WHAT IF?

  ... Wishes were horses.? So goes the old adage which generally arises where we are enmeshed in a situation desperately needful of magical thinking and its realization. If only those what ifs would, should, have come true life would be ever so much better. Unfortunately, fairy godmothers and genies residing in lamps have disappeared, leaving us bereft of actualization of magical thinking. Those thoughts can only become true via application of real thoughts and possibilities and a heck of a lot of elbow grease and clear thinking, all malice left outside the door. Reality. Compromise and understanding. Knowledge that tells us the true situation and the true what ifs resulting from either mulish destructive stubbornness or conversely, actual real-time rational adult thinking and application. Everyone a winner and everyone a loser.

 If we don't change things up the worst will indeed happen. No number of wishes will change that. Countless people throughout history have found out the truth of that and lived with the consequences. However, there is another side to "what if?", that one referring to dreams, possibilities, wherein new realities become possible, where once thought impossible of actuality. These are the 'what ifs" of dreams, found in idealists, even in the cynical jaded realists who somehow manage to find that last sputtering spark of hope, of 'what if' generated hope and dreams possible. 

Shepherding these pie in the sky 'what ifs' requires real hard work. Lots of sweat, lots of arguing, lots of compromise and lots of growing realization that yes, those perhaps what ifs are actually changing, taking on different shapes, allowing for positive "what if'? The problem is where do we find those willing and capable of doing such shepherding? Where do we find those who are capable of going out there and somehow banging sense into that great, washed and unwashed electorate out there, enmeshed in their various swamps of fetid thought and deeds where stubbornness and anger and hate dominate. Can we see and encourage, enable, the last remaining sparks of hope to rise once again, to rekindle the dying wicks? Can we? Do we even want to do that or are its opponents too powerful to overcome? I have my doubts. I truly do.

Even with the best of intentions in mind and in deed, is it actually possible to reformulate those what ifs? What if the BBC stopped being so grossly overtly shamefully pro-Palestinian meaning Pro Hamas, meaning pro murderers, pro-child killers. What if its newscasters actually spoke words of truth? Could the world tolerate such a shock, or would it crack in pieces and fly off straight into the great big void out there? Can it be possible for the cousins of the world to recall their familial connection and build upon it. When will Russia recognize that fact? When will the Arab and Jews recall that they all come from the same source - the forefather Abraham. When are we all going to realize that the various tribes of Africa all share the huge rich lands of that continent, wealth enough for all. When is the world, if ever going to divest itself of that stinking hate that festers within? Is it not better, more productive to feed populations rather than kill them or starve them? Here I refer to the Sudan area, real and brutal, and not to the cry wolf supposed famine that never happened and never was in Gaza. 

When are the nations of the world going to realize that we Jews are here to stay? We are not going anywhere. We have never, in fact, gone anywhere, try as you might. What if? What if? What if? A true and lasting peace between Israel and the Arab and Muslim nations. What if the world of Europe gave up its tired, vicious, ever revolving JewHatred? What if? What if? Could there in fact be peace among nations, and we could all beat swords into plowshares. Well, if when and what, I wish I knew. I wish I knew. But think, imagine - peace, ending slaughter and no more lakes of bloodshed and tears of mourning. What if? When if? Again, I wish I knew. I wish someone knew. Two someones.

At this point, however, I cannot even wrap my mind around this, so unlikely it is. And yet, it must happen, for this bloodletting cannot continue. We are wiping out generations. We have yet still to learn that there are no winners in war. Only those who have perhaps suffered less than the sufferings of the defeated. We must find another way, another passage. Find a recognition of our shared humanity and shared fate on this planet. What if we indeed were able to do that? What if and what could we not do at that point in time if we harness the power of all of our minds, focus on the good and the positive rather than on building better, stronger, bigger, armaments and weapons. Just imagine. We must make it so. It must be.  

What if the world actually silenced the spewers of hate and no compromise? We could then, the rest of us, repair and rebuild the world which desperately is in need of new bricks, new foundations, new mortar.

I don't know. Well, I know that I am discouraged. I see that anger on the faces of people. I see the confusion. I read of the incidents driven by the enmity of others. Why must this be the only way?  If we would all simply look in the mirror and then look at the reflection of our enemies in the mirror and understand that we are one. One humanity. No more, no less. We are all part of that humanity. Cousins, albeit at times very distant cousins, but cousins, nevertheless.

 We cannot have all that we wish, all that we want. All that is, in fact, ours. What if we all compromised? What if, What if, indeed?

Yitzy, are there such things up there as what if conferences? Do angels dream of what ifs?  Can the positive dreams ever be actualized, activated down here on Earth? We are in ever so much need of such things. Now would be a perfect time to do so.

What is always perfect is our love of you, our longing for you.  

Always and forever. Always and forever.