LOOK TO THE RIGHT, LOOK TO THE LEFT

 The words of the title are heard at beginning of the year meetings at prestigious institutes of higher learning, at armed forces inductions to training programs for elite units, for anywhere that a reference or even threat to or - promise - of exclusiveness works. It is simple. State bald 'facts' presented as general knowledge, and anxious candidates will buy into it. Why not, for all love to be part of some exclusionary group which includes only the special. If one is 'special' via inclusion and exclusion, then wow! Life is validated and one is uplifted no matter how low the truth actually is.  Celebration time for some as those excluded slink away in shame and scorn.  Simple, right? And if one walks away immediately, refusing the challenge, and the rewards of success, well, who would want them anyway?  Quitters not welcome is the mantra, chanted and branded. Those who fight, who persevere, who blossom in challenge - that is for us. The remainder -losers. Who? Look to the right, look to the left. Who remains standing are those who qualify, fighters all. 

However, in the atmosphere of today's world, the mantra has taken on a sinister, frightening, growing interpretation. It does not matter whether you stand in the camp of the leftists or the rightists. Antisemitism, rabid Jew hatred is now a unifying, THE unifying, force in politics. All can grab banners, scrawl vicious platitudes and march, head held high, so proud to be included in this glorious club. Oh, the courage it takes to rip and shred posters of kidnapped civilians now held in abominable conditions, if even alive or able to survive their fate subservient to the rampant lies of   "innocent" civilians, of which there are very few, if any, within Gaza. Even better, attack.   

Lies, from the sublime to the asinine, from ridiculous to dangerous, are spewed forth from these forked tongued creatures. They spout pious engagement within the DEI movement, meant, they say, to include, to seek out and create equity. How? Not by the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., for he dreamed of a time when people will be judged not by the color of their skin - or any discriminative factor, but on their merit. Meanwhile, we stand and wait. And wait. And wait. As conditions grow worse, day by day, lie by lie, falsifying 'facts', photo shopping false pictorial memes, all garbage inhaled by the eager to breathe, to inhale, this so refreshing, liberating set of tropes of ugliness. 

This ugliness is adopted by all who need to be part of the latest trend of society, to be with it. Never mind if one is a Jew, for you are 'different'. You have courage, for you desert your brethren during this time of crises, proving your worthiness, your value, hence not the target of hate and haters. Well, been there, done that, tried that and it does not work. People sell their souls in their endeavors to remain upright in the massive revamping of society.    

You stand aside, look away, as your favorite, beloved aunt, Jewish, who dared to marry into your family, 'polluting' the blood, is dragged away.         Never mind that your neighbor who has been such a good friend, a lifesaver so many times, is now taken away as you look away. Obviously, he is guilty of something.  It must be so, for if not, there is an inherent evil in the world and you have bought into it, have become part and parcel in and of its ugliness.

Now it has become the fight of the billionaires. Jews vs non-Jews. Those who have seen the light and those who rejected that false light generated by hate, by the machinations of the Devil, by the willingness of humans to buy anything which would raise their social standing. It is fascinating to observe the deniers sing a different tune when they realize that hey, they are Jewish too and all the money in the world cannot put aside the fate shared with other Jews of the world no matter the standing, no matter the riches, no matter their 'usefulness' for the one determining factor is   Jewishness, as determined by others.

Yes, there is discrimination in the world. Yes, it is unfair, but reverse racism, or blaming every single fault of society on one group is not the answer, for in fact, it merely postpones the next lap, wherein a second target is chosen. Hate needs to be constantly fed and its food is people.  Hate is ugly and bloody and self-perpetuating. It sours the soul, and the acidity is cutting and sharp, painful to the extreme.

More frightening to me is the phenomenon of this Jew hatred finding a comfortable and growing niche within extremes of the political scale. And is increasingly adopted by supposed moderates.  Actual questioning of the right of Israel to exist.       I am frightened by the speed of the abandonment of Israel by its supposed supporters. 

These are questions with no answers. Not for the millennia past nor those to come - maybe. What will the future look like for our inheriting generations? I try to censor my thoughts, my putting them into words. When the story of a hero who tried to save children from the ovens of Europe, mostly Jewish children, why are the advance ads missing that one word - Jewish? Being written out of our own sufferings, our own painful history. Negated!!!How dare they!!!!  

Are we now in a simple bursting of a gas bubble of evil that will die down? Are we at the end of beginning and what beginning would that be? What end will come to be? Is all this able to be defeated or is it a hopeless quixotic hope? Are the blades of the windmill of hate capable of destroying our blades of optimism and humanity? Hell if I know.

 I do know that I worry for my family, for the families of the clan, of the tribe, of the good people of this earth. Are we, they, enough to contravene this awful ever growing into reality ugliness - go know.

 Go question the Guy upstairs. And while raising questions ask Yitzy to come with you. His innocence and purity of soul should help.    

 Yitzy, hear the call of your family, missing you, asking that you serve as a proponent of the people of earth.    

Talk to that Dude up there. Get his attention.  Speak up.

Miss you, golden boy. A lot. As do the rest of your world.

Hugs and kisses always and forever.