SNAP, CRACKLE, AND POP!

 Most of us from the older generation remember that three-word entry into the lexicon of the day. Today's generations might unfortunately think it is either the news reports of the fighting around the world, a la Ukraine, or the sounds of gunfire from yet another mass shooting here within the borders of our own country, or less harmful, the sounds emanating from someone, somewhere nearby, playing one of those shoot 'em up video games. Us, well, we know the real deal.

Snap! Crackle! Pop! Ah, the sounds that bring back memories of childhood. The simple joy of putting one's ears close to the bowl of cereal and listening for those very sounds - Snap! Crackle! Pop! The gleeful shout when we heard all three. And off we went to school to relate that achievement to our friends.

Today, at times it is difficult to listen for those three sounds. Why? Unfortunately, Rice Krispies has fallen into that new category of spot shortages. At times South Florida, NY, etc., have been bereft of that cereal, along with cream cheese, forms of pasta, olive oil and various other sundries. One had to adopt a new shopping attitude. It was defensive shopping, co-operative shopping. If you saw a refugee, a surprise immigrant to your supermarket shelf, you bought it, need it or not. You would soon, so there it was. But there was more, as the quick phone calls were made and the necessary amounts were bought for family members. They were then dispatched to the various areas of the country where they resided. Success! 

An interesting shopping adventure once again and a sense of achievement and victory against the someone, somewhere, who instigated these spot shortages, mysterious to the nth degree. A smile lurks on your face all day. The new Mona Lisa smile of contentment, yet another one over the annoying mysterious one who has rippled the waters of life. Petty? Maybe. But take your victories where you can these days.

Unfortunately, the snap crackle and pop of today's times are not so user friendly, not soul satisfying, for they represent much that is wrong with the world today. Snap! goes the camera, taking a picture of Zelensky, the embattled president of Ukraine. Crackle! goes your heart when you compare his face of today with his face of a mere 41 days ago. 41 days of horror, of invasion, of war crimes perpetrated upon the civilians of this nation. 41 days of fighting off the giant, using the stones one has against the advanced and plentiful weaponry of the enemy. 41 days of personal and familial danger, withstanding the fear, even as it becomes etched upon one's face. The face of a hero. The face of one who should be paraded, feted all around this world of ours, so desperately in need of a hero. So difficult to find.

Pop! goes the sounds of the bullets flying yet again. Another mass shooting. A strange sense of relief when one hears that it was not another school shooting. However, just as tragic when we add up the losses from the shooting, any shooting. Orphans, widows, widowers, bereft parents, lives ruined, shocks to the waters of the lives of so many. Ripples becoming waves. Waves becoming  tsunamis. 

Why? For G-d's sake, why? Why has it come to this? Why are there not more ways to intercept people with a need, a desperation, to kill, to shoot, to gain notoriety in that manner? Why have we not developed methodologies to help them before they implode and explode at the same time? In fact, why have we allowed guns to proliferate throughout society, beyond all reason and sanity? Need a hunting rifle? Fine. Need a handgun for proven need and security, or to have at home? Fine. After investigation and approval. Need or want an assault weapon? Uh - uh. Nope. No way, no how. There is no need for that unless we are at war, against an invading army. Or you have a lust for blood, that of others, in a warped live action version of the violent war games of the gamer world.

A snap, crackle and pop heard round the world as we fall back into wrong, benighted ways that damage so many lives. Attempts to gain control over women who dare to insist on independence,  and equal rights for all. Attempts to deny freedom to live to people wired as gay. The same religious crazies who rant and rave about homosexuality, of G-d's wrath upon those who are, are the same people who forget that G-d is the one who has created us all, and if He wired people in varied manners, well, who are we to question His actions? Would we not be better off trying to correct the evil we have generated with intolerance, with neglect, with all the wrongs of society which so desperately need help. Do we not have enough to do without sticking our noses where they have no business being?

Perhaps we are hopeless. So many years after the revolutionary statement that "All men are created equal", all "have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - why, why have we forgotten the true import of those words, the pride we should take in our Founders, men and women alike, all who fought for that, for those statements, through the centuries. Why do we wish to regress, to cause hurt and damage to others? Are we so insecure within ourselves that we must, absolutely must, find someone to be on the rung beneath us so as to inflate our higher position? If so, how pathetic. Better we look to improve ourselves, to look at the man in the mirror, to begin there, and then move along the right path, the helpful, positive one for all.

Then, maybe then, we can all place our ears close to the cereal bowl of life and hear the lovely Snap! Crackle! Pop! Of three cute little elves. Wouldn't that be lovely - in real life, and not just in a song.