"Tzedek, tzedek tirdof" Justice, justice shall ye pursue. So it states in the Bible, the Old Testament and it is worthy of note that justice is based on the same root as tzedakah, or charity, giving, helping others. There is much justice to work for, to chase, but it must be done with a sense of mercy and compassion, tempered by it, with it.
Remember the song from South Pacific wherein the Lt. sings how hate and hatred must be taught, that it is not a natural occurring event? True words and yet how much time do we invest, how much energy have we invested into teaching of hate, into its institutionalization and its maintenance? Too much.
Hatred is the opposite of justice. Benjamin Franklin said that "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." I agree, yet disagree, for no one is unaffected by hatred and the purveyors of it. It infects and infests the world and the bloodshed that follows is pervasive. Rabbi David Wolpe, a most amazing writer and speaker wrote of his recent trip with the Joint to Vienna, to Hungary. "It is too much — too much beauty, too much betrayal. Too much music, too many death marches. Too much faith, too much waste. Too much art and literature and charm, too much cruelty and hatred and pain."
It is that pain which must be felt by all if we are to ever defeat this scourge of mankind. Justice is what we need but will we get it? Many are excited at the upcoming event after Inauguration, the Women's March on Washington. It is truly a Women's March on the world and all who value justice will join in, be it there or in a hometown march. "In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore."
Hatred is an easy trap into which one might fall. It refocuses one's anger, one's fears, "with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear." But we must learn how to deal with that, with those debilitating emotions. Full disclosure, we all have negative emotions and I will admit that I do have problems with much of the Moslem way of thinking, not believing that Islam is a religion of peace. There have been too many incidents of horror and slaughter for me to believe this. However, and a big however, I am willing to listen to the voices of those Muslims who will speak of peace, who will deny their murderous brothers, who will speak up. And for sure, I do not and cannot tolerate the thought of yet another group being tagged and numbered, denied their humanity, roped off, segregated, and cut out of society. As a Jew, I remember our history and shudder at how often we have suffered that and the tragic consequences. I shudder at the pink triangles of the gay sector of humanity under Nazi rule and the Romany or gypsies and Jehovah's Witnesses and any "other" groups. Yes, for the evil and the bad, let us indeed catch them, but that goes for any and all who would terrorize society, including American nationalists who back violence and raise threats A crime is a crime, no matter who perpetrates it.
Unfortunately, I believe this hate goes along with those who would deny the truth, who pervert it and go along on their merry way and deeply unfortunate is the fact that our president elect is one born liar. Every day he says or rather tweets something and the next day or even sooner, the truth will out. 1,000 jobs saved? Nope - 800 and at what cost and for how long and for what perversion of presidential behavior? A dignified statement? Nope, an adolescent tweeting, the use of which reminds one of the bullying schoolyard tormentor, of the alpha girl ranting on the awkward girl in the class. During the election period Trump raged at Megyn Kelly "...over the phone, quoting him as saying: “You’re a disgrace! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You’re a disgrace! I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account against you and I still may.” And the campaign against her continues as does other "false news" otherwise known as lies!! A pizza store has been the target of vicious lies as have the neighboring stores and a gunman even went there to shoot the "criminals" - all by Trump supporters, those enflamed with and by hate.
This is not justice and nor is it truth. Nor is it presidential, not in the very least and we must fight against this, push against it and demand that it stop. We must demand that our supposed leader, G-d help us, behave as an adult and stop tweeting , especially lies. He must tell the truth. He supposedly sold his stocks in companies and where is the proof that was supposed to have been released within 45 days? Where did he place the money? Did he buy other stocks? The truth, man, the truth! And this, even if true, and most have our doubts, this does not cut him off from his Trump businesses, not at all. We are not here to enable him to make a profit on his businesses. He lies about the cost of Air Force One and why? Who can fathom him? He ignores the dire warnings of the hospitals and even of his own party members about what would happen should ACA be repealed - millions uncovered, hospitals swamped with charity and non paying patients and unable to afford this or keep their doors open.
Women are not to be demeaned nor literally manhandled, people of color are not to be demeaned and victimized either, any and all colors, for all blood is red. No group is to be tagged and herded as animals. No torture is to be approved as a standard tool nor waterboarding or even worse as Trump so easily and offhandedly talks about.
If we are to have a good America and behave as Americans should (see yesterday's post) then we must roll up our sleeves and stand firm. The voices for justice, for truth, for the true America will not be silenced. As James Baldwin stated, "Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." We must face these problems and do our best to change them, and might we even dare hope that we can change Trump? I doubt that but we can organize and let him and his cronies know he is being watched. No shortcuts, no scapegoats and our representatives had better watch out as well.
We must look into our souls and call for justice, justice with compassion. We must cancel hate as a political tool or else we are all lost. Ray Bradbury said it best in The Illustrated Man.
"She wanted to get at the hate of them all, to pry at it and work at it until she found a little chink, and then pull out a pebble or a stone or a brick and then a part of the wall, and once started, the whole edifice might roar down and be done away with."
Would that not be beautiful? Why must it be a pipedream? Why can we not all work towards that? Why? Why?
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