America, America whither thou goeth? Have you merely strayed from the past with the opportunity to return or are you totally lost with no hope of exit from the jungle of negativity and hate. It is very difficult at times of late to truly parse the structure of our nation. All the adverbs and adjectives, all the verbs, are confusing, misapplied. Students are asked to parse sentences in order to understand the structure of the language and how to use it correctly. We must do the same here in America, from the citizen in the street to the men or women in Congress, or sitting on Court benches. We must learn to properly parse this nation and understand its structure. Only then will we be able to recognize our errors and correct them.
We pride ourselves in the ability and the right to pound out patriotic songs, for our voices to resound, be it in the still air of the Prairie of the High Desert, or the Wetlands, or the cacophony of urban life. We sing. We ask for God to.“ shed His grace.” to complete the picture with "Brotherhood, from sea to shining sea". We appeal for divine help when we sing, asking God to bless America. to "guide her, with the light from above".
However, apparently, we are a bunch of hypocrites. Even as we ask for guidance from divine sources, we use religion to inflict pain on others. We use religion as a battering ram, a weapon of war. We deny the rights of some to follow the religion of their ancestors. Unfortunately, for me and mine, during these tumultuous times to be a Jew, to be openly a Jew, is to invite trouble in your door. Greatly aggravating is that when Anti Semitism is called out, rightfully so as statistics of increased JewHatred so sadly prove, inevitably, so wrongly, Islamophobia is tied to it. It is a constant cry of "wolf" even as such incidents are very few and far between. Even as the loudest proponents of JewHatred are the ones crying wolf! We ignore hate and repression and continuously give voice to the primitive hate which has survived through all the millennia. Idol versus idol. Catholic versus Protestant. Hindu versus Buddhism. Political ism versus religion. It just never seems to go away.
Yesterday - an amazing, complicated prisoner/ hostage release trade involving numerous nations, about 20 individuals from multiple countries took place. It required fine tuning, delicate negotiations, cooperation between enemies. Evan Gershkovich was able to say, “I'm home.”. Andy Whalen was able to salute his commander in chief as he alit on American soil. A wife and mother, a journalist, was reunited with husband and daughters. Beautiful. Heartwarming. However,...
However, as I viewed these joyous moments the other side of my brain was weeping. Why? Because I think of other hostages. Kidnapped brutally from their lives, seeing their loved ones slaughtered, butchered, before their eyes. Their friends slaughtered, raped, shot. The elderly, infants and children, carried off to horror. 44 Americans were killed that day. Eight dual American Israeli citizens were kidnapped and only five, if five remain alive. Numerous hostages kidnapped were dual citizens of multiple foreign lands. Nary a whisper heard to demand their citizens be returned, released from the horror of their captivity. Silence. Efforts visible in their absence. Barely a whisper. from these countries who should beshouting to the skies to release their citizens.
No, what we got was dense thick, overwhelming suffocating silence. Ten months gone by, more deaths as the captives die in captivity, murdered, starved, but no IRC, no Embassy representatives. Nothing. Ten months. No end in sight. No nation aroar for their citizens in horrendous captivity, dying in the interim. No anguished shouts and demands from Argentina for that terrified mother and her two beautiful boys. None.
Hence, I see and read the rejoicing in America, rightly so, but to the contrary I see Americans withering, dying, ignored in their imprisonment. And the only reason for that, the ugly reason which explains it, is that these hostages are Jewish. End of discussion. Yes, Gershkovich is Jewish but he had the Wall Street Journal calling for his release. He was part of a multinational trade. On the other hand, Daniel Pearl was left to die as he too was taken prisoner. And today our American Israeli captives remain under threat, as do the thousands of dual citizens living in Israel. Jews. What the hell. Next!
Even as we celebrated Pilgrims and Puritans as bold seekers of religious freedom, only later did we learn that they denied it to others. However, there were those who fought that bigotry and ignorance and over time we improved, tried to correct errors. Trial and error, numerous times, and slowly we improved, but the roots of hate grow deep and strong and their extirpation difficult, at times seeming impossible to do so.
Slowly, at a steep price, the country developed a better toleration, even an appreciation of and gratitude to those who are “different” from the "typical American". Physical violence, verbal abuse, threats, were never totally erased but we had hopes of progress. Immigrants were recognized for their contributions, their necessity and were able to thrive and prosper and to become integral parts of the structure of this nation. Merely watching the Olympics, viewing the Heinz 57 variety of Americans gave voice of our progress.
So why is it that we cannot extirpate these deep ugly roots of hatred which benefit none of us? Not the hated and not the haters. I wish I could find a wise person who could answer these questions and explain the inexplicable. We need to stop tiptoeing around this issue. We need to confront the hate still endemic in our nation. We need to reeducate people of our nation, turn them away from the primitiveness of hate and towards the progress and benefits of acceptance and appreciation, of the gifts of new talent and ideas.
We need to address and eliminate all bias and bigotry, admit its ugliness and harm in every manifestation. We need to remove approval of hate, particularly for the hate as old as time and seemingly impervious to all attempts to extinguish it. Here is the truth of it today, here in America.
"These Progressives don’t want a Jew. Let’s say it out loud. Imagine if moderate Dems said they didn’t want a certain minority. The condemnations would be deafening. Yet now we hear much silence."
Along with condemnation and criticism of the Jewish organizations attempting to repair and improve the situation, they are accused of conspiracy, their efforts denied and demeaned. Prejudice wears its ugliness in many different manners, and we must be alert to each and every one of them and to new permutations of them. We must acknowledge truths, as shameful as they are. We must acknowledge the practice of bigotry. and double, triple our efforts to cancel it out. We must acknowledge its practice, it's rampant wild growth over the past few years.
Finally, the topic of no king. George Washington refused the crown offered to him, stating that we had not fought England only to return to the monarchy. We fought for freedom, and we are to continue to fight for that freedom. Today we are falling short, allowing some to put themselves above the law. However, that principle of no king, of no man above the law, became an integral part of the structure of this nation, often violated and ignored, yet always there and believed in. So it has been and so it must remain, ever stronger until never will there be anyone who can place themselves and their acolytes above the law. There will be no need for a bill in Congress called the No King Act. In 2024.
America. Yes, America. We beseech God to watch us, to help us, to guide us. Yet we spurn that advice, turn on the guidance and return too often to antiquated hateful rules and tropes and reinvent them putting a glass of modernity on them, claiming that they are not what they are. This must end. We need to. pay attention to ourselves and what emanates from our mouth. We need to look within. Diagnose the problems and the improvement necessary. We need to prioritize those repairs.
We none of us are perfect. We have all violated the rules of civility. We have allowed ourselves to become mired at times in swamps of hate. And I do not exempt myself on that. But again, folks, we've got to do better.
We must enable the joyous cry of "I'm home" to echo as it bursts forth from the throats of so many who will be allowed to contribute to this nation as our ancestors did, as we ourselves do. We need to hear that sound, that statement. emerging from the hearts of those who have been told they are not at home. Not here. Never. We need to find within our America of today room for the America of yesterday and filter out the negatives. and then truly become. as it was in many cultures deemed the "Goldena Medina. The Golden State. The country where the streets were paved with gold, with gold opportunities. and the possibilities of dreams coming true.
If we could all only sit down together and unpack our ugly suitcases together, examine the contents together. Then perhaps we might see the stupidity we consistently renew and reinforce. Beneath the surface most humans are the same. Those who refuse to understand must be taught to rethink. To continue on, as we are today, will only result in tragedy. That end must be avoided.
----------------------------------------------------------- Yesterday I wrote about a little boy. My family's little boy who was in his brief lifetime exactly what was needed. Unfortunately. this was not to be as he was taken back into the home, into the arms of the “Light from above”
I forgot to include the web. site which you can type in. and go slightly less than 9 minutes into the "Sutofsky" segment. There you'll see the actual event honoring Yitzy, his uniqueness, his inner beauty. So many loved him and miss him.
Always and forever. Always and forever.
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