But in doing so these people turn a blind eye to the history of our country and its growing place in the world. At its founding, this country was an experiment, set in place by brave people, not perfect, by far, but willing to take a chance on new ideas, even as they carried some of the old with them. But over the years it improved and proved to be a place for the persecuted of Europe, of the world, as immigrants from before the founding till now came to America as a place of hope and a place with a future.
From the beginning it was meant to be a place of refuge and a place of growth as the immigrants brought in new ideas, new ways of thinking. From Oglethorpe of Georgia to Lord Baltimore. From Roger Williams to Anne Hutchinson, from The Dutch trading company to George Washington to Mark Twain - this country was open to the world even as people railed against the newcomers. But they built this country, dug the canals, laid the trestles of the railroads, opened stores and businesses, endowed scholarships and museums and schools and yes, there were some criminals amongst them just as there is and always will be in the population at large.
Now we have a president elect who cries out that the demonstrations are "unfair" - really, another tantrum from the Orange Man! Protest is a right of this country, like it or not and his railing against it send chills up and down my spine and into my heart. And yet we have the brave souls of even more cities yesterday who protested against the hatred that flows out of Trump and his supporters, the growing attacks they have staged. We have groups of younger kids chanting "build the wall" - carrying on the hate that is found within their homes.
We have forgotten who we are, separated ourselves into groups, widened the divide and too many of us do not realize what we have done. We are quickly sinking into the depths rather than striving for the heights. Trump and Ryan crow how they are going to fix health and immigration issues. I ask, are they going to take care of those who will not be with coverage or will the very voters for Trump now have to learn how to take care of their elderly and sick without coverage, making do, scrimping and yes, watching their loved ones and friends die from lack of affordable care. So yes, costs were rising but does anyone out there remember a year when your insurance policies did not rise? I do not. Trust me, the insurance companies were not suffering. They cried wolf once too often to believe them and their cries of poverty.
And then again, we have the pleasure of looking forward to the inmates running the asylum. We have Christie the alleged crook and blockader of roads in tantrums; we have Giuliani who has severe PTSD; we have Sarah Palin who I wonder does she still see Russia from her backyard; we have Donald Trump, Jr. who wishes to be Secretary of the Interior and we have the president himself who has business dealings with Chinese entities, with Arab entities, who owes money all over the place, who drives his companies into bankruptcy and does not pay taxes - and wow, what a crew!
Trump is skirting too close to violating the law. He wants to just shoot up the families of terrorists and other criminals. Yup, it was that 6 month old that was the driving force right?! He wants to use extra tough torture so may we dust off all the Inquisition tools from the museums and bring in new hirees from North Korea, Putin and other Soviet operatives, Chinese experts, or perhaps even go back into the past and find some South American remnants from the old dictators and demagogues. Perhaps some Pinochet people still are around. Wouldn't that be handy!
People, I am not making this up. This comes straight from his mouth and the mouths of supporters of Trump. They crow they have a mandate. Well, they have another mandate, that of the larger popular vote, that which states that they will not stand by and allow America to lose its specialness, its uniqueness, its beauty and its love. So they protest and cry and show fear. Women of a certain age wonder if we are going back to the time when abortion was a totally back alley deal and people died, cruelly, in pain, when contraception was unknown or illegal. We wonder, all of us, at the ridiculous statements that climate change is nonexistent so who then is melting the glaciers and who then is raising the temperature of the globe and who then is raising the waters of the oceans and drowning island nations and who then wants to burn coal to add to the mess, and who just lies and lies and lies!! Wishing does not make it so. We need to roll up our sleeves, work hard and struggle and strive to remake our country into what it was - but not in a hateful way. Not in a destructive way.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Krystallnacht on November 10, 1938 when in Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland, the mobs ran amok with governmental organization, prodding and approval. Hundred and thousands, 30,000, were arrested and sent to Dachau and Sachsenhausen, People were killed and maimed, buildings and businesses destroyed and over 1000 synagogues burned, many of them hundreds of years old. Hate. Hatred. It does awful things and no one is immune to it and to its horrific consequences. And yet, there are always alternatives to this hate, even within ourselves. We can always strive to reach new heights as we wait and struggle and survive and try to rebuild the world as it should be. Here is a story from the heights. May we all learn from it and turn away from the depths to which our country and its citizens have fallen. May we all keep in mind that there were walls built in that time and they did not bode well at all. And remember that today is Veterans Day and keep in mind why they fought and what we need to keep.
"The following story was told by Rabbi Israel Spira, the Rebbe of Bluzhov, who had witnessed it firsthand in the Janowska Concentration Camp:
Each morning at dawn, the Germans would lead us out of the camp for a day of hard labor that ended only at nightfall. Each pair of workers was given a huge saw and expected to cut their quota of logs. Because of the horrendous conditions in the camp and starvation rations on which we supposed to subsist, most of us could barely stand on our feet. But we sawed away, knowing that our lives depended upon it; anyone collapsing on the job or failing to meet their daily quota was killed on the spot, G-d forbid.
One day, as I pulled and pushed the heavy saw with my partner, I was approached by a young woman from our work detail. The pallor of her face showed her to be in an extremely weak physical state. “Rebbe,” she whispered to me, “do you have a knife?”
I immediately understood her intention and felt the great responsibility that rests upon me. “My daughter,” I begged, concentrating all the love and conviction in my heart in the effort to dissuade her from her intended deed. “Do not take your own life. I know that your life is now a living hell, from which death seems a blessed release. But we must never lose hope. With G-d’s help, we will survive this ordeal and see better days.”
But the woman seemed oblivious to my words. “A knife,” she repeated. “I must have a knife. Now. Before it is too late.”
At that moment, one of the German guards noticed our whispered conversation and approached us. “What did she say to you?” he demanded of me.
We both froze. Conversing during work was a grave transgression. Many a camp inmate had been shot on the spot for far lesser crimes.
The woman was first to recover. “I asked him for a knife,” she said. To my horror, she then addressed her request to the guard: “Give me a knife!”
The German, too, guessed her intention, and a devilish smile flickered on his lips. Doubtless he had seen the bodies of those who, out of desperation, threw themselves during the night at the electrified fence that surrounded the camp; but this would be a new, novel sight for him. Still smiling, he reached into his pocket and handed her a small knife.
Taking the knife, she hurried back to her work station and bent to a small bundle of rags that she had placed on a log. Quickly unraveling the bundle, she took out a tiny infant. Before our astonished eyes, she swiftly and skillfully circumcised the week-old boy.
“Blessed are You, G-d our G-d, King of the Universe,” she recited in a clear voice, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to enter him into the covenant of Abraham our Father.”
Cradling the child in her arms, she soothed his cries. Then, she addressed the heavens: “Master of the Universe! Eight days ago you gave me a child. I know that neither I nor he will long survive in this accursed place. But now, when you take him back, you will receive him as a complete Jew.”
“Your knife,” she said, handing the holy object back to the German. “Thank you.”
Choose the right path. Our future depends on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment