WHAT ARE WE DOING?

     New year? Yes, but what is new about it? For the individual, we hope it will be  a year of peace, good health, happiness, but can the individuals get that if the world itself has gone off the tracks? I highly doubt that. Just take a look around and try to answer the question in the title. My answer? No. Plain and simple.
     We obviously have not learned from the past. Russia poked its nose into the Ukraine and made its land grab and well, there she remains. Not content with that, Putin seems to have expansionist thoughts as now he has gone openly into Syria with arms and ammunition and boots on the ground, not even playing the game of disguising his soldiers. So what are we to expect now? A growing new Iron Curtain a la Putin from Syria to the Ukraine? And why not? The world sees and stands by and does nothing. Apparently Russia is surviving the sanctions as it seems to have the money and the gall to continue on this path as the world does not even say, "Tsk,tsk".
     The population influx into Europe, be it Eastern, Central or Western, is overwhelming the continent, the individual countries and there appears to be no end in sight. These "refugees" are not necessarily so. Are they migrants? Yes. Are most of them coming from countries that are enveloped in war or fighting on some scale? Yes. But that does not mean that the world can absorb their populations into countries that are already dealing with economic issues, home grown populations who are hungry, homeless, unemployed, and restless. They have given refuge to many but are now concerned that there is no end and what will happen to their country if this is to go on.
     Who are these migrants? Most come from war torn countries and most of these war torn countries involve various sects of Islam fighting either against each other or against other religions. There is the new industry of kidnapping. There is the horrendous growth of sanctioned rape of women and abuse of children as they are used as sexual objects and slaves.  The men claim that religion allows this. Really? Then this is not a religion but a horror, the distortion of a religion, and the world should be screaming about this. But it is not.
     Many of these migrants have already been living OUTSIDE of their countries in other countries - Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, etc. Many are refugees from fallen governments or fallen sects which have lost their overrule of others. Many of these people have engaged in horrific acts against their "enemies" and now they are fleeing from revenge. Yes, there are some innocents here, but they are caught up and overwhelmed by the others and how to distinguish, how to recognize and separate? I don't know, yet if we do not we could be importing troubles of major proportion into our countries. How many more will be going off in a few years to rejoin the fighting in their home countries or other countries which leaders push? How many will become those who turn on their new homes, thinking they are serving a higher purpose by doing so? How do we recognize this? And how do we prepare for such large numbers as are coming and their illogical expectations of homes and jobs and lots of money just waiting for them? Again, I do not know and am just asking questions that I wish someone would answer - and answer honestly and soon.
     Yes, the pictures are horrendous. The sight of little ones caught in this, the sight of anguished parents - but what about the sight of all those young and single men, alone, no families? What about them? And there are many. Are we supposed to provide for runaway economic migrants as well? Where will there be room and funding then for the seriously and truly in danger and will those in danger be worthy of rescue or are they running from the consequences of their own behavior? Are many of the Syrians coming now the die hard supporters of Assad and his regime? If so, they are now losing power and hope for their future but does that become our problem? And where are the wealthy Arab and Moslem countries? Where is their famed charity, their funds? Why are they not helping their own people?
     I believe that the answer is to solve the problem where it begins - in their respective countries and if the world would actually do it together, with all contributing and working together, then perhaps we could make a start. But will they? First they shout about how terrible it is and then they turn to the USA to do something, to fund it all. Well, we cannot do that any longer. We too have a weaker economy. We too have hungry children. We too must make a distinction between the true refugee and those who are not. And we have a disengaged president who has disengaged from Americans and the world alike. 
     The countries who had thrown open their borders are now shutting them. Where will these people go? Are we to now to throw them on ships and send them back? That reeks of the St. Louis. It reeks of those "stateless" Jews who were thrown into no man's land by Germany and left there to starve and freeze as they rejected them and Poland refused them.
     In the meanwhile, we sign treaties with countries that hate us, that threaten our very existence. We have to choose between Nusra, an Islamic extremist group or ISIS, another one. Is one better than the other because they are less extremist or they do not behead captives at the same rate? Are we to fight alongside Iran as they battle their enemies which have become ours? And what will happen later on? And what about North Korea, led by a young megalomaniac who now threatens to blow us up in a nuclear inferno?
     Do we know what we are doing? Do we understand what the consequences are of our actions or lack thereof? I highly doubt it. I think our leaders are just as confused as we are, have led us into this multi crisis situation and we are left with the news of these disasters and the ability to turn away from them so we can read all about global warming, rising seawaters and horrific wildfires on our West Coast. Or we can all stick our heads back into the sand and hope for the best. Hasn't worked before, but who knows. Perhaps during this time of prayer G-d will hear and send us an answer that will work for us, and will not turn away from His children. We can only hope.
     Maybe this all makes our problems here in CV look a bit less urgent, but again, we all have to start somewhere and this is a good place to do just that. Perhaps tomorrow we can discuss the same question  but in terms of our own little home here in West Palm Beach. Do we know what we are doing here?