“It is better to teach good than to condemn evil.”
So said the philosopher Baruch Spinoza and thousands read this as they walked past a memorial site for a 16 year old girl killed as she supported a gay parade in Jerusalem last year, though she was not gay. Think about what it means and the difficulty in implementing that philosophy.
"The hardest thing in the world isn't to refrain from committing an evil, it's to stand up and stop one." So stated a character in a book.
When one puts these two statements together, we get both sides of a coin, a coin that will be ever more rare if a tragedy took place and Trump were elected into office. Just read his speech in the papers if you missed it yesterday. The shudders should shake you into next week!
America will be a country of 'law and order" once more. We will have "Americanism". We will break the promises we made with NATO allies. We will have "America First'. Trump will wave his magic wand and all will be better, a strange fairy godfather indeed. Huge statements. Childcare for all - and how to pay and how to institute? All that law and order - define please, details please. And precisely how will we pay for huge sweeping statements what with huge promised tax cuts? I wonder why it seems such a hard concept for people to understand that if one expects the government to have the money for defense, for Social Security, for roads, etc. and not the least, social welfare programs, like feeding hungry families, then taxes must be paid. I hate doing taxes, always afraid I am doing it wrong somehow, but it is a necessary fact of life. Making a statement does not make it so nor does it make it possible without the dull old boring details!
America will be great again? It still is, even if changed and G-d knows that I have pointed out areas I am troubled by, but there are still so many good things in life and in America. How about what I have seen this week, when there was not one day when a good friend was left alone in a hospital bed, in pain and worry over the future. What about the people who stop to help another in distress, who volunteer, who donate, who protest injustice? Are we to consider as "good" only those who want no government regulations? Are we to return to those days? Is that what made America "great"?
Teach good. A beautiful idea. Teach the truth. Teach the positive. Act for the good and do good. And stand up to evil, to the lies which at times seem to overwhelm the world. Run through the speech of Trump and frighteningly you will find all the remarks and attitudes, promises and values of a dictator. Just check and compare with the demagogues of history and the similarities will be clear. Shudder and shake at the thought of a country whose chief value will be 'law and order' for that term can and has been so manipulated and twisted throughout history that we should automatically shun that term unless it is the title of a TV show!! Iran pushed law and order. So does Saudi Arabia and Turkey now. Want to live there? Russia is pushing it too so wanna' join Trump's admired figure, Putin? I do not.
Throughout his speech and the speech of others throughout the Convention there have been red lines, lines that displayed infection of the Party, a Party that has lost its way, that refuses to admit that the Emperor is naked. It will allow the haters, the bigots, to take over a party that was formed in the forge of history, at a time when America was divided against itself, when a man could own another and it and its leaders stood up and said no! Was it perfect? No, for man is not perfect, but it was a party of the people and now? Where has it gone? To the fatcats? To the billionaire who has 3500 suits against him? To a man who lied about his finances, his businesses, who picks his wives for the eye candy they are to him and others? Is this what we want to present to the world, quite worried and bewildered at what has gone wrong in America, with Americans?
And yet there is hope. Twice a week now I have gone out with youngsters, into the heat, armed with a desire to get people to vote and we do not ask what party they wish to join. That is their choice - any or none, but just take up the privilege and responsibility of voting. These kids are determined to make the world a better place and do it by helping, by getting involved, by teaching good and by standing up to and against hatred and indifference. Me? I stand there and admire them and sweat bullets in the heat of the sun but am so proud of them and the bright future they represent and am proud of myself as well for taking part in this.
He believes that "I alone" can make all things right and that is exactly the problem. "I alone" can do nothing. It takes a village, so they say, and it takes a country to make things better. To allow a man such as this to rise to the top is a violation of the natural order where cream is supposed to rise to the top, not the lees and dregs.
And yes, I will agree, Hillary Clinton is not perfect and has her flaws. She has made mistakes, some more serious than others. But she has spent a lifetime trying to work for the public, for the country, involved herself in the hard work and commitment necessary. Where was Trump all those years? Using Papa's money to keep his toes and other parts out of the fire? Getting married - again? Firing people? Combing his hair? What and where has he done for the people? For the country? And enough already with Hillary getting the blame for a wandering husband. That was his problem, his lack of honesty and trust, not hers and how she chose to deal with him was her business and if not in her shoes then one has no right to judge, only think, wonder why and go on to other topics. Judgementalism has no place here unless one is in the same spot. And by the way, some of our most admired Presidents of the past also had wandering parts and eyes and hands.
But this lack of honesty, of a pervading sense of evil appears to be rampant throughout the world and it obscures the good that is also present in the world. Yet I can understand the despair as we watch crazy things happen - but we need to remember as well that there have been times when it seemed as if assassins ruled the world and self interest was the ruling principle. There is truly no one time in history that encompassed all that was good and right. Even the golden era of Rome, when Rome basically ruled the world - ask those who were conquered if they were all so thrilled and accepting.
The way of the world is not smooth but yes, we can ask where are the heroes. Bonnie Tyler sang, "I need a hero" and we can echo her thoughts. Trump is not that hero and Hillary? Not a hero, but one who tries, who strives, who has made something of herself after a difficult early life and no one has given it to her on a silver platter or even one of copper. She represents much of the good of the American dream and some of its lacks - so she is human, as were all our presidents. A vote for her is a vote for sanity, for democracy, for a future where one can dream and one can succeed, where color and race and religion and ethnicity make no never mind in any important way. Where the ideals that were the basis of our country are still alive, Where "when in the course of human events" spirit is alive and well.
And locally as well, do we want a Trump, the liar, the self engrossed, the dictator and demagogue, the breaker of rules if it benefits him or do we want one who knows that law and order comes with a sense of commonality as well, of working with people, of telling the truth, of not using threats to coerce people, but rather co-opting them with goodness and inclusion.
Think about all this and then think again. Stop listening to the shouts and the lies and go to the heart of the matter. Who better represents a good future for us and the world, a future where we are free and yes, there will be bad things as well, but I have not yet noticed any dictator having a country where there are no bad things happening and indeed, it is often the opposite! Choose carefully and where the wrong person is in office - time to go, bid them adieu, ciao, dosvadanya - but bid them a firm goodbye.
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