The plaintive voices of many folk singers sent forth the words of the iconic song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" We all sang it. With such great emotion, such longing, so much passion and earnestness. Around campfires and at get-togethers. Over the radio. Knowing that this destructive streak of humanity must end. And yet, here we are. All those many decades, yet more ugly cycles have been completed or sent into new ever worsening spirals. We can even more forcefully and truthfully repeat the words to that song, for in fact the truth remains.
"Where have all the flowers gone? To the young men. And where have all the young men gone? To the graveyards, everyone." A never-ending stream. We grieve so deeply as individuals and as nations with deep sorrow. Its weight burdens our shoulders and our inner beings. It will never dissipate, without such possibility as we continue to add to the heaps of shattered hopes and dreams, of bodies gone or maimed, of futures, of families, destroyed.
Once again, ever again, truthfully sans any true ending, on continuous rewind, the brave souls of Israel are under hails of rockets and missiles, threatened with physical death and or exile - again. The death, the denial, of a dream of over 3,000 years, our survival through horrendous times of persecution, the agonies and losses of the Holocaust, the deaths of terror in Israel - when does it ever end? And why do the nations of the world conflate the deaths of civilians with the deaths of terrorists, merge and then lie about the origin of war and the inevitable consequences, the appropriate shares of blame laid at the feet and on the shoulders where it belongs.
Mistreated, brutalized, starved tortured. Such is the fate, the living conditions of the hostages stolen from their homes, from the nation. Did not the entire world see those time travelers from the Holocausts returned to us? Where are the wails of sorrow and the accusations against the perpetrators of this renewed horror? So obvious a war crime, a blemish on the soul of humanity.
Is anybody home out there? Is anybody answering the doorbell? Or the thunderous pounding upon the doors? Is anybody home inside there? Is anybody up and alert or caring? Why are homes round the world shrouded in an inky blackness barring all vision? Where has the sun gone? Why do we appear to be in a dark, inky black tunnel with no lights at all? No end in sight. In fact, I believe we have barely penetrated this tunnel, though we have already traveled long and no relief in sight creates a truly disheartening and desperate situation. Our elders tell us we have fallen into the deepest, darkest heart of Hell and relief will be a long time in coming and in short supply at that. The only chance of success is for a mammoth reawakening of the people of this world, to feel individual pain as our pain. To know and understand that we are not alone on this earth and had better stop acting as if we were.
Why have we all left home? Or if we remain at home, why do we deny, ignore and even forcibly push away those who wish to come in, to share with us and create a better life for us all. Light up the world rather than contribute to its darkness. Together work to improve the world situation. Why have we not yet learned that ignoring a problem does not make it go away; it only gives it food to grow on and sunlight. When that problem so well-nourished gives forth its buds, the result will be powerful rank weeds capable of, desirous of choking the life out of all that is good and beautiful within the garden of earth. We will have enabled the destruction of a treasure entrusted to us, into our care. In fact, we have made a mighty big start down that path, have we not?
Robin Williams called out in his iconic movie, "Good morning, America!" Multiply that call. Sing it out loud and strong. Wake up the world. Call all of humanity to understand what we have done. We have destroyed our home. We have been most definitely bad guests and ungracious hosts. The Huns are at the gate. Civilization, such as it is, is under siege. There remains one narrow way out. The back door. The only way for reform and reformatting of this world and of our attitudes.
We have failed ourselves along with the rest of the world. Cull through the roster of leaders, seeking a true wise great caring one. I dare say, you will find nary a soul. Courage, stamina, a keen and working brain, an open heart, a set of working balls or equivalent. To know that which must be done, proper priorities, and the will to go forth and inspire others to follow. Male or female. It matters not, though personally, I believe a capable woman is the better option.
Israel has been in a fight for its life. Hamas has but one end goal in mind and that is it. It's clearly evidenced in the faces and the bodies and the minds of those who are lucky enough to have been released from where they never should have been in the first place. Israel will most assuredly not simply give up and walk away. The world needs to know this. The world needs to accept into its respective hearts, into its collective heart, that we, Israeli Jews and Jews round the world, are not the enemy. Whether we live in Israel, our ancestral home or in the scattered nations of the world. The world needs to know when to leave things alone. When to keep its mouth shut. When to support. When to stand simply by, acknowledging by your presence that you stand with Israel, that you stand with decency, that you stand against evil.
Over the past 16 months the masses of the world have ignored all of the awful fighting, the deep starvation within Africa, it's perpetual wars and bloodletting. The crimes against women caught up in these fields of war. Instead, they have focused their attention on this one. Begun by terrorists in a mass of encouraging not so "innocent" civilians, (and for that I refer you to the pictures and sounds of pressing mobs against the hostages being released.) As they held these hostages in their own private homes and tormented them as much as did the beasts in the tunnels below. The nations of the world were, for the most part, negative, encouraging to Hamas, demonized the hostages and belittled the slaughtered of Oct7. War damage and deaths within Israel, the deliberate targeting of civilians within Israel. All ignored even as Israel was criticized whether civilians were asked to move or not. Lies of Hamas were accepted as words from on High, as in the "imminent' famine, never arrived. Never real at all, but the world stood by and bought into it. With great enthusiasm.
The rending of this world into fighting bits and pieces of territory is growing rapidly. The ranks of leaders are depleted, actually were never filled to begin with. All these tragedies around the world, starving babies held in grieving arms of parents. Mothers helpless to protect their children. Sons and fathers and brothers slain or taken prisoner. Many children pressed into being child soldiers. Women running from crazed men at war who see women as legitimate war booty. Children unloved, insecure, always in danger. Hungry, uneducated. No socialization. No future. No one gains anything in this world for even those amassing a fortune from wartime economy will have nowhere to spend it. No safe way or path to walk. Hatred approved, with a calculated callous use as political points.
Horrific to contemplate a world of a near future, totally at war. What the hell are we doing? What are we doing? When will we come home? When will we heed the calls from without? What are we doing? What are we doing?
Is anybody home? Planning to return home? Is anybody up and on their feet? Where is everybody? How has this happened? The greatest nation of the world has turned back the clock to times of governments of corruption, favoritism, bribe taking and giving, injustice. Class warfare. The practice of reward for blind loyalty to person, not nation. Choosing one made of the coarsest clay to follow and deify. A philosophy of us versus them.
The poor little bird of hope squeaking out of her confining box is tired. Her wings weary. She needs a place of haven. But she is caught in the hostile winds of nations denying haven and refuge. And so gradually her tweets of hope are dying down, barely heard, and so is the hope within us. She is down to knocking weakly on doors but finding no one home. No one asks her in or provides her food and shelter outdoors.
Can we change that situation. Simply by paying attention to the world, understanding and acknowledging that we all have much at stake.
Do we even want to? Do we know the way to do that? Will we, against all odds?
Can we change?
Perhaps. Maybe.
On the morrow?
Come home. Leave your hiding places. Open the hidden doorways into your arms and hearts, to each other and to yourself as well. Come home. Wake up If not today. then please ...
-on the morrow.
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