To fast or not to fast

It's already 10 am, and not a stitch of water or food has gone into my mouth since last night. I'm a terrible faster and feel terribly thirsty. It's hot here and thank the Good Lord that I have air conditioning which isn't on at the moment, but at the flick of a switch it could be. I don't know if I'll last the full day - maybe yes or maybe no.

I'm a pick and choose Jew. Lots of options to choose from for fasting on Tisha B'av (9th of Av).

Orthodox - 25 hour fast
Conservative - half day fasting - they feel that we have a State, therefore, there is no real need to fast fully because of the Temple's destruction
Reform - no fasting
Me - depends on the year. Sometimes I feel because there is no peace in the region I must fast for peace. I must fast for the Lebanese/Israeli war to end. I must fast for Hizbollah to stop throwing rockets on us and give us back our kidnapped soldiers. The war would end in a second if they did just that. I must fast because my brother's newly married kid just got called up to fight in Lebanon, and his wife is besides herself with worry. Another one of his kids is being called up on Monday - so even as much as I want to ignore this war, I can't. It's too close to home now.

There was a Women in Green walk around the walls of Jerusalem last night - which even my Fox-News-Addict-Hubby said was too right-wing for him to participate in, and then there was this interesting thing called Dveikus which is a group that meets monthly or weekly and they cry and scream together. I'd love to just check it out. But I'd probably end up laughing looking at everyone doing their thing instead of crying and screaming. This is some sort of Jewish healing therapy, which they claim gets prayers answered and opens up the heart. I can kind of understand it, but picture a whole bunch of Jews getting together crying and screaming in a room about whatever it is they want to cry and scream about and it seems more amusing to me than anything. But I'm sure "letting it all out" is healthy and empowering in a way. Sorta like Primal Scream therapy which John Lennon and Yoko were into in the 70s.