"NO CASUALTIES"

 So we were told in an 'oh, so' reassuring manner. By whom, you ask? By the terrorist who invaded yet another synagogue, becoming a habit these days. Even as his very next sentence or two conveyed the threat of a slaughter of the hostages if anyone tried to come in prior to freeing an infamous terrorist. All the while he ranted and raved about Israel and Jews. Just lovely. Another perfect Shabbat.

The Rabbi reassured all afterwards, happy to say that there were "no casualties" and anyway, Jews were used to this; after all, events similar to these had occurred over the millennia. Small comfort, I say. Better if we could have said this was an aberration, totally out of the box, but never you mind, at least there were no casualties. Yes, we were immensely grateful for no casualties in the form of death, but really? Casualties aplenty there were.

Yet again, the synagogue has been turned into a battlefield, and not the standard one between members of the Board, of the synagogue and the Rabbi. Jews argue, provide their own version of casualties, and then go on to share a festive meal together. But this? No, this definitely left casualties. American Jews are repeatedly being told they are not welcome; once again they have become the very visible and "the other", a favorite target of bigots, from all sides of the political spectrum. Yes, casualties.

The casualties these days are not limited to a small, insignificant for most, terrorist event in a suburb of  Dallas. The world has gone off track, leaving mass casualties behind. Country after country suffering from violent or almost there behavior, with open warfare already in process or very visible on the screen of the immediate future. Countries vanishing under rising waters, buried under ashes of erupting volcanoes, suffering from severe drought, no relief in sight, increased desertification. Even as arable land is slathered with heat increasing cement, raising temperatures, pinching the production of food even as mass starvation is becoming ever more common. We cut down trees which helped us breathe, and casually ignore the horrific extinction of species. Something to be proud of? "Look, Ma, see what we have done!"

In America we have done no better, trying our darndest to catch up with the world, apparently the new goal of our "can do" American attitude. We might even bring about the Sixth Extinction, sooner than had been thought! Such pride we can take in our deeds! Such success. As phrased by one expert - humans are the cause of this extinction event, unlike the others; humans are the only way to fix it. "And we are not very good at that, are we?"

Apparently, we are good at fulfilling the promises of old adages. The cookie crumbles. The rot is underneath. We are our own worst enemy. We are destroying ourselves. Everyone protests. Limit the right to vote. Claim rigged elections if you lose. Undermine the electorate and our democracy. Ignore the majority voters if you disagree and push bogus audits. Appoint partisan people to control  elections. One writer comments, in a most understated manner, that there is "a lot of stuff going on here", within our country. Ya' think?!

"We have met the enemy - and they are us."  Fire when you see the whites of their eyes." But their eyes are our eyes. "The enemy is within." As we battle rebels, violent rebels, insurrectionists, treasonous characters - among our most eminent and/or violent and bigoted souls. Indeed. what have we done? What Hath Man Wrought?

Jill Biden states “healing” a nation wounded by a deadly pandemic, natural and other disasters and deep political polarization is among her chief roles as first lady.

Wrapping up a year in which... the first lady (said) that she found herself taking on a role that "I didn't kind of expect, which was like a healing role, because we’ve faced so much as a nation.”      

We did not expect it either, did we, yet there it is, right before our very eyes even as we remain blind to the deep infection within our body politic. Ignorance is not bliss. Bad things do not go away. Actually, they multiply, get stronger - and divide a nation's people. The sepsis introduced into that body eventually, unless is powerfully, determinedly,  dealt with, will lead to death.

No casualties? I beg to differ. These were simply more additions to the list of casualties of this nation, little and big, that are eating away at our foundation even as the rot drips down from the top.

We have a huge job, a terrifying responsibility now laid upon us, much of it preventable, if we had but paid attention, had not lost our collective minds these past few years, not catered to hatred, controlled ourselves, used indoor voices and indoor footsteps. Not prostituted ourselves to the lowest common denominators. But we did not. 

Now, now we had better dig in and do the job right.

 Will we? Will we? Can we?