Being a Jewish Israeli Soldier Surviving the United States of America. Matan's Story

When you see the pictures of my friend Matan, you see an attractive 20-something guy. He's usually very cheerful too. Nothing out of the ordinary there. There must be millions of young men who are like that, especially in a country like the US.

But, with an olive skin he's often mistaken for various nationalities. But in truth he's an Israeli Jew, and a soldier.

This is not a political story; you can see all that on TV. This is about how he feels, deep down inside. What you don't see on TV.

Inside he's broken, but not defeated. He refuses to be seen as a victim. But he's been through Hell; is still going through it actually.Having to kill other people isn't easy. But he refuses to see the "enemy" as the enemy. He has Palestinian friends; he has no issue with Palestinians; nor anyone else.

But he has been beaten, starved,sleep deprived and cut. He made it out, and the outside scars healed. Inside they were not. But he doesn't blame anyone; he refuses to do that. But he did end up having PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I won't go into detail what that entails; it's a lot. He needed a place to heal so he came to the US.

He applied for citizenship and got it. He's an American now. He absolutely loves the US and everybody in it. And since he's a highly trained professional, you would think that his life would be a breeze. And looking at the pictures, you would think so. After all, he's smiling, isn't he?

Unfortunately not everything is going well. Now he's seen as one of the dreaded "immigrants". That he's a completely legal citizen makes no difference to some people. He speaks English well, but with an accent. This too is not always understood and although he's trying so hard to pick up the American accent, people aren't always patient with understanding him.

And to top it all off, he's been called a Palestinian, Indian,and various other nationalities. His tanned olive skin confuses people. If they'd asked him he would've told them; he's very friendly and chatty.

It would've been easy for him to hate. It would've been easy for him to feel like a victim. It would also have been easy to dislike the USA and everybody in it.