Before my time and into my time, I guess, since my generation knows the expression used as the title of this posting. It originated with asking for plain seltzer at the cost of two cents. Nothing fancy. Just plain old, aerated water. The best seltzer? The premium ones? Those delivered to your home, shlepped by the seltzer man to your kitchen in heavy glass bottles - a treat in almost every Jewish home. It morphed into a euphemism for plain talk, momma lashon, straight from the heart. No side trips, no evasion. Only, as Jack Webb would say, "Just the facts. Ma'am."
Today, the entire sense of the expression is lost. Yes, there is still a seltzer man who will deliver, but it is not with the equivalent cost of $0.02 plain. However, that is of little matter at this point in the face of the larger concerns. There is no more mamma lashon in these days. People speak out of 10 sides of their mouths at one and the same time along with the expressions emerging from their rears. Barely any nuggets of truth are contained within the bombastic flood of trash flowing from the mouths of forked split tongues. The rare bits of truth are found only after multiple siftings to separate the wheat from the chaff, if in fact there are any.
So - plain talk, frank talk, which some need to read and understand the true situation of the day. I hate being the voice of Cassandra, the bearer of bad news. However, when the truth is there in plain sight, a two-cent plain presentation, no amount of denial can erase it. That kind of thought is magical thinking appropriate only for those of toddler age. Certainly not for adults, especially for those seeking plain, unvarnished truths.
Today we often are schizophrenic in our quest to live a sane life, to function properly in whatever role we have chosen or have been bequeathed upon us by circumstances of life. Even as we make plans for a future, we contest that thought with back of the brain thoughts, of a negation of those plans, a disappearance of that hopeful future. A very fragile world, teetering on the brink of disaster, forces its way into our mind and breaches the walls of denial. World circumstances are such that we are forced, against our will, to actually contemplate the unthinkable. The horror that might actually become fact rather than fodder of literature or the pondering of philosophers. Reluctantly, even secretly, our thoughts turn to another path.
'What ifs' proliferate.? What if nations in the world refuse to stop playing games of deadly chicken? What if we shred and discard that rather feeble blanket of camouflage over the truth of our current circumstances and the possibilities that arise from that. What if we fail to truly understand the consequences of a Worldwide War. No more proxy wars. The armies of the foes would not be only crowds of warriors shouting and running with shields and staves and spears or their equivalents. We would have that, but we would also have those people pushing buttons, sending out orders, employing A.I. to 'enhance' the factors of disruption and death. Giving rise to a desolate planet incapable of supporting life as we know it - or even any at all.
There are other possibilities to contemplate. What if the populations of the world are frightened enough to turn to dictators who promise salvation but add only misery to the equation. Would that be an acceptable future? What if women were sentenced to a Taliban like existence? How would sanity be possible? What if a repressive despised government seeks a scapegoat to be used as a deflection, to channel the wrath, the anger, the desperation of the population elsewhere other than that government and its leaders.
That initial target will be depleted. However, the need for targets remains. The search for more is not difficult, for humans have the ability to designate someone as the 'other' within their society. Those others become the next targets and the next and the next and the next until the only target left is the man in the mirror. We are the bearers of our own destruction.
Think not that the vitriolic JewHatred now growing so rapidly in the world is the end number in the atonal symphony of hate. If no Jews exist in that country, nation, any entity, there will be found "Jews" of other origin. Tibetans who support independence and the Dalai Lama. The albinos of Nigeria. The Hazaris. The Haitians and Mexicans in America. The “migrant” who needs to be “sent back.” The need for a target is ever. The bloodlust, the anger, need targets other than the elite of government. But once again, always again it will ramp up. Until we understand that truth and figure. out how to deal with it, to vigorously and victoriously combat it, we will never achieve what humanity is capable of achieving and will be judged by future historians as lacking in character and most redeeming factors and traits, inherent and possible within humanity.
As a Jew it is incumbent upon me to point out why I, along with so many others are frightened. The entire issue now demands addressing it beyond the rather impotent level of banging on doors, of shouting, calling for ears to listen and eyes to see. We have begun to believe that far more proactive and firmer reactive responses and behavior is necessary. When Starmer calls our kidnapped hostages - “sausages”, well, I want to haul off and hit him. When the horror, the massacre, the gang rapes, the burning alive of people, children, of October 7 is excused, my blood boils. When Hamas and Hezbollah hide among civilians and Israel telegraphs its plans so as to limit civilian casualties, why is Israel blamed for the results of the behavior, the criminal behavior, of those two terrorist organizations? In fact, why the hell are they termed militants when they are so obviously terrorists? When campuses of our nation are rife with JewHatred, where hate filled professors are reinstalled in the classrooms all the better to spread their lies. When violations of the law and violence abound. When consequences were set aside. When Jewish students are harassed and insulted, called vile names and hear calls and chants for their demise along with the state of Israel. When they are physically assaulted. These are the times when our collective antenna should be upright and quivering.
Universities spout words of concern amounting to nothing. They carry very little weight, if any at all. It is time we realize we are past the time of these committees, these empty promises and assurances, of their useless verbiage and lack of decisive meaningful consequential action. When the haters are bold enough to accuse an attorney of the government of bias, filing a charge because she is Jewish, that is not a good indication for the future nor for the present.
We cannot remain silent in the face of all that is now taking place. We must stand together. We must stand up, and we must stand tall. We must carry the fist. Even as we try to avoid its use. However, bullies must know the power of those who oppose them. There must be consequences for the bully for then and only then, will they back down. The more entitled and justified the world deems these terrorists, the more emboldened they are. The more we must send out the truth necessary to be heard and internalized. We must do it for there are few who will do it with us. The smaller the chances for the future we all desire.
We must stand together. We must be united. We must have powerful voices and strong fists to be used only when there was no alternative, but it must be front and center for its potentialities are well recognized by the haters. The fist is most definitely better than a batch of feeble twigs.
Our hostages must come home. The world must admit the truth. Who began this war. Who set up the parameters? Who now calls for succor because they are in existential danger. Who must realize the intensity and the determination of Israel as it fights for its survival. They must admit the horror of the wrong of October 7 and end their propensity for threatening yet another and another and another.
Making peace would be difficult though it is not impossible. What we need are sincere negotiations. We need truthful talk rather than bravado. Once we recognize our shared humanity, the shared dreams we all have for our future and the future of our family, perhaps then we might actually arrive at some subtle agreement. But never ever will Israel acquiesce to its own destruction.
Truly tough times. An insoluble problem which. must be resolved. Violence only begets violence. But if we are hit, we must hit back. There is no alternative to that. However, we need to find a way to set aside the threats, the violence, the anger, the hate, and understand that if we cannot make peace, we will together make war, so bloody awful and serving no good purpose. A viable solution is there merely in hiding now and we must seek and find.
First and foremost, we must wake up and truly understand the importance of an agreement and cessation of war. A return to homes long denied and a rebuilding of those destroyed. A more united community, hopeful for the future.
There is no other way.
And in the meanwhile, Israel does not cede its right to exist in its ancient homeland. We all share the same original Bible. Within that Bible is the promise of the Lord. Who are we that we defy the most powerful Being? We must find a better and safer way to peace, The Big Boss demands that we do just that.
Two cents plain.
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