REALLY NOW?!

 I simply do not know whether to laugh or cry as I scroll through the morning news, reading up on the fallacies and frailties of the human race. I do not know whether to trust in the small signs of sanity or become desperate as I look into the ugly possibilities that these actions foretell. What to do? What to think? Where to run? Can we indeed even run anywhere? Somewhere? More likely - nowhere.

 "I'm all done with everything.... Too much war, that's what I've seen. Too much war! Too much hatred. Too many lies told. And too much bloody pain."

So states a man caught up in despair, a character in a novel which strongly lays out the consequences of war for all of us, civilians and armed forces alike, the desperate measures people take in order to support a cause inherently evil personified. The dreadful casualties arising from the battles to insure democracy, justice, and a better life, or a hope for a better life as a viable option.

 Yes, even as we know that there are some battles which must be fought, some wars that must take place in our confused and confusing world, there is a desperate need to find other ways. Wars never ever stop shedding more seeds of hatred, more disagreements evidently having no other manner in which to settle things other than more war. And more war. And more deaths. And yet even more weapons. And more death. And the problems never ever seem to be solved. Ever. Never.

Worse than anything is the tiredness and desperation of the soul. This is to what the character is referring, the tiredness of a person's soul which never seems to be reengaged. This pessimism, these damaging blows to the soul has been shown now to become part of the genome of the survivors of war and its cruelties, a most terrible inheritance to our future and the future of our children. Yet another facet of the evils of warfare.

Without doubt, there will be someone who cites a war which needed to be fought. Yes, there are such wars, wars of mitzvah, a must, according to the Bible. However, there are places, times, in the leadup to war that could have been the turning point at which outlaw nations could have been turned back, not appeased, but rather a severe enough 'spanking' that would force them to mend their ways, to know that these evil paths have led them to this point. Saving their potential victims, saving the lives of so many thousands, millions. Certainly, a much better option.

The evil slaughter in Ukraine, the horrid sights of yet more mass graves, of civilians shot down, blindfolded, hands tied, the women, the children, the confused and bereft aged parents mourning their children. The permanent ugliness which eats away at the next generation and here we are again.  

How did we get here? Simple. We refused to stand behind our promises, our words, our debts owed to the peoples of the world. We enabled, even cheered on open traitors within our very government. These traitors are beginning to be forced to court, but even now it is again, too little, too late. The damage has been done to the body politic of the state, a deep gash into its most vital organs. 

Nor is this condition peculiar only here in the USA. It is found in so many other countries. Three years after the Syrian war is ostensibly over, there remain thousands unaccounted for, more mass graves being uncovered. Seventy-four years after the establishment of the State of Israel, a state which would have strongly altered the mathematical picture of WWII and the slaughter rained upon Jews and other 'enemies' of the fascist state. 

Years after a proud Ukraine established a viable democracy, despite the damage done to its genome by the USSR, Russia has once again raised its ugly, greedy head, reached out with its bloody hands, and here we are. Again. Once more the horrid sights, the awful results of war parading, challenging us. A challenge which we have never ever met properly, with good timing, with emphasis, and backup. Such that the enemies at the gate would know, for sure, that we meant what we said; hence, back down! And they would.

We have all failed each other. There remains bitterness and bloodshed among our nations. Rohingya. Hazara. Jews, always and forever. Moslems in Hindu countries and Moslems as oppressors where they reign. Uighurs. The list never ends, does it? 

Desperation among frightened people, running for shelter, turned away, separated from their children, or children who have been entrusted to them, to bring them to safety. Once again here, again, we are doing just that, shoving Ukrainian kids, along with Central American kids, into cold, ugly cells, sleeping crowded together, on hard floors, with an aluminum blanket for warmth. It is not right!!!

In the "Jewish Songbook" there are many, many songs and prayers put to music which speak, sing, longingly, of peace, of regret of war, of hope for no more wars, for children being able to play without fear. One of the simplest, yet most profound verses put to music, sung almost every Friday night or at Saturday meals, is this: 

"Hinei matov ooh ma'naim, shevet achim gam yachad."

"How good and pleasant it is when we sit, as brothers, together."

'Halevai' - if only. 

PS. There hopefully will be another posting tonite and a tad late one on Sunday.