go get yourself something to eat.”

So, she did.

She got off the bus and went to the restaurant for food. The people on the bus waited patiently as she did so. When she returned to the bus, she took a moment to take a photo with the bus driver. She posted that photo on social media. Noa encouraged others to spread a message of gratitude. She was celebrating the thoughtfulness of the bus driver.

That’s it. That’s the story. How great is that?

On the left is Noa, a combat soldier in the IDF. She got onto a public bus in Israel and sat next to the driver. They chatted and she shared a bit about her missions. She also mentioned that she had just left the field and hadn’t had a chance to eat.

The driver pulled over by a… pic.twitter.com/UXA1BCB9f8

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 1, 2024

It is inspiring to see how grateful and supportive Israelis are to the IDF soldiers. It would be nice if Americans were as grateful to the military. Most are but there are always some who are not. During the Vietnam war, when soldiers returned home, many of them were spit on while in uniform by anti-war activists. That’s not folklore, it’s the truth. That is something that should be remembered. Veterans from those days, including my now-deceased husband, haven’t forgotten those days. Since 9/11/01, a more grateful nation recognizes those who serve to protect us all. Let’s hope that continues.

Let’s hope we get a better commander-in-chief in the November presidential election. Recruitment is down. A lot of that has to do with how Democrats are using the military for their social experiments. Biden is unable to lead and his decisions prove to be wrong. That has been abundantly clear since the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden’s stubborn insistence that the decisions made during the withdrawal be his instead of those of his advisers and military officials ended tragically with the death of 13 military members at Kabul Airport.

God rest the souls of the three American soldiers whose bodies were received today at Dover, AFB.