WHO ARE WE REALLY?

     Who are we? What truly resides in the hearts and minds of all of us and is there no hope for us, for the world? Opening the computer last nite I found that what had been my quiet and restful Sabbath had not been so for the world. Yet another attack, this time in London, a three pronged attack, with one area being London Bridge. As one who has an avocation of British history, there was a special sting to it. Is there nothing sacred anymore? Are we to destroy ourselves and all the bookmarks of history while we are at it?
     But then I remembered a tale I read from a wise man and it gave me hope. There is a legend about the Divine Image and the angels of G-d. Hearing that man was to be created in the image of G-d, they decided they needed to hide that as humans were not worthy of this honor and the debate arose as to where to hide this Image. One angel said to place it on the highest mountaintop, but another said that it could be climbed. Another said to leave it at the bottom of the sea and yet another angel said also no good for humans will be curious about their world and will explore.
     One angel came up with what was felt to be the best idea. The Image would be hidden inside man, the last place they would be likely to look and so it was done. Most religions and truly religious people know that we must look for that Image within us, seek it out, strengthen it and foil those, from angels to man, who would prevent us from being the best we can be, from truly living as we should.
     Even those who have no religion can find this Image thru their deeds for they instinctively feel that man is meant to be good, to be kind, to be peaceful. Yet today it seems that man has truly gone off the track. There are those among us who lead the unsuspecting to evil places There are those who act more like the image of the Devil rather than the other way. They cheer the blood and the pain imposed on others. They cheer the sight of blood and death.
     These people are the cowards of mankind. There is no glory, certainly no Divine Image present in these actions no matter how they are disguised. There is simply at the heart of it, an evil that needs to be eliminated from within us all, for these killers instigate hatred in others and a vicious cycle runs endlessly, leaving horror behind.
     But this horror is not the possession of only one religion. Rather it can be found within all as extremists have been known throughout history to kill those who are different from them, who worship otherwise, or even do not worship at all. Whips and beheadings, prayer patrols, no matter the country, imposing one's private beliefs on the public via laws - all are wrong and all lead to bad and worse things.
     So who is man? What is to be the destiny of Mankind? Will the evil within us win out or will we delve deeply within ourselves and find the strength of that Divine Image? Will we truly feel the sympathy for others, the understanding of how this horror has come about, the ability to separate the evildoers from the innocent or will we mash all together and create more horror and diminish hope? Will we just be people who take advantage of horror to push our own agenda? Trump using this in a truly gross misuse of it, displaying opportunism at its worst, is an example par excellence of the contravening of the Image within us. This needed to be an opportunity to stand up to terror and madness as did the Mayor of London. It needs to showcase the brave people who stepped forward to help, to shut down the perpetrators. That is what is needed, not more hate for that leads nowhere. We need to be above what these people wish us to be, to become.
     A wise man in Jewish history, a great Rebbe or Rabbi, once scolded his students with a statement. "Masks! Where are your faces?" We, all of us, wear masks over our true faces and feelings. We need to remove those masks, to show our true faces, to allow ourselves and others to see the true inner selves and if we all do this, if we learn how to do this as children, internalize it as we learn our religion and learn of our humanity, then there will be hope. But till we do, there will be more of this violence and it behooves us all to look within, to reach for that Divine Image that will lead us to the proper path. Bombs and knives and guns break us apart, literally and figuratively. How do we teach the opposite? How do we become the better people we can be? Would that we have an easy answer, some simple actions to achieve that. It is always easier to take the low road, the shortcut, but most times there are bad results from that. Doing good, being good is not easy and demands that we invest a great  deal of energy into that search. May G-d bless us all and all our efforts to reach that goal.