We live in a scary world, both macro and micro. We have forgotten some truths and as a consequence, have made many bad mistakes and decisions. So, some thinking.
People live and people die. That is a fact. What happens when we get closer to the end is that some grasp at a desperate try to "leave a legacy". Well, people do that all the time, be it as small footprints of love and warmth in a small circle, or larger than that, with inventions, thoughts or even evil deeds. It is when we get desperate that we get in trouble.
Transfer to D.C. Here we have a president whose term is almost up, thank the Lord, and he has failed in just about every attempt to make his mark in the way he wants. His last attempt, in his mind, is the treaty with Iran - big mistake that and some legacy for us here in America and for those in the Middle East. Desperation for a legacy is going to leave us one, all right, but not the one we want or need.
Fear of meaning nothing is what often drives one. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, a brilliant author and thinker, wrote , "It is....fear that makes hearing, reverie, and speech impossible: a defensive rigidity that narrows the channels and closes the apertures."
It is that rigidity, that fear, that appears to be driving our own small president on our own small world and what is worse, it is driving people here in the Village, people who now are openly admitting that they are afraid of being punished by Israel!!! Truly? This is absurd. I have been "punished" - a video pulled, blacklisted at UCO and the Reporter and SO WHAT!!!!!! I have my own blog, speak up where and when I want, write for a growing paper here in the Village, have made some wonderful new friends and am enjoying life, while "the Punisher" cowers in his back office, communing with his computer and Ed Black, and shouts and throws tantrums at the DA. So again, why be afraid. Speak up. Speak out. Do not let fear paralyze you, close all your openings to a good and even great life.
Was Olga's article a bit on the strong side? So what? This woman has been standing up for years with no one or very few beside her. That is courage. People who sit in the DA and boo and chant upon signal, who can actually say that Olga was ranting when it was David Israel who kept saying, sit down, out of order, who called hysterically for 911 - is he for real? I could not stop laughing and cheering Olga on as I watched it. He says he runs by Robert's Rules, yet does not allow point of order or for the rules when he opposes it. What a jerk! Olga has had it and so have many other people and that includes me. Why must I hire a lawyer to get him to release papers that we all have a right to see, that is required by law, to be open to all members of UCO.
Courage is defined as "to confront the reality of mortality, the courage to seek out the truth of what is to be feared and what is to be hoped.....to act on that truth we find." (Atul Gawande in Being Mortal). People, we all need to find that courage, to stand up for our rights, to be able to speak up when we wish and as allowed by law. We need to seek out our truth and act upon it. We are not to be threatened with 911, the sheriff or anybody else. Big Al cannot lay a hand on you and neither can any of the other security guards and neither can David Israel. Let him try and we can all visit him in County jail.
Perhaps David Israel once had good thoughts and aims, but they are certainly gone now. In next month's paper, run by his puppet, Joy Vestal, there is supposed to be an article by Hugh Green on the progress of broadband here in the Village. Again with the Wi Fi? It was voted down, down, down and yet here we are - again. OUT OF ORDER, MR. ISRAEL. Then there is to be an article about the Four Freedoms. Really? Talk about hypocrisy in the first degree!!!!!
There is an old Romany (Gypsy) proverb which says, "When the road bends, it's hard to walk straight." David Israel's road has bent and curved onto itself. It has trapped people within its loops, cruelly so, depriving them of their rights, proper usage of funds and proper roles in decision making. Threats abound - for arrest, for removal, for punishment, even vowing to use his computer skills upon people. C'mon! How much of this are we to take and sit still? Be above reproach? I don't think so. Sometimes the big stick is needed when soft speech does not work. Tough talk, plain talk is what has gotten people to wake up here, not nearly enough, but that tough and plain talk is our big stick and it is working. If one is too delicate to hear the reality of things, then go hide, but we will not. We need to straighten out the road and have our officials walk straight - with us and with their G-d.
To close, I borrow from a friend's prayer or litany - "Ora pro nobis. Pray for us." We are in the right, so come and join. Let us right our Village and leave our own legacy for the future generations of Villagers. If we do not - there will not be a CV. Think about that. Courage can conquer all.
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