The news out of Israel yesterday was nothing short of horrifying. While I never fully believe the reports I get from the MSM, there are plenty of photos and first-person accounts that suggest a great deal of the horror we are reading about is happening as described. It's important to note, though, that Hamas tells a different story regarding the civilian targets. This is not to justify anything - we just have to remember that wars always have two sides.

When I write about this today, please know these are still early hours and reports are coming in rapidly with new information. Some of the things we believe to be true today may end up being false but as it is the information we have to work with, my commentary will assume that the general series of events has happened as reported. So please, there's no need to write to me to tell me these are crisis actors, that the attack never happened, that I've got it all wrong, that it's a false flag, or that it was somehow justified.

With that lengthy disclaimer out of the way, there are some things that I want to say about this event.

Many of us spent a lot of the day yesterday reading shocking reports and viewing videos of weeping captives. We saw photos that we'll never unsee. When you see this stuff unfolding in front of your eyes like this, you can't help but wonder, "What would I do in that situation?"

I have written many times before that, in the moment, survival is just about surviving. The people who found themselves facing attackers were not trying to unravel conspiracy theories. They were trying to stay alive and keep their loved ones alive.

Imagine that you're snug in bed, sound asleep in the pre-dawn hours, soon to get up and attend the religious service of your choice, go out for brunch, or whatever it is that you do on a religious holiday weekend. Suddenly, you're awakened by the sound of thousands of rockets. You're jolted from slumber into chaos at the sounds of impact and destruction. You probably wonder for a moment, "What on earth was that noise?" The air around you fills with smoke and screams. Warning sirens erupt, adding to the general sense of chaos.

For thousands of people, everything turned from a cozy dream into a living nightmare that fast.

As the day went on, foreign soldiers swept across the border, some even paragliding in and landing while firing into crowds. Your neighbors are rounded up and taken hostage. All you want to do is not get shot, not get taken, not get blown up. You want to protect your family from this fate as well. Everywhere you turn is a new threat. It's like that movie Red Dawn, but it's real, and it's happening in your city.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of this border, civilians are warned by loudspeakers to evacuate immediately, and apartment buildings are destroyed by retaliatory airstrikes.

Just like that, war begins.

And the people who suffer the most are not the leaders who make these decisions. They aren't the extremists who launched attacks on innocents.

It's everyday people like you and me. The same thing happened in Ukraine. The people who suffer the most are not the ones calling the shots. On each side, there are real victims. People who just wanted to have breakfast with their families on a holiday. People who just wanted to live in peace and had nothing to do with the attacks, those who may or may not have agreed with them.

Those calling the shots don't have personal skin in the game. Nobody is going to be able to get to them. They're protected too well. Their families are safe, they are safe, and while they must feel anguish watching their countrymen fall, it's different because not only are they safe, but they also have some control.

Ordinary people do not.

They become walking trophies. Each one is just another head to mount on the wall of military victory. The young people who will be sent to fight may not survive. Or they may come back empty shells, minds destroyed forever because of the awful things they've seen.

The rich will get richer. The powerful will get more powerful. And the people calling the shots are never really at risk.

I fear there's a very real chance we will be pulled into this conflict. Israel is America's ally, and our government has long supported theirs. Iran is involved. In fact, they're so involved that members of their national parliament were chanting yesterday, "Death to America and Israel."

When countries begin taking sides like this, when enemies gleefully cheer on the attacks, nothing good will follow. It certainly doesn't give hope for any kind of peaceful resolution.

I would not be at all surprised to see the terror spread to any place that allies with Israel. It behooves us all to be alert and aware of our surroundings, particularly if we are in places where many people congregate, like mass transit hubs or large events. Don't stop living your life, but pay attention because I don't think, given the anti-American sentiment in that part of the world, that our country will be left unscathed.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I hope that this conflict ends as fast as it began. I hope that it was a handful of horrible days and that it goes no further.

But realistically, I don't think this will be an isolated incident. PM Netanyahu has said, "Citizens of Israel, we are at war – not in an operation, not in rounds – at war."

I pray that we never awaken the way thousands of Israelis did yesterday morning to the sounds of a multipronged attack in cities lining our border. That we don't have to watch screaming women and children - our neighbors - put into the back of vehicles and taken away. That we don't face war and retaliation on American soil.

But this situation is incredibly volatile. It could escalate rapidly and pull the whole world in. I hope not, but every instinct warns me that this may be the beginning of the next global conflict and that we will not escape unscathed as a nation.

Call me a peacenik hippie, but today, I'm thinking of the innocents who never wanted this conflict but who are losing everything they own, if not their very lives and loved ones. I'm thinking of the soldiers who will never be the same if they survive.

The price of war is not just how much the weapons cost or how expensive the planes are. We pay for it not just in dollars but in human beings.

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Just writing it made me feel so much better about my tight budget. There are many strategies you can employ to make the most of what you already have and choose your next purchases wisely. There are loads of ways that you can prep without spending a cent.

And this book is full of them - 323 pages of them.

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