“I drifted away to the scenes I have seen on TV from up north in South Lebanon, all the pictures and heavy fire….that was what I was heading to as a reserve soldier…all the way I just kept listening to One and man, I am not ashamed to tell you, but I was afraid….”

Hello all my fellow metclubers…..no worries, this is not going to be another regular thread about the song one, I am just taking it into some personal stuff….felt like it’s time to give you a glance for my world relating to the song in the last 2 months or so…..as you all know there was a war here in Israel during this summer, and in the 28th of July I was called upon duty….it was a very hot Friday afternoon, and I got the automatic phone call saying: “Soldier, you have been called upon…. Get your gear and arrive to….” I went into the car with many thoughts on my mind, and put AJFA cd, took the shore road towards Haifa, and then it hit me….ONE…..I drifted away to the scenes I have seen on TV from up north in South Lebanon, all the pictures and heavy fire….that was what I was heading to as a reserve soldier…all the way I just kept listening to One and man, I am not ashamed to tell you, but I was afraid….when I arrived to the border and waited with my brothers in arms, I put my mp3 and there it was: my master of puppets 20th ann’ show at novarock 2006, and this is for you Steffan ED of so what – this show and what I was about to cope with, could not get me more related to this album….all my fears and thoughts were put directly through this album…..I am Jewish, but you can easily change the Christian cemetery field to a David star one…..on the 6th of August I got the news: your close friend has been killed from a missile….it broke my heart, and the sadest thins was that I was not in his funeral because I was in the battle field…..until today i don’t know where I got the strength for moving on, and my gratitude is for my friends & family, and Metallica…..that is where I escaped to, and just the thought that a month or so before I was in heaven, watching the four horseman in Austria…..when I came back from the war I took a news paper, and found an article about a young soldier who has lost two of his legs, from a missile that hit his tank, and he was wearing Metallica t shirt, and I told to my self: “this is a true metalist!”…4 days later I came to him and said: “Man, you don’t know me and I don’t know you, but this is for you”…..I gave him my 76′ gibson explorer and a Metallica pick from their first show in Israel back in 1993….the guy was almost in tears, and he just hugged me and kissed me…..I felt I was about to cry, everybody around was in shock…..we sat for an hour and talked about Metallica, and all the time I was thinking to my self: “don’t look at the legs, it’s not polite”….and it was difficult to see such a young man without legs, and flashbacks came to me from the One video, but only in the car afterwards that I have let my self to break a little bit, but hey that guy made me stronger, and the smile on his face meant evrything to me….I admire him for his courage, and we share many things, and specialy: Metallica…..this small letter was just a small glimpse to my life here in Israel, but my point is: music can save your soul, I relate so much to Metallica’s lyrics regarding MOP and One, you can’t even imagine…..that guy I have just told you about will keep on playing guitar with his band…..that’s his triumph over the lost of his legs, and he pointed out that heavy metal saves his soul…music generally….I missed you all, and I would like to wish you all Shana Tova – which is Have a good year in hebrew, becasue it’s the new Jewish year, and besides that: Gmar hatima Tova for those of you who will fast next week on Yom Kipur…..peace love and heavy metal to all you clubbers, yours truly, Eyal