For the first time in a long time as I looked out the window there were white clouds in the midst of a pale blue sky. As I looked at the clouds, they did what they had been doing since I was a child, morphing into shapes resembling something clearly imaginable in their puffs of white. It's a fun activity wherever and whenever traveling, however since we desperately need some rain, I was disappointed that these clouds were fluffy white rather than the grey ones foretelling of rain. However, as the saying goes, "into each life, some rain must fall" and as we look at the nation after yesterday's election day, we are deluged with dark clouds and maelstroms of hostility and concern.
At present I believe that anyone of Jewish extraction, in particular one whose general appearance, in clothing or jewelry or entering Jewish institutions, must check and recheck and recheck again. Not to hide, not to deny, but to make sure of one's security. Is it safe where I am going? Is there security where I am going? Is it a serious security or some 80 year old retired cop with bad feet and slow reactions? Are there signs in or around that business complex? Are there hate sayings regarding Israel or Jews? Is there talk of new laws being passed which will restrict the rights and freedom of Jews? Is there now more open anti Semitism viral and toxic post the election of Mamdani to the mayor's office in New York? A free to go, free to show, JewHatred, welcomed and open, praised, bold in its hate, within the city and its environs. Even beyond, for what is in New York City, invariably and inevitably spreads out to the suburbs, to the exurbs and to other cities around the nation, let alone the world. Certainly, in areas where cities have a majority of a Muslim population one must think twice about where one is going, what time one is going, and the transportation options available.
Do I sound like a worry wart? Possibly, probably, but while I have often expressed some Pollyannish wishes, I have always had a dark streak of pessimism within. Looking at that glass, I forever see the half empty, or more. I believe, unfortunately, that the more negativity that is allowed, the more people will buy into it and exhibit it. Out loud and proud. Negative manners, behavior, and words, always pushing the envelope, pushing out the resistance to its spread and toxicity. They will push the envelope to enable worse and fear no consequences.
NYC's election results and the results in other areas, in the nation and even around the world warn us to be alert. To understand that labels are meaningless these days. They are often false or misleading in intent. Democrat or Republican does not carry the same weight as it used to. What matters is the truth of the person running for office, not the label. We need to learn to vote for a person, one with courage to resist ill meaning directives, and forge his/her own way through the morass of politics these days and come through intact, morals free of taint. We must be alert to the sudden shifts of opinions of a candidate for suddenly one can find oneself in enemy territory literally, as corruption works it evil ways. If we are lax, for even a moment, we can find ourselves down for the count, wondering what the hell has happened.
That is the question we have before us today in the United States and its neighboring countries. The nations around the world. What has happened? Wherefore, why, have we descended once again to this dark crevice, this ugly twist of nature, wherein the populace gleefully buys into the violence sanctioned, approved of and cheered for, a delight in buying into excused violence of hate and bigotry. Why do we so desperately seem to need someone against whom, to whom, we address modes of hate, to whom we can physically snub and dis and even hurt in public and garnering support for those misdeeds and perversions of behavior and thought.
At the very least one would wish for a passersby to voice some opposition, but most would not, lest they too get involved. But there is a point, my friends, when we must get involved, for as I have long stated and long been supported by the evidence, Hate moves on when it has ingested all it can in one area. It moves quite deeply into another area and suddenly one finds oneself the target of hate, the same hate that he dished out to others is now dished out against him. The same laws, the same discrimination that applied to another is now being applied to him and his and approved of by the remaining untouched for the moment crowd.
But there's no such thing as remaining untouched, unsmeared by the filth that goes around. Inevitably a nation whose government is founded on hate will be consumed by hate, and there will be no one “safe”, not even members of the so-called ruling class. Paranoia grows, suspicion grows and security decreases. One is on top of the pile and tomorrow one is at the bottom, trampled over, stepped on and discarded as human trash.
Carry to the end and the infection of hatred, the blight of it, will expand, and the exact target of the Hate almost does not matter, so far and so intense will the Hate, the need for this Hatred of anything inevitably widen its grasp and inject more venom into society. Inevitably that society will crumble, its facade weakened with every act of Hate. Nothing is safe. Nothing is secure. The only sure thing is the finality that is now consuming it and others, as they all go down for the count, the Hatred having no boundaries nor borders, all are targeted in time.
Over the top? I hope so, but I don't think so. There is no one, nothing, no body of government, no type of government that is immune from hatred. It successfully manages to ooze its way into every crack, every crevice and once it makes its way through to the other side, it grows exponentially and all within are tainted. We do not even realize how quickly society disintegrates and becomes less than what it was. The so called sophisticated cultured society is no freer of risk of this than the crudest society one can find. It has no limits. It has no powerful opponent to inhibit its growth.
In truth, I believe the only way to inhibit the growth of Hate, to weaken its roots to the point where they can be ripped out, dead for eternity, is via Education. But education can be a two-sided sword. If it is used to inculcate that hate instead of uprooting it, we have lost the battle before it began. We must be far more careful than we have been in the past and in our present, to the quality and the beliefs of those who will educate our children and ourselves as well. Make no mistake about it, adults are enmeshed in this equally as much as these false educators renege on their true responsibilities and ensnare children and adults in the ugliness of this venomous Hate and spit them out at the end as biased human beings willing to commit all sorts of havoc. How to vet the teachers, safely, securely, I do not have the answers, way above my paygrade, but there must be a way. Hate memes and tropes have no place within the halls of education. That must be clearly understood.
I wish I knew the answers. I wish I even knew where to begin, but what I do know is if I were a Jew in New York City I would get the hell out. If I were a Jew who works in the city I would think about finding a job outside New York City for Hatred grows mighty and strong, spreads widely. Unless Jews and righteous thinkers join together, disregard the differences among the groups, and combat Hate with a united front, well, I see no way through other than unity in this matter.
If I were a Jew anywhere in the world today, I would understand the power of Hate, especially if it grows unchallenged, unabating. To the point where society and legitimate political office are broken. That is what we have done in New York City. That is what we have allowed in Dearborn. That is what we have allowed in nearly unpopulated states with extremists on the other side. And that is what we have allowed for - a future of growth of this horrid, toxic manifestation of the worst of mankind
I do not know why people must hate as much as they need to breathe. I don't know why people feel so empty unless they have others to trample, to defeat, to demean, to debase. I don't know why we constantly drift and then float, faster and faster, to these evil societies. But we do and history records that.
I look around and I see what my nation was once, the nation I was proud to be part of, as it turns against me, turns against others like me and begins to consume itself. Our elected and appointed officials are of far lesser quality, with large streaks of greed, of selfishness, of anger, of negativity, more so than at any other time before. So much so to the point where they are becoming the majority, rather than the minority. We have come to the point where we categorize and label people without understanding what those labels truly mean, what they indicate, for these are false labels. They mean nothing of any certainty, nothing to pin one's hopes on and the only way out of this mess is to be far more careful and selective in our choices of those whom we support.
It is time to take action, for evil never remains lesser. It inevitably grows, the waves of its ugliness spread, consume wider areas of the shore. It creeps into our homes and unknowingly we fall prey to it. This cannot continue. It must not continue, for if it does, we will soon find ourselves going down for the 3rd time. After that, well, go read some books on history and understand what is after that
As of today, we have allowed insanity, Hatred, the violent side of humanity to become victors and find welcoming homes inside our nation, just as others have done round the world. In fact, as far as I can see, every nation today has become bug-ridden with an infestation of Hate. It consumes with selfishness and has flourished to an extent once thought never to be, not after our past history.
Unfortunately, both of my nations that I call home, have had the same miserable experience with their politicians, with too many out for themselves rather than for the nation they seemingly lead. Idealism, true patriotism, sacrifice, particularly among those who have taken power, are serving great heaps of bad upon their nations. The people who make up these nations find themselves in confusing circumstances and cannot find the pathways through which they can extricate themselves, reformat themselves, redeem these societies and finally return to what they were founded to be, to the basis of principles they espoused, all the way through to the promises and hopes they held out for the world at large.
Maybe, possibly, but I am not optimistic at this point in time, perhaps one day we will once again retrieve ourselves and regrow idealistic youth and adults meshed with reality and without a feeling or a necessity to crush one sector or faction of society so that another might rise and improve its situation at much cost to the others.
Once I was such a person. Once many of us were. Then we aged, grew up, became hardened and disillusioned and sang and thought wistfully of those days gone by. We ask ourselves, how and why did we change? Why did we ignore or possibly cede to the reality before us, fall back before it? I don't know, and I cannot speak for others. What I do know is that somehow, somewhere, something must change, and soon, or we are doomed.
All that we learned in, from, our yesterdays.
All the improvements that we made in our todays.
All the hopes and dreams of the tomorrows before us.
All falling away, disintegrated before our very eyes.
No one is safe. No one is immune.
And as the song goes on, "when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?"
Apparently, never.
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