NOT TODAY. FAR MORE IMPORTANT TOPICS.

  Brett Stephens. Just about my favorite opinion writer from the New York Times. He hit it right on the head again and did not spare the words or emotion. Love it!! He deemed Trump the most loathsome hypocritical individual ever to occupy the White House. Uh-huh - and will all those in agreement raise your hands. Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum. Watch those hands go up. But I have had it with him right now. His faces. His snide remarks. His nasty attitude His selfishness. His filthy lies. 

So today. I'm leaving him alone. Except for the paragraph above, that is. Today is my day to write of that which is of utmost importance to me. An importance that will never diminish. Not ever. Always to remain in my heart. Never to be forgotten or stray far from my thoughts. It is about Chanukah but not in the way you are thinking. In fact, other than lighting the candles, I have banished this holiday from my home. And at an appropriate time, (ad meah ve'esrim), I will have my discussion with the Lord Above as to why he has ruined this Chag, this holiday of light, I so loved.

The attack in Bondi Beach. The attack on the subway train. The stabbing in the street. The raucous violent demonstrations. The calls for the death of Jews, among whom I number, are bad enough. Especially, as we can see no end to this. Certainly not anytime soon. These beasts of hate have no fear, no concern. Why should they? The heads of numerous governments speak hypocritical   words as another terrible act is perpetrated upon the Jewish people. Again, and again. Words mean nothing unless there is solidity within. And force and consequence behind. Apparently, the current Heads of Government are just a bunch of wimps. They count for naught for they are hot air and nothing else. Sometimes not even that.

The rest of this posting is about five special people who are greatly missed, where scabs have not yet formed over the most recent wounds let alone the ones more distant in time, but hurting just as much, leaving an ache in our hearts and throats. 

This holiday, usually in December, this year added yet another arrow to the heart. I lost my beautiful sister, my friend for life, with whom I never fought, with whom I shared a room for 15 years, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for tuning me on to the oldies, and a lifelong appreciation of them.

Six months ago, we lost her, after a hard and brave struggle against a nasty illness she did not deserve. All these months later I still reach for the phone to call and share whatever was on my mind. Several times a day, in fact. Her birthday is December 15, and what a day to try to think of her, to remember and keep her close, when horrific violence, a massacre again, was perpetrated upon our people.  

I love you, Tzip. And always will. You'll always be with me. And if I can't talk to you on the phone, I'll talk to you in my head. Keep Mommy and Daddy close. Take care of our Zaydies and be sure to hug our Yitzy several times a day. 

I love you, my big sister, forever.   

The deaths of my two Zaydies bookended Chanukah. I was a little girl when my first Zaydie passed. But I saw my father cry. I had never seen that before. And it helped me to understand that I was never going to see my Zaydie sitting in his rocking chair by the window. Asking me if I was a good girl. And taking out his little purse and giving me a few pennies or a nickel. My other Zaydie died when I was older. in high school. There is no connection stronger than the connection of grandparents to grandchildren, unless it's with great grandchildren! Now when we get together, we tell our children stories about grandparents. The traditions they set up. Funny things they did. And each and every one of us benefited from his paper hanging skills. I miss them both and wish I had known then all that I should have asked them, all the family lore and background. Stay close with all the members of our family who have preceded us. Be it in peacetime, or war. A natural death or by the scummy hands of the Nazis and their collaborators. Give Tzipi hugs. Make her feel at home and safe. Make sure Mommy doesn't go around 'justing', cleaning all the clouds up there, and that Daddy doesn't argue with G-d too much. And please, my Zaydies, take care of Yitzy, a little boy taken from us too soon.  

As for you, Pop. I can remember you on your last night of Chanuka, when you signaled to us somehow that you wished to be in a chair for the lighting of the candles. We did just that, as you wished. We lit and said the brachot, the blessings, and there you were, Pop. You always loved the tunes of the tefilot, the prayers, and with your eyes closed, no strength to even open them, you waved your hand to the rhythm of the brachot and the Maoz Tzur. We were smiling and crying at the same time. 

You were such a good man. A man who would not stray off the righteous and honest path. Not one bit. A man who gave so much charity to so many, mostly anonymously. I believe that people knew how good you were, Pop, because your funeral was standing room only. We certainly had a service for an audience that spanned the gamut of ethnicity and religions, colors and gender. You were beloved by all. Especially us, especially me. Everyone loved you. Everyone respected you. 

I miss our conversations, sharing of letters that we wrote. I remember how you worked with me so that I could hang with my friends, the group of boys and girls that we were from school, Mommy never knew, till much later!! Our own conspiracy!  

You were a good son and son in law. A great and awesome Pop and you took care of all the relatives. I know you will continue to do so and you will take the same care and love for Mommy up there, as you always did. Just as you will take Yitzy in hand and discuss the "New Shulchan Aruch" and whatever else the two of you get up to, both of you with the same vein of mischievous pranks.  Join together in love and friendship. 

My Pop. 20 years on and I still miss you. That hole in my heart when I want to ask your advice. 4th Day of Hanukkah - you were taken from us. And on the fifth night our little boy, who had fought so hard, who was so brave, who bore that pain like a hero - was gone from among us. He could be so mischievous and would make us laugh. I had to convince his mom that chocolate was not candy; hence, he could chow down on it and load his pockets up because it was not candy! 

Yitzy was the beloved pet of all within the family. He was that special. A super athlete. A serious boy who loved to learn. Who delved deep into nature. Who wrote an article about birds, and tried to scare his grandmother with his ugly lizard. Not an Angel. Just this special boy, everybody's best friend.  Just Yitzy.  

His family turned themselves inside out trying to ease his year of pain. His mother spoke "doctor talk" better than most doctors in her steep and devoted efforts to learn all she could and perhaps   find that magic cure that we all wished for. Both his parents were by his side every second and he took walks with his dad as he could into his beloved park behind their home. 

In his final months, he amazed all who knew him. Even the medical staff of the hospital, with words of wisdom far above a typical almost 13-year-old boy. Words of acceptance, his only concern that we remember him, and he would remember us. That we should not be angry at Hashem, for he wasn't. For obviously, he believed, he had been sent here for a purpose and his purpose was completed, and so G-d was taking him back home.  

 His last wish? To have a Torah written in his name?  So special was he that within three days we had more than enough for that Torah.  So special. that the new campus of the school was named for him. This year, his second-year gone from us, will be commemorated by special classes and prayers using the Torah written in his name.   

 So, tell me. How could I possibly be happy on this holiday?  No way. And I am so glad that you can't see me or hear me cry as I soaked the keyboard with my tears. 

Yesterday, today and tomorrow - for as long as I am able, I will love all of you. And miss all of you. And be grateful for having had the time that I have had with you. Would it had been more.

No, I am done with Chanukah.  

TODAY

 Today has become a term of uncertainty, of fear, and of wonder. In our todays, serious questions as to where to go, what to do, how to act. What if? And the what ifs have become questions existential in manner and reality. If I go there, what will happen? If that happens, what will I do? What if the worst happens? How am I supposed to act? Do I risk my life to save others? Or do I save my own? Or ones who are with me. Is there actually a protocol or pamphlet which discusses the question of “How to behave in a terrorist attack.?” Will that help me get a better rating on my insurance?

Sounds ridiculous, does it not? Yet several organizations to which I belong have had guest speakers come in to explain exactly that protocol of behavior. The speakers also warn those caught up in these unthinkable horrors not to be heroes. Run. Hide. Fight. This is what we have been told over and over again. 

However, that's not so easy. Particularly if you are with someone. Are you supposed to desert someone? Save yourself at the cost of others? Trample over them? Don't help them up? And if the last step is fight, what does that mean? That all hope is lost? That the only thing left is to take out at least one before you are taken out? People can spill out answers, they can fall glibly off the tongue, but there is no way of knowing what one will do unless one is cursed enough to actually find oneself in this situation. At that point, do not forget to pray!

 Most of us have read and heard the hostages brutally taken by Hamas and what happened to them over the term of their captivity. Their imprisonment. In cages. In mud. In holes. In horror. In uncertainty beyond that of most anyone we know. One wonders how they remained alive and   retained hope. Were they regretful of their heroism in aiding some to get out even as they were caught, sealed up inside the dark uncertainties of kidnapping and brutality. What were their 'todays'? How did they make it through each day after day?

When someone hears that a person lives in Israel, their mouths grow wide. As do their eyes. They ask, "But it is so dangerous there. Aren't you afraid? You could get killed at any moment!" Well, yes and no. I do not have that fear where I have a place in Israel. Last June, I too had to go into my security room. But one did not run screaming in horror. One just knew what we had to do, where we to go. Where there was a security room. And get there. And listen for all clear. The kids outside riding bikes or scooters simply took their bikes inside, clearing the play area and took them right back out at all clear. 

Generally, we rode, walked, hiked the land unafraid.  Alert and aware? Yes, even as one has to be anywhere in this world of ours. But no one hunkered down in a security room hour after hour, day after day. Yes. There were, are, some terror attacks and one does the best one could to avoid that. But they were the exception rather than the rule. 

The questions can be otherwise. What about other situations? What about other countries? Or someone could be riding in a car and suddenly is t-boned.  Or a car mounts the sidewalk. Or someone is attacked getting on a subway train. Or sitting in a classroom. Or dancing at a party. Ot walking down the street. There is no guaranteed safe place in this world. One never knows what could happen. What will happen. The only thing one can do is be prepared. Try to do the right thing. Whatever one deems that to be.

Unfortunately, we live in times when the todays. can be outrageously dangerous. In fact, I feel safer in Israel than I do here, in America. In Israel, security is enforced and taken seriously. The security personnel are not fat old men who perhaps have a gun and perhaps not. Perhaps know how to use it and perhaps not. Perhaps know security protocol, but most do not. We are aware of our surroundings and of the people nearby. 

Actually, we are safer in many ways than people in other countries where people are not used to terrorism and engage in the daydream wherein, they are immune to any such moments of horror. Being unprepared, being unaware, and being naive as to reality. is being the most dangerously foolish one can be. 

This is not a lesson easily learned. How could this be? Yes, in that country, that other country, they do these things. But not here, not in these Western civilized nations. But take a look around. Open eyes and mind. America. Multiple times. The same thing in Canada. Australia. England. France. Ireland. The Netherlands. Belgium. I could go on and on and on, yet people are deaf, dumb and blind. to the reality of life these days. They gasp. They wring their hands. They deny its growing frequency and its tolls on lives and refuse to prepare for it.

Unfortunately, there are times, terrible times, when we are let down by the people who are actually there to protect us. In Australia videos and witnesses are showing that the police froze. Even as civilians took that step up and out to wrestle guns from the terrorists. In New York police hesitated to separate violent protesters from those being protested, who were chased and threatened, and suffered actual violence. The administrations of these warped, “places of learning”, the professors.    even the cities did nothing to stop this. In many of these places, it was even praised, aided and abetted by those who actually were responsible to stop it. 

Why? All sorts of answers run through one's mind. None of them comforting thoughts. The todays for many are growing worse and worse. Particularly, if one is Jewish. Especially, as we now have a friend of the beasts, perhaps a beast himself, deeply immersed in, and championing of, toxic JewHatred, who will take the NYC mayor's seat in a matter of weeks. He refuses to condemn a chant calling for the death of Jews and the elimination of the State of Israel. Who has engaged in such activities himself.  

We can, must, all, ask what is next? Think about it. Seriously. We must understand that no longer do we have the Today that we had.  That would be here forever now, emulating the yesterdays we have come to expect. However, we are falling back, way back, into the days and yesterdays of hate and violence. Of deprival of rights. Of limitations. Of narrowing of possibilities. Of separation. Even unto death. These abominable yesterdays and todays are meshing into even more frightening, ever more horrifying tomorrows. 

This cannot be allowed. We must learn how to avoid. How to protect ourselves. How to bring about the todays and the tomorrows we need. Do not engage in the fantasy that this will end in and of itself. Do not think the worst cannot happen here. It can happen. And in fact, is happening. Round the world as well. It will continue to happen and worsen unless we all wake up and smell that proverbial coffee. Whatever brand.

YESTERDAY. TODAY. TOMORROW.

WHICH VERSION DO YOU WANT? 

DEJAVU

 Three hours in the doctor's office. See you on Wednesday

YES, BUT ...

  Yesterday. As most of us do every morning, as we stumble around or energetically prepare for the day to come, we listen to the news. In whichever way we desire. Yesterday morning, happening all too often these days, we heard shouts and excited voices. Automatically, we turned to raise the volume and to listen.

What we heard yesterday morning. was what we have been hearing far too often these days. It is something that for many, many years we hoped. was, if not gone, at least tamped down, to be at least semi rare, occasionally, but never to grow. Never to become once again a monster ready to consume the world? Ready to use the acid of its Hate to destroy, destroy and more.

What is one to say when with a backwards look, a current look, and a truly frightening look into the future, all appear to be the same. No change. Hate. From generations past. Horrific intentions of the fascist movement and communist movement as well. Just about one hundred years ago there was an almost successful attempt to totally exterminate all Jews round the world.   

Look back nearly 80 years ago to the recognition of the State of Israel. Though it was a dismembered State, millennia had gone by before even this minimal step took place and at least a partial truth was recognized as such. Nor was it to be considered as a gift as so many claim it to be these days and wish to cancel that "gift giving". Is the papal seat, the Vatican, in the midst of the city of Rome considered a gift go the Catholic religion? Are the several dozen Muslim states considered as a gift to the Islamic religion? Is Holland a gift to te Protestant religion? Is there a nation considered to be a gift to those who are atheists? Or agnostics?

 So why then should a Jewish state be considered a gift to the Jews? And nondemocratic due to its "gifthood". Even deemed, most illogically, a state which practices genocide! When the very people against whom genocide is claimed are prospering, doing well and are an integral part of the nation, from government to the people on the street. Why accuse a nation who has experienced the worst of genocide of committing a scientifically planned determined extermination on a group of people when it is so evidently not true, so criminal. A lie put forth by Haters who have never given up their Hate, merely ramped it up to the likes of Oct7.

Why is it when that nation is attacked, when the people whose state it is, are targeted there and throughout the world, why, why, are there people who join in with Glee. With words of Hate and incitement to violence itself, up to and including murder. Slaughter. Of men, women and children, babies, elderly. It matters not to these Haters. I ask again, why is it that the more volent the attack, the more frequent the attacks, WE get just that. More violence. More attacks. And on and on, a vicious cycle that never seems to have an end of an out.

And yet. despite the awful attack at Bondi Beach. in Sydney, Australia, considered to be among the Western nations, among the more. civilized and tolerant, there it was. Why were Jews in the USA attacked the same days, in a Jewish professor's class at Brown, and directed at a house of Jewish decoration in LA?? No answer forthcoming to explain this away other than ever ongoing Hate.

 The Jews around the world - what did they do? do? It was the first night of Hanukkah. The Holiday of Light. The light that chases away the darkness. The light that illuminates the darkest corners of humanity? And provides the light for humanity to move forward. To see into the dark. To make it disappear. And to rescue those who remain in the dark.

What did they do? They did exactly what we have been doing since the beginning of time. Since the first steps of Abraham into the world as a Jew. We have stood up against terror. We have stood up against those who are determined to exterminate us. We have done whatever we must. And we'll continue to do so. Those who claim they are stronger than us and will beat us down think again. We are people of courage and determination. We are the people of stiff neck snd stubbornness.    Reinforced with the open hands and arms and heart of the strongest protector in the world. The Lord Above. Who has been with us for lo these many millennia. Wo will not leave us.

So, what did we do? Almost every single Jewish organization that I can think of, other than the organizations of Jews who have turned against their fellow brothers and sisters, and supported those who wished to kill us and them as well. other than these suicidal Jews who do not realize that nor not accept the truth, what did we do? We sent out emails and calls. We announced proudly that the community lighting of the menorahs, those taking place in community celebrations in defiance of those who wish to crush us eill take place. And indeed, took place. And will always take place. Whatever the hell is the celebration, be it in community celebrations or in the homes.   T

They will all continue. Always and forever/

So, to the beasts, all members of the same monster tribe, be you born into it or join it in your sick evil. give it up. You have lost already. You will not defeat us. Rather, we will defeat you. Though we would rather live in peace and partnership. in unity, and brotherhood. Just as we admire that brave Muslim soul who stood up and ran and jumped on one of the animal's backs. wrestled the gun out of his hands. chasing him off.  

We ask why Australia did not pay attention to the warning of a planned attack on the Jewish community. How many more times must Israel uncover and reveal a planned attack only to be ignored? Only to see people die once again. Why?   

And as for all the hypocrites here in America. In Australia. In any country where these attacks have taken place. Or have been praised. You were all guilty. Stained and tainted. The same indelible ink of  JewHatred. Bottom line, all your words of sympathy mean nothing now. Nothing unless you act upon them. Don't tell me it's horrible, I already know that. Don't tell me it is awful and must not take place. Because you allow it to take place, you've encouraged it to take place by not imposing consequences. And by not out loud and strongly condemning those who perpetrated it upon us?  

You will never succeed. Read the following. Understand that we will never cease to light up the world. We will never cease to fight against the darkness. And those who oppose us will get their just consequences, all who veer off the path of righteousness. All.

Here is a letter written by a young Rabbi to his constituents. On the eve of Hanukah as to the public lighting of the menorah of the community. I have included no names. Simply the letter.

Dear Family,

I write to you with a heavy heart this morning.

Many of us woke up to the horrifying news of the antisemitic terror attack in Australia.

This attack again reminds us that antisemitism

is not a phenomenon of the past, or a distant memory, but a living threat.

As we know, Kol Yisrael avrevim zeh bazeh, we are one people and one nation, and an attack on any of us affects all of us.

We will be joining with other area synagogues for a Menorah lighting this evening, where we will both celebrate the holiday of Chanukah and mourn our fallen brothers and sisters. I encourage everyone to join us, and to add to their performance of mitzvot and engagement in prayer in response to these events.

As the Alter Rebbe of Lubavtich said “A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness.” Each action we take, each candle we light, pushes away the darkness of the world in this difficult time.

May Hashem avenge the blood of the innocent victims, bring comfort to their families, and protect the Jewish people wherever they may be around the world.

May we know no more sorrow.

With pain and hope,

Rabbi

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMMOROW 

ENOUGH!

HAS THE TIME NOT COME?

  I think that for today's posting I will borrow the words of others, allow them to speak for me but will also intersperse them with my own take and commentary. Fair warning: I spent most of the morning perusing two well-known national newspapers, shouting all the while at the awful subject matter.

 Does nothing ever get any better? We are selling ourselves out, flowing fast down the swift rivers to conditions of steep impossible to navigate waterfalls such as we have not seen for decades upon decades. Yet, even as the majority of the world's nations understand our deterioration, here, in this nation we are apparently oblivious to the reality upon us. 

" ...a cardinal rule of journalism. Whenever you see elephants flying, don't laugh. Take notes. Because if you see elephants flying, something very different is going on that you don't understand but you and your readers need to."

"... democracies that ' Undermine political liberty. and sovereignty, migration policies, strife. Censorship of free speech. Suppression of political opposition.... And loss of national identities and self-confidence''. (Thomas Friedman)

No more place to call home, to be at home. Take a look around.  Understand how many Americans no longer feel at home here. For whatever dumb, yet dangerous excuse that can be ginned up to make them feel uneasy and uncomfortable.

The next Civil War in this nation, the same war whose possibility I have long been dreading. For this war will be brutal and bloody and of long duration and lead to the end of this nation. 

Much of what has been going wrong in this nation weighs heavily upon all of us. Granted, we are not leaders who lead us down the wrong path. But we have put those leaders in place. And for some reason, so many, too many of us have forfeited our own independent way of thinking, the right to think for ourselves. We have mimicked the words of others, particularly the extremes, replete with vile Hatred. We have ceded and lost the ability to separate right from wrong, good from bad.

The situation goes from bad to worse. The worst awaits us, should this crazed and demented, and incompetent man actually violate the Constitution yet again and run for a third term. G-d help us. Much of the wrong taking place emanates from him and those who enable him.  With deed and speech. Just follow the dots.

"The Rose Garden Club" - No roses anymore. Only ugly cement. And umbrellas. Low class. 

East Wing of the White House, a beautifully balanced home of the people of this nation. No more. For this imbecile of low taste has without permission torn down that wing in order to make room for a useless extravagant ballroom. Whose purpose is only to feed his oversized ego and recreate not a Camelot but a return to his own Gilded Age, suffused with gaudy gilt.  

Now there is a federal lawsuit from the National Trust against him for exactly what he has done to the East Wing of the White House.  

He has been caught out with stumbling world salad speech. Huge gaps in memory. Overweight. Unable to pass simple tests to check for dementia. He has been glaringly uncertain as to exactly where he is, why he is there and who is there with him? He is in constant stumbling motion, physically, mentally, emotionally. He cannot keep his head up and his eyes open at meetings. He is overstuffed with delusions of grandeur. And is a crude vile insult spouting man, with no tact, only nastiness and gobbledygook. And certainly, not to forget his huge and ever flowing lies.

Here are some more examples of all that he has done. Insulted.  Lied. Babbled. Given aid and comfort and advantages to our enemies. 

Reneged on promises to allies: Taiwan. Japan. Ukraine. Europe. The people of his own nation.

 Given China advantages in AI and related fields Even as he boasted that he would never do that and that we are oh so much stronger than they are.                   What a crock.  

 He has allowed Ukraine to be shattered and is pushing a 'peace treaty' wherein half of Ukraine would be ceded to Russia - like a prize given to Hitler - and place hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians under Russian control.   

Next, he says it does not matter that Putin does not talk to him. Please remember this was once his bosom buddy, besties, BFFs.

So how about a garbled piece of a talk he gave at one of his "praise me" I am so great moments. He is talking about two candidates for further damage to the Federal Reserve, both Kevins, and not a word of their "qualifications", but why would that be important as the vast majority of his appointees all pass the useless test with flying colors.

"Yes, I think he is. (at the top of the list). I think you have Kevin and Kevin. They're both - I think the two Kevins are great. I think there are a couple of other people that are great." (Such a relief knowing that!)

Yet another presidential moment of hard work as a President. By golly, he is going to fix the golf courses in Washington, DC. Such a critical thing for a president to do, particularly in times so fraught with danger. Of course, we can all breathe easy now. Can we not?

Of course, not to forget those oh so guilty illegal immigrants trying so hard to fulfill their dreams, just as our ancestors filled theirs and allowed for our dreams. In fact, please know that the power of these immigrants is such that they have broken the entire economy, and they are at fault for the rising prices. Bet they didn't know they had such power. I guess they were too busy shielding themselves from the blows and the threats and wondering where their children are. Where their parents are. Oh, for sure, let's keep up with this ugliness! Do you feel safer now that the bodega owner or his engineer daughter is now imprisoned?

Need more reassurance? How about the proposed new ruling that all visitors to the USA have to present their social media for the past five years? What if there is no social media to present? What if they voiced an opinion critical of Trump or one of his buddies. What if it then is extended to any citizen trying to reenter this country? What if in the past five years they had made a statement, several statements, critical of Trump and his crew of incompetents? Dictatorship, anyone?  Freedom of speech, excluding Hate inciting talk? Bah, humbug, for who needs that! So greatly overrated.

Our President at the moment cannot expend too much energy and time on presidential matters, other than to pardon those who should never be pardoned. Unless, of course, there is advantage for Trump in that pardon, to convince him to come over to him. Perhaps even to donate a million or two for that ostentatious ballroom.  He must hurry, for there are more thousands awaiting a pardon from the president who himself will need to seek a pardon. Certainly, from history. 

I came across a poem entitled Crossroads, by April Bernard. It portrays our situation at present. We too are at a crossroads of life and must decide, as individuals and as a nation, with whom we are going to walk, arm and arm into a cloudy future. Unsure if the choice made, to leave the devil is just that - a dream, and is she, in fact, continuing to walk arm in arm with the devil. A choice that we are now facing, and I am not confident about the road and choice to be taken. Where is Robert Frost when he is needed?! 

Finally, there is the statement of Machado. Freedom. Democracy. And the necessity to be ready and willing to fight for freedom. It is “A choice that must be renewed each day, measured by our willingness and our courage to defend it.” That choice is not only for the individual. Or for the nation. Both must be in sync.

Are we in this nation, in this world, this bloody world of yet another massacre of Jews at a celebration. With many children around. Shot down by two animals with guns. It is a choice we must make and for the positive. Keep on building. Keep it strong. If we are to have not only the obligations, but also the benefits, of a true freedom, we must emulate the bravery of a single woman and be of courage and determination. Not allow those who would take our nation down a road leading to autocracy, oppression, and a future greatly to be feared.

Why is it that we take from our yesterdays all that is wrong. 

Why is it that we allow our todays to soak in vats of blood.

What will be our tomorrows? Will we walk in confidence, or will we walk cringing in fear, always awaiting yet another blow.

Our choice. Our road.

TIME AND TIME AGAIN

  "The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole."

"The continued progress of existence as affecting people and things":

"Time or an amount of time as reckoned by a conventional standard:"

"The personification of time as an old man with a scythe."

 Or the iconic mind picture of a lover saving all the time he can, planning to spend it all, for all eternity, with his beloved.

Time can mean much to many and if questioned, will arrive at answers and definitions differing from others. None will be all correct and none will be all wrong, for time, or Time, is a concept which changes with the moment and the context. It is the story of two people doing exactly the same thing within the same limit of passage of time, yet one separately, will tell you the time flew by, and the other will state emphatically how long and dragged out that passage of time was for him. Neither is all right nor all wrong.

The relative speed of the passage of Time can be significant or of little matter. A decision which must be made in the blink of an eye. a decision better kept on a back burner. If the decision maker is competent, then the time necessity will be met. It is when we violate the correct interpretation of time necessity that we run into trouble.  

The world today is plagued by a cadre of incompetent and unaware readers of time. Over and over again we hesitate on the more urgent decisions. We then rush into the other decisions. where we have misread the time necessity grossly. The consequences can be vital to life and liberty, to security, but we will only find out what will happen when they appear. That is the moment when the blame game begins, and the lies grow and fester.  

This is true in the public and the global world and in the lives of individuals and smaller units. Why have we never internalized the truth of this? Haste   makes waste - yet on we go, until in extreme reaction we turn the maxim around but, unsurprisingly, end up with the same waste. Why, over the millennia we have not learned this truth is beyond reason, other than the fact that humans are flawed, have little to no patience and hence, we reap the disastrous consequences of poor thinking. 

However, when comparing the results of poor individual thoughts to the more compounded   aftereffects of a large, even global sizzle situation, it is more warranted to analyze, decide, and act - or not - depending upon the situation and its needs. At times the wiser position is to act, quickly, but with thought, while at other times the correct decision    is to leave it alone and it will resolve itself by itself. 

However, what is one to do when the decision maker is flawed. So much so that it can be seen by the blind eye and heard by the deafened ear. The politics of the day, of the individuals and the nations involved, demand an answer. Even as the head knows that the decision is incorrect, is based on false premises and very shaky grounds. Fated to turn on a dime at the worst moment, and all is exposed before the eyes of the world, generally with worse to come. The agita, the tears, the applause, the laughter, the ever-deeper confusion - mix and shake - for that is the inevitability sure to accompany the wrong decisions made.

Now take a look around. Run a finger down the roster of the Heads of Government. Of more nations than you can believe. Understand the consistency of the toxins it spews forth from its mouth. More confusion. More negativity. More violence. More hate. and more HATE!! Why we persist in following this most obvious wrong road through life has remained without an answer since time began. 

Will we ever learn? Will we ever understand that we must learn to do things the right way. Hopefully the first time. to give thought before leaping, to know the truth that lies beneath and the falsehoods which belie it all? Can we ever dream of a time when truth dominates, when instinctive comprehension will take its proper place and role? And decision making will be clear and timely, on target, with proper consensus as to the necessity of said decision and its timing for implementation?

The history of mankind does not lend an optimistic air for these answers.

Our yesterdays are rife with foolish decisions. Ones made on pride. On toxic nationalism. Overflowing with a traditional hate of no sense. And no right to exist.

Our todays are of no better hope or prediction. Our stupidities and our ignorance persist, and the only change appears to be a rise in the level of toxicity with no Narcan available.

Our tomorrows await our choice.

Either we shape up or we ship out -another maxim we must do better at comprehending of its truth and importance of implementation.

Would that we do.

Would that we are willing and able to do so.

The gift and meaning of time is there before us and for us. 

We simply must learn the best way to maximize its benefits for us. For the world at large and for the individuals within. 

Personally, I think the sands of our time are falling at ever faster rate.

Not good.

WHATWHATWHATWHAT!!!~!!!

  What the hell?!!  What in the name of all that's holy is happening in this world? When and where and why did we all, at least most of us, a goodly portion of us, lose common sense, lose the ability. and the desire to discern between right and wrong. Between good and bad. Between true leader and   fake.

How is it that we can have a head of government here in this country, this once proud highly functioning country, a leader to the world, a role model in the world - How is it possible that we now have one so deeply, grossly enmeshed in the depths of dementia. Who cannot keep his head up nor his eyes open. Who chooses almost 100% the wrong choice. Then, when everything backfires, he and his fellow imbeciles and incompetents claim it is a roaring success. 

Think not?

Prices rising. Day after day.  

Inflation ever ongoing.

Massive firings in big, major businesses of America.

Tariffs wreaking havoc in the business world, here and round the world.

Farmers going bankrupt because they cannot export their produce.

Rising rates of hunger and homelessness. Even among the working poor and struggling middle class.

Growing economic uncertainty among all.

A president who has taken a hammer to all that we find traditional, of value. 

 He has destroyed the White House in his demolition, without permission, of the East Wing.

 To build an absolutely tasteless unnecessary unwanted other than by him, wasteful ballroom. This is not the Gilded Age, Donald.

Speaking of the Gilded Age. Can we perhaps blame his inability to keep his eyes open and his mind functioning due to the shiny cheap gilt now running wild through the halls of the White House?

The beautiful Rose Garden, the beautiful gift to the nation from Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, paved over. To become a low-class replication of a cement patio in Mar a Lago. Shame on you, Donald.

Or to parade before the body public as a married couple who continuously spat and spit. Who pull apart. Unless Melania is actually keeping him upright these days in physical manner. Upright in legal and moral and constitutional manner - another pack of stories there.  

A would-be dictator. Who has chosen to continue in further public destruction of much that we hold true and proud. He has also chosen to shred the Constitution. Disavow the Separation of Powers. Ignore the laws passed by our Congress over our years of existence. He is to hold and control all the reins of power.

A president who establishes his government in the ugly paths of favoritism. Of nepotism. Of any ISM that you could think of that is inimical to the continuation of this nation, as she should be. As she was meant and structured to be.

A man who was so enamored of his own self, as genius in his own mind, though in nobody else's, who uses fear and incompetence and intimidation to structure his government.

A man who so needs praise that he will reach out within his own blackened soul and insist that he deserves, that he in fact has earned, some of the greatest prizes in humanity. He has single handedly. deserved and won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Prize in Physics. And any prize bestowed upon him by any visitor to the White House. Even to the point of claiming a Peace Prize from FIFA, the soccer organization!! 

SAD. PATHETIC. OUR PRESIDENT???

Furthermore, he is a man of no dignity. He panders to the fakery of Hollywood, makes himself MC and Host at the Kennedy Center Honors. A once most tasteful event. Therein, to continue the debasing of himself and this nation. And continues his tasteless and tactless dispensation of a stream of pejorative terms "gifted" to others. Ever so funny. Ever so clever.  NOT!! Embarrassing!!! 

And finally, this man claims to have put to rest, what is it, 8 wars by now? Somehow gone unnoticed, has been the almost instantaneous resumption of hostilities, the signed treaties and the boasting worth less than the paper written on.        them has returned to a state of warfare.

The world is discovering that this man is nothing more than a big bag of hot air. Perpetually leaking. Perpetually failing and falling. His words, his guarantees are fast becoming ever more worthless. Hence, his influence wanes as well. Once. He promised peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Peace between Cambodia and Thailand. Safety for the perpetually kidnapped schoolgirls of Nigeria. Once he promised an end to Hamas, all hell to pay if not so. With more and more of the world catching on, what will be the end of it all?   

What, what, what has been happening in this world? How are we supposed to understand this? When will we, can we, find a way back? When will we know that the time has come? To invest all our efforts into a total turn around. To return to our history. To our ethos. To the fabric whole and clean, of the United States of America.

Once upon a time, in our yesterdays, we made many, many mistakes. But always we struggled forward.

In those todays we recognized at some point, where we had strayed and took giant steps to remedy the matter.

Once, we knew who we were. Once, we were proudly the nation of immigrants. Today, we are a nation who Criminalizes. Abuses. Imprisons.  Rounds up in most meaning manner, the immigrants this nation so desperately needs. They are the oil to our squeaking economy. The future inventors. 

We falsify records. We "mistakenly” Deport actual citizens. We all are under threat when Trump threatens to do away with birthright citizenship. But at one time or another, someone in our family was a birthright citizen. Could denial of that citizenship be tainted all the way down to us - you and me?   One never knows. Not with this government.    Then, and then ... Our families shredded? Our children lost to us? Justice mocked and reviled? Torn from our homes? Thrown into overcrowded Prison cells?  

The question is: What will be of our tomorrows?   Will we delve deep enough and find those who are willing to work hard? To remediate this nation? To give of themselves? Without thought of amassing wealth and power for oneself.

Will we have tomorrows of promise? Or of days. ever ongoing in the wrong direction?

CAN YOU SEE IT AS WELL?

Are you seeing what I am seeing? Are you wondering why this is happening? Why is it allowed to continue? Are we all idiots, by accident, or willfully so? Deniers of truth. Or is it that we are tired to the bone and feel that looking away, pretending we do not see that which is there is the only way for us to survive. To remain sane. 

Or is it that we are ashamed of what we have allowed. Of what we have enabled. Are we confused and find ourselves up the creek without a paddle as we try to figure out how to atone and how to amend. How to turn this country. this nation, this world around. At times we even have begun to wonder whether that is a Sisyphean task or even worth the effort, so far have we fallen and so lost have we become. Little Bo Peep and her lost sheep are nothing as compared to our status quo.

Remember the one called Sleepy Joe? Well, what do we have now, and why are we not hearing the same sobriquet applied. now to the even more Sleepy Donald, almost never able to keep eyes and mind awake and alert while holding meetings with government or foreign figures. 

So semicomatose is he, even verging on status comatose, that he cannot remember nor recall the topic of the moment. The issue or purpose of the meeting. Who is actually there? And who was supposed to be there? He cannot remember names nor people and calls out as one lost in the wilderness. He does not even recall if he is to sign anything. Yet another of his edicts that flow down the river from his perpetually befogged mind, pleading of his appointees, just about as incompetent and misguided and misinformed as he is, mewling piteously at them for information as to what he is to sign. 

Edicts and edicts and evermore edicts. And all these edicts are meant to enforce his control over this nation. To violate the Constitution. To deny what he has said or promised. Both nationally and internationally. No hell has rained down on Hamas who refused to disarm and who refuse to return the body of Ran Givili to his family. So that he may be honored as a hero that he is. And always will be.

Trump's goal to achieve a total authoritarian government over this nation inspires others in leadership position among the world to strive for that same goal. Both extremes, right and left are seeking power. ever bolder in actions and speech. Viler and overarching in their attempts to poison the world. Their deeds encourage Hatred and evil grows apace. 

Those not arriving on the Mayflower are no longer sure and confident of their welcome in this land. Once our country. No longer so. Trump and his enablers, his ugly followers are trashing this nation. Defying, denying what it means, what it was meant to be. We are conducting mass arrests like third world nations. We are separating families. Some of them to be forever lost to each other. We are arresting our own citizens because they may have brown skin or speak Spanish. We are encouraging ignorance and violence, and negativity. 

Why do we not see the danger he and his. pose to our nation, to ourselves. Why do we not see his sheer unfitness for his office. Why do we continue to hurt ourselves, damage and demean our nation, and lose sight of who we are meant to be. 

Can we not see it? Acknowledge it?

In some of our yesterdays we were there.

 Our most recent todays we have fallen far astray and even further afield.  

 Our tomorrows grow grayer and grayer.

Do we, can we, gather ourselves together, and fulfill the promises we once held true and faithful.    Truly American. True to the possibilities of all nations of the world. 

Let us hope so.

Together.

It is the only way.

RESTORATION AND REHABILITATION

  From the beginning of time humanity has had to make choices. One of the most frequent situations of choice was one between restoring and/or rehabilitating or chucking it. When materials and expertise were not present in quantity and quality, the choice was much more severe. Possibly even reaching a point of absence of that item. Or, the possibility of happenstance attempts at restoring it to its function, hopefully to remain so for a long period of time.

We, or at least those of my generation and even into the generation below, have moments of remembering the repairman coming to the house with a bag of tools and replacement parts. Or, of loading those heavy TV's and cumbersome radios and cameras into the car and schlepping to the repairman. Hoping and praying that it could be fixed. At a reasonable price. Rather than being discarded. With the horror of replacement of buying a new one hitting us upon the head with a hammer. Money not available or free to spend upon non necessities of life, almost always led to the attempt to restore to working order. For as long as possible. Generally, with the members of the family standing anxiously alongside the home repairman or riding along in the attempt to restore it to life, a valuable component in the life of that family with the memories of it part of the family lore.

It was a pride of ownership. A reluctance to let something go, for the meaning behind it and its presence and existence within the household. It was also a society where the old adage of waste not, want not was still of active application and understanding. Purchases were undertaken not on a whim, but only after careful consideration and comparison. Of quality and cost. Of benefit. It was almost a tangible atmosphere of concern of the family as they watched an item go down the stairs and out the door. Perhaps to return, perhaps not.

Today, we live in a throwaway society. There's no patience to fix something. No patience to investigate as to exactly what the cause of the problem is, if it can be fixed relatively easily. Even when one desires to check the box first of restoration and rehabilitation, it is not so easy to carry it out in actuality. Those capable of restoring and rehabilitating are few and far in between. So many times, when an appliance is broken and the repairman comes to check it out, the conversation generally rolls around as to why it cannot be fixed. Why it would be only temporary. Why it pays to buy a new one rather than attempt to fix this old one. Always along those same lines. I am not even sure if the training programs for repairman of multiple types of items actually receive training in the art of repairing such.  Far more capable of installing and explaining the newly ever more complicated set of directions necessary to start and operate this new item.  

It is generally only when one ventures into neighborhoods where recent immigrants live, that one can find a repairman knowledgeable and capable of repairing and restoring. In fact, when one finds one of these rare treasures it is with a look of horror that they respond to your suggestion of perhaps one needs to totally discard it. It is anathema in their culture. There is no throw it away train of thought. Money and items are too scarce, too important and too difficult to replace without at least making a strong effort to fix the problem at its source. Then they are regarded as magicians and are given the title of "genius". 

In the new development where we live in our other country, one has the opportunity to make that choice. If one ventures into neighborhoods of immigrants, or any monetarily challenged folks, who tend to think twice and then again before discarding a broken item, chances are there will be those folks who can repair and rehabilitate. Often quite successful in their attempts and restore it to   its place within the hearth and home. At times one is amazed at how simple the repair actually was. And then wonders why the hell do we insist at   present to keep on discarding items which can be rehabilitated. Whose materials are precious and non-renewable. Allow for pride of ownership. For the meaning behind it. To carry weight and to prevent waste.

Now transfer the whole idea of repair and rehab to humans, or the awful decision, the horrendous choice to willfully discard, dehumanize, and devalue other humans. Because of their differing appearance. Or different viewpoints. Or whatever. vile hook used to further the nefarious plans resulting from those awful choices made. The choices of humanity re humanity are heavily spiced and tainted with greed and hate and convenience. There are rarely, if any, valid reasons as to why we should accept a decision to discard humanity, rather than work to make it better. To always inch up the ladder of true progress. To reach the deepest depths and heights of goodness to be found within humanity. 

Many will raise the rather righteous call upon humanity to understand that there are those within the mass who are neither capable of reformation nor willing or wanting to do so. These are the people who have, due to Nature and/or Nurture have declared themselves outside the camp of humanity. Who have given up all attempts to reform. Who have chosen of their own free will to continue on this path of no return.

However, before we assign one to be non-redeemable, one must be very sure of the righteousness and justice behind that decision.  Even in a throwaway world we do not extend that way of life and thought to humans.   It is only with hard and demanding work and process wherein we do our utmost, that a decision to outlaw one from the rest of humanity can be rightfully and righteously reached. The difficulty and the permanence of such a decision cannot be downplayed nor discounted. If and when one does do so, one is actually being dismissive of one's own humanity.   

The question that arises is thus: What does one do with those who willfully, even with enjoyment, have declared and made themselves to be declared as outside the camp of humanity? What are we to do with such people who have denied their own humanity and then rage ruthlessly through the ranks of those unprepared and unknowing as to how to reckon with such violence and toxicity?

Those are difficult questions to answer. Yes, indeed there are people who are so evil that they have forfeited the right to deserve to live. The weight of that decision and its implementation lays heavily upon the one making and/or carrying it out. That decision diminishes one, causes a piece of one's soul and heart to shiver, possibly even break. But that is a burden which unfortunately those who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of protecting humanity will carry. It is we, the others, who benefit from these most difficult decisions, who owe them an eternal and endless, unmeasurable gratitude. Yet too often that gratitude is forgotten, even turned inside out, as we so often care to 'disremember' unpleasantness and pass the blame and consequences onto others, to rebound upon them, as all the while we act as if our hands were nowhere near the deed nor its inception. 

This all leads to a necessity of a clear and definite definition, not politically influenced, as to what exactly is the line which must not be crossed in the determination of war crimes, crimes against humanity.  These days we waffle and drift with the winds of the political nature of nations. These currents all too often result in fragile and incorrect definition and assignment of guilt. We turn blind eyes and deaf ears to the cries of those slaughtered. We ignore the truth. The perpetrators of these crimes are given a pass because it suits us at that moment to do so. Truth is pushed aside. Negated. And the innocents suffer twice over what should never have been theirs in the first place.  

So often the ugliness that results from this playing around with truth, with convenience overwhelming all else, causes a blurring of the lines. Purposeful intentional slaughter of civilians. Gross maltreatment of prisoners of war. All are downplayed. Ugly and unfortunate realities of the world, of the nature of nations occupying this globe, skew the truth.  Ancient and ugly tropes and memes of hate, toxic beyond understanding, rule the day. Falsehoods are passed on into the history books with terrible consequences.

One day, perhaps. we will all see the truth for what it is. The falsehoods for what they perpetuate and perpetrate upon mankind. One day we will know better. But until then how do we accommodate that which is right and deny that which is wrong? How is it possible to convince those deeply entwined in ugliness to forsake it. To come to that which is necessary for humanity to move forward. For all to live a better life. How indeed do we get rid of these prejudices? These venomous hates which periodically decimate the ranks of the people of this globe and inflict only more tragedy upon us all.

We did not know those answers yesterday. 

We sure as hell don't know them today.

Will we know them tomorrow?

Not so sure, as we appear to be slow learners. 

Too slow, in fact, for our own good.

Traffic

 Sorry for the surprise lack of posting today. Unfortunately, the state of Florida has decided to repair its roads all at once and traffic does not move. Not a whit. We are currently waiting for forward movement and will not be able to post today.

My bad- actually Florida's bad and we will return tomorrow.

Thank you and have a good day. Certainly, better than the one we are experiencing right now.

HOW TO REMAIN WHOLE

  That title my friends is the question of the day. Actually, many days, weeks, months. Life is truly confusing. Take the issue of leadership. There is no single person on this earth, who is serving in leadership position, who is worthy of it. Yes, at times these rather damaged and lacking individuals do something good, do the right thing. But so many. too many, and too much of the time there is a negation of the good, erased via a bad, evil, stupid, thoughtless decision and/or action. One can almost always find within a soft spot, a place where rot can be clearly seen or uncovered slightly beneath the surface.

It is, however, quite sad, and most probable a prediction of bad times forthcoming. When that rot   is developing, even emitting the slightest sour odor, that is the time to pay attention.  When ignored, or even part of a wishful never ever happening, we are just about 100% certain to complicate the whole matter, for in ignoring a little bit, we get a big bundle of trouble. A well-deserved consequence. The only problem is that the resultant unpleasantness and worse, caused by spineless or hapless or selfish leaders, rebounds onto us, and we are the ones who pay the price.   

Unfortunately, it seems there is no way out of this ever-recurring nastiness. For this one coming up we are at fault. We allowed glib and glitter to convince too many of us to look past the obvious spots of rot. And yes, even evil. Certainly, of glaring stupidity. And a growing dementia. And all topped with an absolute lack of taste or loyalty or tradition. For sure, there is no empathetic or sympathetic nerve or feeling in his head. Even when the head is trying its best! Which is actually not much better than its lowest point. And where goeth democracy?

His one good deed was to increase pressure on Hamas and Islamic Jihad to step up the pace of release of the hostages. Dead or alive. However, his hot air balloon ran out of steam. It is way past the deadline. A deadline which promised Hell to rain down upon the heads of those two organizations. Not so good was that in the end as Israel is now fighting for her life again and Ran Gvili, a hero, perhaps the first to lose his life, remains hostage, denied burial, denied to his parents and family. To his nation. WHERE IS HELL? 

His gilt and poor taste in the decorations for his decor. The Christmas decorations for the White House. The East Wing destroyed. For a tasteless ballroom. The Rose Garden dead. The Kennedy Arts Center. His Hall of Presidents. And his pettiness in that situation. His absence of tact. And his most disgusting insane constant claim of earning Nobel Prizes and seeking that peace prize, even if it has to come from FIFA, the soccer organization. No, he wants what he wants. Even as he continues to deteriorate before our apparently unseeing eyes.

The other leaders, supposed leaders, of the world, are equally as disappointing. Putin is psychotic. Bibi is enmeshed in his own high opinion of himself. The leaders of Spain, Ireland, England, France. They and others have all crossed over the line. Allowed their inner flickering antisemitism to burst forth in all its ugly flames of the rabid JewHatred now roiling the world. The people of the world have bought into this. hook, line, and sinker, and have been refusing in every which way to halt their bloody and hateful fishing. It is the exception rather than the rule for one to oppose, verbally, visually. even within one's home.

When a goodly number of politicians in places of authority, call out against Israel. That is not good. When the presidents of major universities sanction ugly anti Semitism. Verging into physical violence. and threats and intimidation, it is claimed OK because that is freedom of speech!!! That is not a good situation, is it? Would we too have freedom of speech? If we stood there with bats in our hand. With chants and posters calling for death. Demean and debase the religion of Islam.  All the countries which adhere to it. Do you think the presidents would then call it freedom of speech? Highly doubtful.

When distinguished publishing companies put out and advertise and praise malicious tomes of hate. Even their covers filled with lies, where then is one to turn to hope? Is there, in fact, any chance to turn this nation, all the nations of the world, around, for they have all gone over to this ugliness. Whether they claim to be right or left, always in common is their hatred for the Jews? 

Here is what USC Publishing spewed forth.  

  Big oversize heavy black letters, GAZA. 

Beside it in black capitals - CASTROPHE. 

Beneath it in smaller, black capitals -   mob rousing words - THE GENOCIE IN WORLD-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE  

Author: Gilbert Achcar. 

The blurb. Please note that sarcasm from me is dropping steadily even as I type these words, these lies, these ignorant statements. Feel them.

"From a foremost expert on the Middle East -a searing indictment of the forces that led to genocidal war on Gaza and its reverberations across the globe."

 It is indeed a pity when our supposed brains, our eggheads and their enablers push this filth, these blatant lies into the world at large. Genocide. A planned scientific manner by which an entire people is to be exterminated. That is not the case in Gaza. Not at all. Not even in distant cousin relationship. The reverberations across the globe. Where were they on October 7th, 2023? Where were they when our kidnapped emerged from the darkness in which they were held in exact similar walking skeleton form as those who truly faced genocide. The Holocaust.

No. I don't know. More and more I think that this world is lost. Beyond any point of redemption. Even while I seek the good, and there is much good, I just do not know. Is there enough to at least. cover over a layer of the tangible evil present in this world.

As ever present as it was yesterday.

As ever present as it is today.

And G-d help us, most probably as it will be in the tomorrows.

ONE SIMPLE QUESTION - WITHOUT ANY ANSWER

  There are so many questions in this world which have no answers. Why do some people remain almost absolutely perfect until the day they are called home? Why do some unfortunately suffer from several syndromes or diseases of chronic afflictions which do not give them a moment of peace. Why are some people called upon time and again to stand strong and steady and sturdy, while others flit through life with narrow worry? Is it the errors or the good deeds of a past life? Is it that some are meant to serve as examples, role models in various formats for the benefit of them?? Or to warn them? To open eyes and ears where and when needed? Is it random? No purpose at all, merely chance?  Or is it that some are so good, too good for this world and are called to get their rewards early, sparing them the agonies and disturbances of human life on this planet? Have they been sent here on a mission and once accomplished, freed from the tethers binding us to earth?

The whole sad sack of questions and lack of knowledge besiege us every day. From all directions. At times unforeseen consequences arise, and we are gob smacked. It is at precisely in those strained and troubling times that we are lost. The ugliness of corruption. The nauseating stink of swamps of hate, vicious and cruel, inundating the land. Can we find ourselves?

We call out for advice. For help and support. Alone is a state of being neither supportive nor conducive of an outlook of hope. Of anything good. We seek paths out of the morass in which we find ourselves. Maps which are already written. Maps we will, must, write ourselves. At times, unfortunately, those maps never become reality. And we find ourselves floundering, in uncertainty, pessimism, and confusion. We cry out. Is there no end to all this?

Today, I believe this is the state of the world. I do not believe we have as of yet discovered any cure.  The acidity and ugliness of hate continue to eat away at the hater and the hated. It is astonishing how many people wallow in its ugliness, so filled are they with the negativity, the desire to do harm to others, to find scapegoats for their woes, of their own doing, or as a result of the actions of others. However, the hate is never directed to where it belongs, and underlying issues never get resolved. 

At present the world is drowning in a wave of hate such as we have not seen, perhaps, since the Middle Ages. That was the time when the entire roster of nations hated my people. Every country. Viral. Toxic. So many bloody expulsions. So many false accusations. So much of the evil desire to restrict them in every facet of life. During WWII there was an unspeakable presence of a desire to exterminate the Jewish nation, but it did not blacken the souls of all nations, though its presence in even one nation was and is anathema. 

We thought things had gotten better. That while JewHatred, Anti Semitism at its worst, always remained, much of the world had simmered down. If not voluntarily finding the errors of their ways, they were forced into it by others. And Jews prospered throughout the world. For themselves and for the nations in which they resided, and even for people in other nations. So useful were their contributions, in science, literature, all the Arts, Medicine, Inventions, in fact in all fields of life.  

Unfortunately, two years and two months ago we found those cells of blemish on the souls of mankind. A modern-day reinvention of the horrid times of the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages. The haters of the Jewish people, the deniers of a State of Israel, all jumped on the bandwagon, spewing filth and hate from their mouths without end. Seeking Jewish people out wherever they are. Blowing them up. Attacking them, setting fire to them. Challenging their every belief. Their very core of life. Denying them humanity. And denying them any right to hope for a positive, hopeful, contributory future.

Somehow, people were ready to hate. Perhaps because it is a sick world, suffused with that desire and readiness, and they found a tried-and-true victim. Tried and true targets for their hate. The Jews. Once again. The shock was enormous. Accused of killing our own. Accused of genocide. When we are the only nation which protects civilians in the area of war. To the best of their ability. Above and beyond any other actions by any other nations.   What foe brings in food for the enemy, despite all the lies and denial the world buys. Continues to give them medical help by taking them within their own borders. This nation, the target of a bloody massacre the likes of which should have shocked the world into a true understanding of the situation, is then held to double standards of impossibility and denied the right to defend themselves, to deny any possibility of a repeat performance. Israel is the nation   accused of war crimes. Even when the world is rife over ripe, overflowing with war crimes. Including here in the United States. Just now revealed as part of Trump's supposed war on drugs, which, as usual, has gone overboard.

For that matter, this nation and other nations of the Western world have convinced themselves that all immigrants are dangerous, drug ridden, drug sellers, all meaning to rape the new nation they invade. Yet even within the fever of hate rising, every nation denied the reality that among their people there are devils who live to wreak harm, even death, on others. Never would they have people within their own nation who would glory, revel in brutality and inhumanity! How blind!  

Well, we were mistaken, were we not? The sickness of the soul evidently has taken strong root within all of us. If we think this will not be, it already is. We have glommed onto the claim.  We demonize immigrants who wish to find a life for themselves and their families, to build a future, to grow their new nation. Are there crooks among them? Of course, and they should be dealt with as should the crooks of the native born. In fact, data has proven that the native born are more likely to commit crimes than the immigrants.

However, at present we have demonized the immigrants. Refused to fix our system so as to weed out those inimical to the nation. Instead, we criminalize all, condemn all, rip families apart. Destroy communities. Children come home and find no parents. Parents find the schools have been raided and the location of their child is unknown.   

We praise incompetence and ignorance at present. We take huge giant steps backwards. Discarding all that we have learned, all that we know.  Accept as OK for families, for children, to go hungry.  People work but lose their homes anyway. Children fall ill and die from diseases which have been eradicated. until we brought them back via our stupidity.  

And we wonder why? Why is it that these people anti a good world, a world of fairness and justice. Of compassion and understanding, why is it that these people manage to thrive? They beat down upon others. They are Beasts within their evil, partake joyously in prejudice and if it is unfettered, even sanctioned JewHatred, so much the better. 

In many of the prayers and the ethos of the religions of the world we all say that the good are rewarded and the evil are punished. Now return to the beginning of the posting. Questions without answers. Answers to explain to us, to make us understand, if possible. Why does evil persist? Must we have evil if we are to know good? Why can we not bask in the shelter and love of the LORD, by whatever name He, the LORD, is called? Why can he not be our Father rather than a cruel Master, a King demanding that which is not possible. Certainly not at this time.

I have no answers to these questions. I don't believe there ever were answers that truly satisfied the needs of the one who questioned.  

 Certainly not in our Yesterdays. 

Not at all in our Todays.

One can hope for our Tomorrows.

Maybe.

I would not bet on it.

Sorry

 Traveling today and tomorrow  See you on Friday

PEACE BE UNTO YOU

  I would venture to say, be bold enough to say, that most of us are a bunch of mealy-mouthed superficial talkers who never think things through. Never to grasp and understand the truth of what is being said and/or demanded. If this is the status quo, to shake hands and then wipe them against one's pants to eliminate the touch of the enemy; to  mouth the words of peace and wishes for peace, all the while knowing that the fighting will recommence as soon as all are back in their redoubts, well, what the hell! Why are we wasting all our time in spewing forth words of falsehood and lies which serve to disguise our true intentions and the actions forthcoming, for just that little bit longer. All to give our armies, all our forces that edge which might mean the difference between victory or defeat.

 Too many of us deny or ignore, the fact that there is, there are, no winners in war. The loss on and to both sides, the time, energy, and people all represent misspent minds and funds. The excruciating and forever wounds remain, echo down through history, twisted and turned to serve the needs of nations, even of groups within those entities. In reality, there are no winners in a war, and to think otherwise is to lie to oneself. 

 If one cannot fathom that in reality, who persist in recalling victories of importance in the annals of mankind, think again. The ever roiling of the world with cries urging slaughter; the shouts of ironic claims of victory, even as their land lies about them in huge piles of rubble, and the loss of humanity blatant in the empty streets and at family tables. These are facts hammering down upon us for decades or longer after the supposed peace treaty is signed to end it. 

It is at that point that our foresight disappears. All we see before us are the opportunities to wreak revenge upon our foes. To "get” them for all that they have brought upon us with their belligerency and their refusal to compromise - as we see it, not as they see it, nor as we all should see it. 

  For the truth of that, for the true realities of end of war, all one must do is hark back to England at the end of World War Two. At the end of the war, much of the world lay crumbled and England was among the worst. The hardships which remained after World War One, the "war to end all wars" - not so as one could actually point to the success and truth of that mantra, remained. The hardships and rationing and loss of people, of infrastructure were increased and compounded by the consequences of being a 'winner' in WWII. For many, many years, during, in between and after, even in some cases, until today, England was permanently changed and suffered hardships as if defeated, rather than as one of the nations claiming victory and the rewards of that victory. 

Winners and losers confused in reality, and alliances constantly shifting. Certainly not a new phenomenon in the history of humanity and certainly something we have never been able to internalize and understand and rebuild our priorities accordingly.

We all are the losers in a war. We see only our anger and our desire for revenge. At times, many times, that revenge, that intense desire to 'get' someone, something, eats away at us, for so barbaric have been our enemies, so evil, that justice demands their punishment be deep and lasting.  We forget that we must leave room for those doves carrying the olive branches to enter, freshen the air and cleanse our minds of all that is negative, all that will only serve to lead to the next war and the next and the next and the next. 

 Somehow, somewhere we must be able to look within ourselves, within our nations, and find the true peace makers, the true thinkers who know how to balance the needs of the victors along with the needs of the defeated if we are to avoid further war. Further defeat for us all. 

If we had understood that principle at the ends of so many wars, we could have avoided the horrors and consequences of those wars we need not have allowed to grow into ugly clouds, darkening the entire world for so many years. Over and over again. Then only to refight those same wars with bits and pieces of change meaning nothing. Only increased bloodletting, more anger and acidity among the nations of the world, and intensifying the negatives of humanity and its greed, always trying to one up the other. Understand how we could have avoided World War Two if we had ended World War One the way it should have been and if we would have avoided compounding the consequences by allowing incompetent statesmen to usher us further into a war which then had nowhere to go, other than having to be fought. Think of the world we could be living in at present if we had averted the horrors, the incomprehensible horrors, of World War Two. 

I am neither a peacenik nor a warmonger. In the Bible in the Old Testament we have been instructed to understand the difference between wars which must be fought, no other choice, or those fought only to accumulate wealth, and might There were different rules and different consequences. I understand that; I know that wars must be fought against those who would wreak havoc. Massacre all before them, in the most barbaric manners, and   we might be forced to do so again and again and again, never to end. But I also feel that if we stuff up our ears and close our eyes to the entire reality, we will never dig our way out from the deep abyss and chaos of war.

In the Bible in  Genesis 23:43 "And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them."

  And in the Book of Judges 19:20  "And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street."     

 we learn of the impetus to peace. Willing it, to gift it, to those we meet. Peace be unto you. We say Shalom.  Salaam. Why we continue to say those words and to profess belief in them when all the while we are fingering the weapons behind us, at the ready o wound and slash? Why and wherefore can we not find people capable of understanding, capable of engendering a world where war is not the first, last and always road to follow, to venture into and upon, always with terrible consequences. Even the New Testament, in Luke 24:36 "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you". reminds us, calls upon us, to know that peace be unto you is what we need to profess and to uphold.

I honor all our brave soldiers, our people who have set aside their own personal needs, left their families and defend their nation. I honor all who knew we had reached the point of no return, no other possibility other than to do what must be done and who then did it at great cost to themselves and to the world. But the necessity was such that it had to be fought.

Would only that we could have avoided that necessity in fair and justified manner. Would that we had devoted those energies, those minds, those funds that drive, to the wishes of peace be unto you. To me and mine as well.

One day we will learn. One day, perhaps, we will study history and wonder what had gone wrong. Why did humanity perpetually choose the wrong fork in the road, fallen off the proper pathways through life? Why have we almost continuously taken the wrong fork, the many wrong forks and   roads? Where was the understanding that we humans are indeed capable of using and implementing?  

It was certainly not there yesterday.

Not really here today as well.

As for tomorrow, we can only hope and strive.

May the good Lord bless us with that wisdom and strength, that innate knowledge that we can improve and indeed must improve.

When all the people of the world will wish each other - 

Peace be unto you.