So last nite there were celebrations for the new year of 2020. That is, those who were able to celebreate, but not those stuck in refugee camps all around the world, those living in tents and boxes or right on the sidewalks here in the good old USA or those in prison for daring to defy dictators, repression, fighting for democracy. But the rest of us, we just went ahead and celebrated without a mention of what was happening outside our small insulated worlds.
Don't get me wrong. I like to think that there is always that possibility that a new year will bring new sanity to those impaired by the insanity of others, for new heroes in the war against a dissolving world, for new voices who actually understand the crisis level we are at , know we must do somethng, know what to do and most important, act upon it.
Pipe dreams, I guess, for most of us with a tether to reality. This world we are in does not encourage optimism. What it does encourage is the old strategy of thrusting one's head as far under the sand as possible, drowning out the cries of those in need, and not even hearing our own voices of desperation or see actions taken that will simply turn that sand into quicksand, swallowing us all up.
Do I sound like a real downer on this, the first day of the new year? Perhaps, but really, think. What is the big difference between yesterday and today? Nothing really, other than the aftermath of disasters, definite non rosy pictures and scenarios of the future and the blustery hot winds of the dictators who have risen to power, especially this past year.
Just think of the gifts to the world on this new year. We have our embassy in Baghdad attacked, trashed, set on fire, with our people huddled within. We have Kim threatening again with his "gift" for the new year. We have Putin showcasing his new hypersonic missile, guaranteeing us all death in a MAD race to mutual destruction, and we have the a*hole who is head of government here, tweeting away his inanities and insanities and worse, with people cheering him on.
We have the hypocrisy of the man who threatens immigrants yet hired them by the hundreds to work his estates and now, after harvest at his winery, he fires them all. Never mind the false pretense of his wife's special 'skill" that entitled her to a special visa and then chain immmigration for her parents!
Never mind the words of hate that spew forth from his filthy mind and mouth, words that encourage the violent hatred we see growing in this country, uglier than ever. Thanks to him, I, as a Jew, am frightened to walk down some streets, now have security every day at the synagogue, have to worry about my grandchildren in their schools, have to worry about the future of Jewry when it seems the whole world has drunk heartily of the quaff of hatred and murder. There is no more room at the inn for them just as there was no room at the inn for that famous Jew, Jesus. No amount of excuses or crocodile tears upon hearing of more murders, more people, more Jews being slaughtered, will wash away Trump's initial words, his dastardly actions, his praise of a war criminal, his friendships with dictators, his buying into a world of corruption, of graft, of nepotism, of cronyism, of incompetence, of misogynism, of shrinking rights, a return to a world of yesterday which only and always led to war, useless, futile, murderous wars that could have been avoided had we acted appropriately, forestalled and solved the issues that led to their outbreaks.
Difficult to do? Oh, yes. Very much so. But if we do not act, then someone else will and then, we will be facing an ugliness such as we have never known. Yet in this, the new year, we can and should remember the statement by Winston Churchill. "Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
Folks, let us remember that we, the people,are the tigers upon which dictators ride and thrive. Let us drop out from under, leave them in the dirt. Let us return to a world where there is hope, where we do try to better the lives of all, where we pay attention to the needs of the planet, where a new year is indeed a time of joy and optimism.
A Happy New Year to all my readers and may this year be a better year than the last one.May we see only health and happiness, democracy and peace, safety and joy in the year to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment