11 years ago I was critically injured in a Cast Lead operation. The years passed, I went through a rehabilitation process where I learned to walk, talk and eat again, became a father, I graduated and I worked for several years with at-risk youth.

Eleven years have passed, but the process has not ended. I am still in a long rehabilitation and Sisyphean, where I deal with the consequences of my injury daily; It is hard for me to express myself orally, I suffer from pain, epileptic seizures and other difficulties as a result of the trauma I went through.

Like me, there are tens of thousands more wounded who face the consequences of injury every day.

In the decades of the country, she has experienced operations, terrorist attacks and wars, in which she has lost many spaces and continues to remember them year after year. Alongside them, on the same silver platter, there are many thousands of wounded who carry the pain of injury for many years.

Often we hear news of an operation or attack that has "only" wounded and no dead, and we immediately breathe a sigh of relief. When I hear there are wounded, I immediately understand what they are about to go through, and my heart shrinks. Many injured people face visible injuries such as blindness, amputation, or leg, but there are injuries that cannot be seen, transparent injuries, such as head injuries and post-traumas. In these injuries, the wounded looks externally good, but he may face difficulty sleeping at night, difficulties in thinking and making decisions, and other difficulties that not everyone sees but remains forever.

Five years ago, the State of Israel set the annual recognition day for Israel's wounded systems. The idea of ​​such a day was brought up by good people, who wanted to acknowledge the people around them who gave their lives and souls for the state and its citizens.

We wounded need this day because the embrace of the people of Israel gives us strength to continue to live, work, raise families and add good in the world.

The day of gratitude has a great meaning to me. He gives me the strength and strengthens me in my daily work and in conveying the ideal of military service to youth.

As an IDF wounded, I feel that the day of gratitude is very important to me.