One has to be living in a cave to not understand the allusions of the title. Whitewater is a fearsome part of rafting. First one takes a sweet, silent ride, with perhaps a few bumps and tiny thrills, but then the water speeds up, foams. The roars of water falling, its potential power to destroy clear, fills the air and turns one's blood to water, to maim and kill, during the seconds of the seconds of extreme risk and why? Is life not risky enough these days? The frantic search for extrinsic danger when there is enough, more than enough to go around, in real life, boggles the mind. Certainly, it boggles my mind.
White water situations abound in today's reality. Will one be attacked for one's appearance or for wearing the wrong item of clothing? Are we heading towards a time of extreme differentiation or to a world where differences are banned, a bland, gray world of no hope? Either is unacceptable, doomed to failure, complete with all the gore and danger one needs to satisfy that white water itch. For sure, there is enough inherent danger within such worlds that along with the whitewater syndrome we have the affliction of the paralytic white knuckles.
Presently, the majority of the world is at white knuckles level. It is a world where life sustenance is a challenge, accidentally or on purpose. Surety of survival is absent. A world where kill or be killed is a real mantra. A world where we have reverted to barbaric ways of life, looking upon children as tools of war, servants of perverted sex, sources of labor. A world where children are captured, used as political 'things', of no account other than to be used for some adults with twisted ideas of what must be.
What the hell is the matter with us? How have we descended so far, become immersed in such violence and hate? Why have we allowed, even encouraged this? Why must we indulge the worst of our desires, our largest faults inherent in being human? Why do we insist on numbers to give meaning to life? Does it truly matter how many are killed or wounded, maimed for life, or simply disappeared?
What is this term of 'equivalency'? The loss of any life is a tragic event so what must be the loss of thousands, millions, due to our faults and lacks and thoughtlessness? Why do we consistently ignore or corrupt the humane part of humanity? The resultant, inevitable results are clear, yet so many are either blind to it or buy wholeheartedly into it or are complicit with it to varying degrees. We try to delineate the boundaries, the causes of the tragedies arising, but even then we do that incorrectly, generally discarding neutrality in favor of political advantage and the blood beat of old, ugly hatreds. WE do that. WE are the culprits. Frankly, I see only whitewater and white knuckles ahead for humanity. Will we reach that whitewater foaming so powerfully that we know we have reached above and beyond the power of our white knuckles to deliver us to safety? Worse, that time grows ever closer, ever larger, unable to be denied nor avoided.
No, I have not gone way over the top, jumped a few elephants or sharks. No, I have not deserted my people nor my homeland. I cry every day for the dead, the wounded, of my people, of lives cut brutally short, of potential thrown to the wind. I weep for those of us left behind, drowning in our grief, in the immutability of fate. I am always seeking updates on the general situation as well as the situations of friends and family in this time of horror.
Why must we have this constant, ugly state of fake peace and brutal war, over and over again? Why? Because at present there are no people on the opposing side with whom to negotiate realistically, sensibly, able to see both forest and trees. Who recognizes the futility of war and knows, both sides know, that compromise, painful to all, is the way, the only way, to go. However, recognize the difficulty of negotiations with negotiators who refuse compromise, who are afraid of their own people, who spew forth only viral toxic hate, threats of murder, of genocide the paths they tread.
The entire globe is now immersed in that hatred, spewing forth blood threats even as they do not understand the background of it all. Jews are denied minority status, denied their 'whiteness', incorrect actually, as Jews come in all colors. Hatred is contagious, freeing people from restrictions on behavior, allowing indulgences beyond the general pale, receiving approval. So hey, why not!!!
In the blindness of their hate, they have precluded any ability to speak up for peace within Israel and most of world Jewry. Push too far and we will push back. Certainly now, after a brutal, barbaric massacre on Oct 7, the slaughter worthy of praise by the most perverted Nazi, and the aftermath still with us, the captives and the shrinking possibility for their survival. The mounting loss of our soldiers, the mourning of an entire nation. They attacked the very people who wanted peace, who wished for cooperation within the two peoples. The ground was soaked with their blood on Oct 7 in all the communities of the Gaza border area.
It takes two to tango and a hell of a lot more to wage peace, rather than war. To wage peace is a whitewater white knuckles affair. Only the brave will take it up. Only the wise will see the blood and hate of the moment, of the decades, and dig deep for some wisdom. That wisdom, only that wisdom and courage will serve a constructive purpose. Again, only. only, only if the Palestinians realize the futility of their murderous goals and the advantages of joining in that true battle. To eliminate the physical battles and instead share the uncertainties and the benefits of a rocky peace, hopefully growing into a successful one, a model for the world to follow.
Pipe dreams? Maybe. Probably. But there must be an end to this. Every morning I wake up to a new count, 14 dead on Saturday. How many more before it is over? Will it indeed ever be over? Are there enough of us to fight that battle and win, against all odds? The answers are way above my pay grade, but for sure there must be those who are in that rank and can do the job - if they wish to, on both sides of this bloody curtain. If they relish a true and positive battle with the challenges of whitewater and white knuckles.
I weep as I think of my Yitzy, gone, his innocence, delivered from this ugly world which hated, hates his people, denied their humanity. The great regret and sense of loss left behind are continuing to scar our souls. The inspiration he provided to adults and children, to Jew and non-Jew - not easily replaced or qualified to step into those empty shoes. His golden traits were cut off too soon, his light dimmed to us.
I curse those who cause mankind to waste their resources, to spend funds on machines of war rather than on curing the woes of mankind, to address the problems of the world. The trial of medication for his cancer might have been in time, not missed by a few days. Stupid, dangerous, inimical thinking.
Yitzy, now it is your job to gather the forces, inspire the angels, and assail G-d. Push Him to realize that He must get involved. His people are bleeding, along with so many others. Thís must stop.
We so wish you were here on this earth with us, but know we will love you forever, remember you forever, treasure your memories and all the Yitzy stories.
Be safe and warm, Yitzy, and remain within the warmth and love of the family who awaited you and within the glow of the Lord's light.
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