OFF THE DERECH

Translation: Derech means path. Usage: When a person, particularly in the Orthodox stream of Judaism, begins to follow different rules, less strict rules, hence that person is "off the derech". Pump it up a bit and we can say that this country, this world, is off the derech - big time. "Bigly" so. So much so, that people are committed to dying in the name of their false, misleading off the derech beliefs. Why?

"The deadliest flaw in human nature is the ability to hold an unshakable opinion based on inadequate evidence."

Perhaps that explains it. It explains the deaths of so many foolish people who refused the vaccine, even as friends and loved ones died, even as they die. Yet- no vaccine. Why? I refer you back to the above quote. An acquaintance just passed away from COVID, along with her husband, because they did not get the vaccine on advice of their son. Whoops! In a deadly way. Whoops! On a path manifestly off the derech and non fixable.

"So if you have to move, if you have to stock up, if you have to get to higher ground, it has to be today,"

Now apply that to the off the derech path of the nations of the world, including us. In a big way. That was a warning about Henri, but it is a warning to the world. We need to take stock of our positions on our chosen path. Too many are so dreadfully wrong that I wonder if there is any fix available, or just that we must find or create some off ramp. How do we do so when rather unimportant projects at this moment are moving ahead of crucial, literally life threatening causes. 

Trump boasts of his moving the Space Command center to Alabama. Really? Who cares other than the people of the two affected states. Space? We cannot even manage our home here so we need to go off and ruin space?! It certainly is not, should not, be primary at this point. What should be? 

This. We claim to have rescued or evacuated over 22,000 desperate people - refugees and Americans caught in the disaster known as Afghanistan. 17,000 this past week. Great but not nearly enough. Other nations must join in as they too, share in the blame for this gross and deadly situation. “after all the blood and money we poured in, it’s pretty clear, in retrospect: We didn’t get anything done.”

 One American citizen said this and many others echo this sentiment. But we cannot just pull out and say to others who risked lives for us, "Well, tough bugs. Cannot help at this moment. Call back in a few years. Oh, your daughters? Well, tell them to have patience." That is essentially what we are saying to these people. Off the derech indeed.

Was it our fight? At one point it certainly was. However, we stayed too long, enmeshed in the corrupt swamp of Afghanistan, unfamiliar with how it worked. We seemingly, found it impossible to withdraw. President after President. When Bin Laden was killed that was the signal for an orderly withdrawal with strong support  to insure a democratic country. But how could we when we ourselves were drifting onto a derech so eminently opposite to what we are supposed to be. America. Say that and know what it has meant for two and a half centuries. Now, we are tossing it away as we struggle to survive on a path we never ever should have found ourselves upon.

Dangerous idiots like Gaetz, too stupid, venal and despicable, to keep his pants zipped, who calls someone else stupid! More dangerous to the survival of our nation, are monsters such as Mo Brooks, a Congressman, no less, who expresses sympathy and understanding of domestic terrorists and their terrorist acts within this nation! A political leader? Along with Neo Fascist Gosar, extreme dangers such as Greene who was told to "stay the hell out", or that weird guy Elder running for office in California, another self titled "sage". What the hell and how the hell did we get so far off the derech? 

Now we are left with pitiful pictures of desperate Afghans trying to rescue their families, kids stunned at this crazed turn of events, women hiding again, terrified for their newly re-imposed lack of status as humans. What have we done? What has the rest of the world done, even as Austria, true to its racial hatred history, states they will not take in any Afghan refuges. So heartwarming! 

Biden is to address the nation today, this afternoon, re Afghanistan. He has been the one to try to resolve, to end this mess. Unfortunately, with very wrong GPS directions, it has been mishandled, terribly so. He is not alone in shouldering blame for this, as he inherited it. In the meanwhile, the human cost of this twenty year blunder is here. Worse, we are expecting the growth of IS, Islamic State, the terrorist movement that threatens to kill all seeking refuge, including Americans isolated now within the country. Off the derech indeed.

A Parkland deputy claims that he "... did the best that I could." That was not enough. Evidently our  standards have fallen tremendously. So far that we cannot even catch sight anymore of the true derech for our nation, for us to lead the world. Our supposed best has lost its shine, lost its quality. What a deadly shame.