Yesterday I wrote about the highs and lows of the world of today and the questions of past and future. There is more to that issue. It is a piece that comes from the heart and the soul and from a terrified woman worried about the resurgence of the past into the present and future and all that it portends.
Almost as soon as Abraham of the Bible accepted a new identity as an Israelite, as a Jew, a Yehudi, the vicious concept and actions of anti Semitism arose. Through the centuries this vile ideology, if it can be called such, has been responsible for murder nd mayhem, for oppression, in so many ways, mostly cruel and vicious. It culminated in the Holocaust when an obsessed madman thought he would kill all the Jews of Europe, 11 million of them, and then begin on the rest of the world.
He lost the war, but not before over 6 million Jews were killed, slaughtered, drowned, tortured, used in medical experiments, were enslaved and starved, shot, gassed, hanged and the list goes on. Somehow, we thought that perhaps this would be the end of anti Semitism as the world was horrified at the exposure of the camps. But that was not to be, as immediately upon the end of the war, returning Jews were killed by their former neighbors who were afraid they would have to return belongings and property they had expropriated. And out of sheer hatred.
The Allies knew of these camps, the whole world did, and had the opportunity to destroy them by bombardment but did not. The papers had articles about them way before the end of the war. Messengers and pictures and data were sent with great difficulty to the western allies but ignored.
And why? Because, quite frankly, Hitler was doing a job for them, that they had a distaste for, but would accept the 'benefits' of. And the anti Semitism did not stop. Barred from entering the USA pre war and early years under rules and regulation which stemmed from xenophobia, just as Trump is trying to do today, so many died, so needlessly, so heartlessly. Barred from the land of their ancestors as well, there was no place for them to go.
And even those who made it to the USA or England or remained in their original countries, did not find it easy being Jewish in the 50's. There are numerous novels and non fiction books which make that very clear and now, after all this, the scum of the earth is rising to the top once more and the ugly head of open anti Semitism is rearing and gnashing its teeth. The statistics show it all, the increase, and we even had a massacre of 11 Jews in their synagogue. I am presently attending a series of lectures about anti Semitism and no, not so much from the past, but its presentation as a return to the ugly past and a definite dimming of the future.
A long running character in a popular series, a Holocaust survivor, said in a moment of anguish, "The story never changes. One after another, people want to strut around in jackboots controlling everyone around them. Enough of this."
She is correct and heart rending and frightening. Is there to be no improvement from the past, Must hatred prevail and again, it does not end with the end of any group of people, for hatred must be fed, must be replenished, and will seek out another "enemy" for it to devour. This hatred has entered and contaminated our country and indeed the world. It has contaminated the leaders of the world and their followers are growing apace. 44 ex Senators warn us of the danger we are in, of the partisanship now plaguing our country and of the need to return to our foundational principles.We are at an inflection point in which the foundational principles of our democracy and our national security interests are at stake, and the rule of law and the ability of our institutions to function freely and independently must be upheld.” We must examine our choices and we must continue to resist, to fight and push back and rid the country and the world of this baseless hatred and its ever present and ever growing danger it poses and indeed, is. Period. And we must recognize that the biggest symptom and cause of our broken America is its illegitimate president, Trump. There are no two ways about it. We must use the law to shed him.
We are at a crisis point. I, and so many others, are terrified for the future, not for ourselves but for the coming generations. In the name of those generations, there are many now who are leaving the country, fearing for its future, and returning to lands from whence their ancestors came. But I plead with all of you though I understand your anguish. Remain here. Remain in the fray. Rebuild our country. Help rid it of these evil people. Educate minds to respond to all humanity for we are all one, no matter the color, the ethnicity, the beliefs or whatever people choose to base hatred upon.
We need a hero, yes. But we also need the people, the simple people, who become heroic in their attempts to right wrongs, to adjust society properly. We need relief and we need hope. There are hateful and harmful people of all types, but it is simply that, and not an innate differential between them. All long for peace, for relief, for justice, for hope, for relief from the grief so many of us are feeling.
The Islamic legends speaks of an angel Artiya'il who comes to us when we can bear no more depression and grief.
"I woke in the reaches of the night and wept at my weightlessness; a fever had broken, Artiya'il, you found me, lifting from me the weight of grief."
We are all so much the same. When will we realize we all want the same things for ourselves and our children, a chance to live a good, helpful and peaceful life. A life of peace and advancement.
WE are all the same so why do we emphasize the differences? Why?
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