OKAY? MAYBE. MAYBE NOT.

 "This will be okay." So we are reassured by the star of NCIS Hawai'i, a message sent to upset viewers of the show when they heard there was to be a two week hiatus. Would that the above statement would assure the rest of America to the status quo of it all, rather than applying only to a TV show. Interesting though, quite so, when we think of all the other issues plaguing the country today and at least for the near future. Also interesting is that the reassurance is expressed through the persona of a modern strong woman, one who heads an arm of government heretofore led only by men. Fascinating, in a world rather more typified by trying to put women back in "their place", an attitude of the GOP.

Would that all was okay or will be. But will it? Conversations I have had over this past week tells me not to believe that statement, that reassurance. Perhaps for the show, but for America's concerns and uncertainty remain in place. In describing conditions in an office, on an issue, wherever there is a disagreement, present is almost always America's   'Great Divide'. Worse is the growing concern that this Divide will self-perpetuate, never to be healed, permanently reshaping America, its goals, its presence in the world, and the probable future of the world at large.

Growing is the fear that the investigation, the truth of Jan. 6 will not culminate in any published, formal conclusion a la the Warren Commission. The committee is running out of time. The blockades the GOP has jammed into place on the road to recovery seems to have backfired on the Democratic Party as they are blamed for the harmful troubles foisted on this nation by GOP intransigence and fear of a demented man. It appears the GOP, other than a few honest, truthful members, have united in their negative partisanship, where there is no room for concern for the electorate; rather, there is a catering to the lowest elements of society - the haters, the uneducated, the ones stuck in a determination to keep the world as it once was, rather than adapt and accommodate to new truths. 

There appear to be no people within the GOP capable and willing to take their 2020 defeat as grown, mature men and women. They whine all the day long, ally themselves with anti-Semitic groups, as Gosar is doing, has done, deny truths evident to any person who watched Jan. 6 unroll before our very eyes, heard the words, the instigating words of Trump who literally told his mob to fight - and so they did. And so, America crumbles, a bit more, a lot more, actually. Most assuredly, we cannot assure Americans and the world that indeed "this will be okay". Sad truth of the conditions today.

At a time when the Democratic Party needs to be strong, be united, they are consuming themselves from within. Liberal wing. Progressive wing. Conservative. Moderate. Who cares? Just present a united front and build faith and trust in the Democratic platform. Highlight GOP obstructionist tactics and lies, their role in the legislative delays to getting the show on the road, a road most necessary for the survival of this country. But they do not.

Worse is the exponential factor of influence that America has on the world, the gaping maw of its absence from the positive, strong, reassuring pose it traditionally has and inspires, the influence that is sadly and dangerously waning. We have shirked our responsibilities to ourselves and the world, to humanity at large. Like it or not, that was our role, a role in which we took pride, a role which we tried to perfect as we stumbled along. We succeeded more than failed and there was a future for our children. American can-do spirit, its perpetual optimism that served it so well through two major wars, economic crises, social upheavals and more, was severely, critically wounded.

We walked backwards, a bad tactic, even if we meant well. We threw out the baby with the bathwater with no other water or baby in sight. Acknowledging that our heroes and Founding Fathers had feet of clay should not mean that we need to disrespect their positive steps, their boldness and progressive, innovative thinking. Yes, some had slaves. However, they also recognized the need and right to self-determine their own fate, rather than have it imposed on them. They knew that democracy, a revolutionary belief, was the truth, the way to go. They argued re the status of slaves, their membership among the ranks of mankind, fought battles about it, compromised, allowing the country to exist, to move forward on the path of trial and error, of sucess in the recognition of truths and the discarding of lies.

This took time, too much time, but it did happen, though racial, gender, religious hatred remains viable, and indeed, a growing factor. We encourage that by discarding all that went before, rather than taking pride in the positive aspects, the ones that allowed us to move forward and drag the world along with us. People are people. Times are the times. No one is perfect. Certainly not if we judge them through the eyes of a changed world, not the one in which they lived, in which they formatted their thinking, their challenges, their push to indeed, make it all okay. 

If not for the flourishing and nurturing of their seeds, the seeds of democracy, the viability of those seeds, we would not have the society we have today. A society which, while not perfect, allows for the inclusion of all, the upward movement of all. If there are difficulties or not, that does not preclude possibilities, and probabilities. They are there. We see them, we know them, we live them even as we struggle to make it better. That is life.

So, completely okay? Perfectly okay? No, and truthfully, I doubt there is such a condition for there is always room for improvement. That improvement comes via hard work. Even if we take a step or two backwards at times, the dominant forward movement of this country, its integration within the soul of this country, will move it forward again - and has indeed done so many times.

As one stated, "Jan. 6 was a stain on the country's history." He continues, that "Donald Trump bears responsibility for it." Actually, yes, and no. We bear responsibility for allowing for the rise of such a man to the unbelievable office of President, the leader of the Free World. We allowed that. We enabled that. We abandoned our traditions, reverted to a more primitive time, a time of dictators, of hatred nourished via perverse, unfortunately influential members of society. We are the ones who need to recognize that it is not okay, will not necessarily be okay, unless we make it okay though our own efforts.

Okay? Maybe. Up to us.

WHO'D A THUNK!!

 This time of the year is when families, multi generations, gather. Thankfully - or not, as the case might be - this year we can gather in reality, hugs and kisses included. I think I am all Zoomed out, despite all the opportunities it has afforded us during the height of the pandemic. I know that I have engaged in many webinars and seminars through Zoom but still, the real thing is the real deal.

Imagine the feeling when we can sit down with the kids and share with them family history and lore. We can share thoughts and lifetime pearls of wisdom - those we think are worthy of that name! It is that rare moment when both children and grandchildren are eager or patient enough to hear these comments, to share in family memories. It is then that we get a plethora of who'd a thunk moments. From both sides of the discourse.

Who'd a thunk that those third graders agog at the story about room size computers in their Weekly Reader would now be walking about with better, faster, more powerful and much smaller sized computers strapped onto their wrists or carried about in that permanent attachment - the phone. The kids, on the other hand, cannot fathom a time when there were no computers, no games, no Internet, no social media other than Page Six in the Post! 

Their minds go on red line mode when they hear that their grandparents actually lived through a time when not only were all TVs black and white, but the screen was round and tiny, encased in huge pieces of furniture, nor did everyone have a TV. And the TV shut down at midnight after a rendition of the national anthem, complete with flag flying. And then - static. Mind blowing.

Primitive level of society they think. How did we survive. Actually, quite nicely, as we were allowed to play outdoors, bike all day without constant checks and call ins, without exaggerated fears of all sorts of 'stranger danger'; simply told to go play, and play we did. All day, until suppertime. Furthermore, a great shock to their system - we actually spoke face to face with friends rather than sit beside them and communicate via text! Tell them to play, to talk, they look at you as if your UFO has now become visible.

In a more serious tack, we speak of the time when we did not walk through life defensively. We did not worry about cars jamming purposely into crowds. We did not worry that there were traitors in our midst, actual governmental figures who wished to overthrow this country's democratic government. Worse, that the sitting President would involve himself up to his miserable besmirked face and sun blasted brain. A definite member of the lower levels of intelligence, yet look at those otherwise intelligent people he ensnared. Shocking!!

Nor did we have almost daily concerns and myriad reports re the climate and environment. We most certainly did not have a Chief Heat Officer as three cities now have and others are contemplating. Heat complaints? That happened when the heat did not flow through those huge iron radiators. Or when the heat did not really slow the kids down as we jumped into the sprays of open hydrants, were sprayed with hoses, or went to the nearby park and its wading pool and spray. Along came with us packed bags lest we go hungry!

Life during our childhood and early adulthood was definitely different and though we now look at it through rose colored glasses - after our cataract surgery - we do actually realize that those times had their own perilous moments - hiding under the desk in preparation for a nuclear attack. Or chemicals spewing unchecked into once pristine waterways, or the helplessness in the face of diseases we can now treat, a whole list of things. Nor is today all bad, though heaven help me, but there are days.....

Who'd a thunk that our media would be reporting on all the Hollywood characters running for office. Reagan was the exception rather than the rule, but today, well, even The Rock is in as is McConaughey and hey, anyone who will trounce Abbott is gold in my book!

Democracy is endangered throughout the world and the USA was a leader in the stampede to destroy it under Trump, along with unfortunate remainders and reminders of his administration. who unfortunately have open pathways to treasonous rants, a la Tucker Carlson's three - part special about Jan. 6, complete with prejudice and lies, so many that even the believers will be stuffed! Or the poisonous blather of Greene and Gosar, along with the poisonous words of Omar, Tlaib, and all those characters on both sides who need to hitch up their pants, man and woman up and do the right thing, rather than cowering under tables lest Trump scold them, or their ugly base turn on them.

Yes, who'd a thunk so many once unthinkable thoughts and witness so many unbelievable actions and deeds. Good and bad among them. We must learn to be more discerning in our choices. Weigh the consequences down the road. And who'd a thunk that there would be defensive shopping for the holidays due to a chain of supply problem. Complete with shortage of pumpkin in cans and turkeys for roasting. Who'd a thunk indeed.

WHO?

 Ever look in the mirror, intentionally or not, and feel stunned by the reflection? Just who is it there within that piece of glass? Looks remarkably like your mom or your dad - but how can that be? With a shake of the head you realize the truth - that is you! But what happened to that 18 year old starting out in life? Inside, ignoring the physical issues, of course - you feel the same, So who is that  reflection? Who are you? Who am I?

The problem today is that most of us no longer recognize the days of youth, the idealism of it, and have gotten lost in a sourness of life, wallow in disappointments and look to blame someone, anyone, but certainly not you. Certainly not your fault! 

As a consequence of that attitude we begin to lose the recognition of others, the vagaries of life, the hard work necessary, and the failure to attain goals. We feel cheated. We feel demeaned. An ugly human trait then emerges in force - the need, the driving need to blame someone, any group of people who are lower than you on the ladder of society, but seemingly, somehow, have some secretive power to destroy all that you hold dear and near to your heart.

Hence the great divide. Not a river or mountain range or ocean, but the mental divide, the one that turns humanity into a THEM and US reality, a reality based on immature behavior and denial of obvious facts.

Thus it is not my fault when an election is lost. Nope. Rigged. Cheated out of your so deserved victory. So, you then reach out to other damaged souls and delude them into thinking you are a messiah, to ignore your oh so visible defects, and you then plan your own rigging. Search out high and low, mostly low, for abettors and enablers, and figure out how to unfairly influence, gain control of the election process. Plot the destruction of your country, for no longer is there loyalty to flag and country, but to individual, to master of life and death, to a life wherein you will get yours - or so you hope. All others will be destroyed, one way or another. THEM vs. US.

A most destructive way of life. Nothing positive. All negative, cynicism and falsehood valued above all. Justice corrupted as judges, incompetent and already spoken for, are appointed, while other candidates are besmirched with so called calumnies - communists, socialists, Leftists, traitors. Opposition grows to nonsensical levels, such as one nasty yokel who talked for eight hours, surviving on sweet candy, all to block a bill which would benefit most of US and kick start an end to the tangled chain of supplies, get people back to work, and recognize that society must be humane. We are not to return to a time when people below the upper wealthy of society were deemed worthless, other than for what they can give to those elites. All are peasants, peons, serfs, with little right to anything. Hunger? Homeless? Education? Upward movement for children? All in the negative column.

We were warned today that there could very well be revived volcanoes in our country. Scary. But the volcanoes in reality are already here. We are doing a great job of destroying ourselves and our planet way before these dead to live volcanoes manifest themselves.

"There is no them. There is only us."

                          (Luis Alberto Urrea)

If only we could internalize that. If only. We could then look at that reflection and know that we have done our best, failed and succeeded, and others are not to blame.

      THERE IS ONLY US.

"A STATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS"

  Well, that statement in itself is obvious. However, the obvious has become denied, deniable, by those determining the fate of this nation. At times I look around, seeking Rod Serling, enduring the ear worm of its iconic signatory tune. What actually is obvious, at least to any normal thinking person, is obviously not obvious to those who deny truths, who accept lies as the standard political currency of America today.

Confused? So is the majority of this country! You are in good company. "It's a statement of the obvious." says a Republican. The GOP is going to play tit for tat games of retaliation. Pre-k level by this point in time. Gosar is an outright fascist, a member and supporter of Proud Boys, an openly white extremist, Jew hating group. Statement of the obvious? Of course! Since when do we tolerate this in our governing body, so very much in the open and defend the obvious, very obvious, violated red lines of decent society and government.

Gosar's claim, in so many words, is "that he didn't intend to threaten his fellow lawmakers, cause offense, or upset anyone when he tweeted out the violent video".  Uh huh! Of course not! Why would anyone think that portrayal of oneself violently killing a political opponent would instigate others to do the same - in real life! Are we not dealing with the obvious results of such behavior - the rebellion of Jan. 6, 2021? A statement of the obvious - and yet, its obviousness eludes too many, shoved aside in the vicious atmosphere found today in both Houses. Threats. Calls for revenge, insult trading in  public, lies, - obvious, yet apparently not to some. Aren't we so proud of our 'leaders'! Not!!!!!

   "It's real. And it's, it's rough", states Kamala Harris, the almost invisible woman of the administration. A shame, as she is quite capable, stands as a positive role model for girls, for women, for intelligent men who realize that medieval standards re women are no longer acceptable. An yet, again, the obvious..... When will the GOP realize that to consume ourselves from the inside out, temporarily hiding the wounds and the fractures, is but a temporary stop to the obvious - the disintegration of this country's government, a replication of the Duma, the legislative branches of any dictatorial government. Why do they not see or continue to deny the obvious and their destructive role within? ??????

We are told the tide is turning, that GOP members are beginning to defy Trump. Are they for real? The man remains a focus of too many, deified, even as he rusts away, his perversions and cruelty, his selfishness and nastiness, eating away at his soul. His heart? Bah! Humbug!! Never there - ever. He rants against McConnell - makes my day - for a most deserving figure gets paid off in the currency he himself used during this dangerous existential threat time for the nation. Tit for tat indeed.

The false claim of executive privilege - nice touch, don't ya' think? Do wrong, kill your parents, then claim orphan-hood as an excuse, to stave off timely and fitting punishment. Trump offends, attacked the legal system of this nation, mandates loyalty to him, not to the country. His banners were honored, while our flag became a weapon of offense and attack at the Capitol. The conclusion is obvious, yet again - see what we have in reality. Claims of false executive power and delay after delay through the courts.

A few more statements of the obvious? Trump is most definitely guilty, complicit in the deaths of 700,000 Americans. He turned aside every truth, every suggestion re the pandemic, allowed it to grow to monster proportion, encouraged his deluded followers to sacrifice themselves even unto death -kind of permanent there, and people indeed died.  The nation is reeling from it, and its side effects. Obvious enough? And yet, there he remains in his posh Mar A Lago. Even as we continue to bury the victims, continue to bury a positive future for this country.

A closing presentation of where we are at present. The lawyer for QAnon Shaman, presumably at least somewhat intelligent as he had to pass the bar, well, read the following and say the obvious. We need help. Now. Badly. Emergency basis. The next two paragraphs says it all.

"If you're asking my opinion, my opinion is meaningless. I will say that I would probably be far more effective over a beer with former President Trump, even if he didn't have a beer, because I understand he doesn't drink beer, but I'd have a beer," attorney Albert Watkins said.

"And I'd tell him, 'You know what? You've got a few f------ things to do. Including clearing this f------ mess up and taking care of a lot of the jackasses that you f----- up because of January 6.' In the meantime, I might talk to him about some other things that I'd agree with him on. But my opinion doesn't mean s--t," he added.

A statement of the obvious indeed. G-d help us all.

SOMETIMES......SOMETIMES..........

  Sometimes I just get tired. Yes, there is a physical element, tied to age, activities and side effects of other matters, but the tired I am referring to is not physical. It is rather a tiredness of spirit, a loss of hope, a feeling that we truly are lost somewhere in a hostile wilderness, a primeval forest, with no exit plan in sight.

I wonder, how long can the country sustain itself what with these wounds, many self inflicted shall we say by the supposed defenders of her survival in that hostile environment. Ironically enough, these people are often the progenitors of the denizens within. Can we ever expect them to see the light, know the truth and separate it from the chaff that they have been fed? At this point - I think not.

When a Party, purposely capitalized, can deny the fact that their fellow GOP creep needed to be censured for his gross cartoon featuring him in the pose of a triumphant hero, slaying AOC and Biden. Really? Blood flowing, a hero, he purports to be. No, threatening the life of a sitting President alone is a crime. Furthermore, while I am most definitely not a fan of AOC and her gang, I do not support murder, open rebellion against the legitimate members of the governmental bodies of this nation.

I am so tired of the nitpicking, the open fights, trading insults. What the hell!!! We teach kids in school that they are better than that, that there are other, better, ways to solve differences, to mediate and compromise and then we have our kindergarten adults. So tiring. So depressing. So futile, one feels.

China, rather than feed her billions of citizens, invests in a missile with a glider that can swing around the world and then hone in for the kill. Wow! I am so unimpressed. All that brainpower wasted. When there is rampant hunger, obvious mass destruction of our living environment, homelessness a growing plague of our society, diseases impressing themselves as they grow to monster proportions, pandemics awaiting in the wings. And they invest instead in yet another war weapon. How many times will we kill each other, over and over? Dead is dead. And so will be the planet be if we persist on our self destructive paths and behaviors.

I confess, a if you have not already figured it out: I hate Trump and all that he stands for. He endorses and enables a growing, most dangerous, violent anti Semitism. He is anti the people, only for himself, dragging along those who bask in his shadow, waiting to get 'theirs', stomping on all and everyone to get ahead and avoid the leper camp they will be exiled to if they displease the Master, that deranged man who needed to be locked up long ago. 

Why does the media persist in giving him the attention he craves? Why do the courts allow him to use the delaying tactics he engages in, rather than demanding a timely end to this all, a just punishment and let us move on as a nation once again. Let us, as Lincoln said, bind up the nation's wounds. There are myriads of those wounds so let us get started on a task most important for our survival. As a nation. As a leader of the free world, shrinking, even as I write. As residents of a damaged, but hopefully, healing planet. Move on.

If we succeed in doing that, then perhaps we will stop walking on tippy toes around each other. Talk politics again, a  sane politics. Perhaps the glum faces of travelers will smile again, able to be revealed beneath those infernal, but most necessary, masks. Perhaps then we will take on this new massive flu, outbreaks of COVID, or any other plague. Perhaps. Then I will be able to breathe again, as will you as well.

Sometimes, sometimes....

STEEL POLE THERAPY?

  Maybe that is what is needed if we are to return to any kind of sanity in the near future. It is absurd how absurdities have become the mantras of the day, when extremism has become part of the ordinary, and most people appear to be wandering about confused, ignorant, convinced of their own superiority, or just plain stupid! When, how, do we gain their attention, perhaps entry into their heads and hearts? This entryway appears to be growing ever fainter in its possibility. Improbabilities have now become the possibilities, even realistic probabilities. Steel pole? Please?

Maybe it is the water? The air? The plastics? Something has definitely gone wrong with the thinking process of Americans or is it that the majority have simply faded into the background, allowing for the fringes to push their way forward and gain all the attention and all the power. This is a reality denying attitude, and yet, so American. 

I believe Americans have a national trait which allows for optimistic, reality denying thinking, that all will be right in the end, that balance will  prevail, common sense will overcome all. Hence, we can continue to laugh at the deluded, at their persistent belief in pure nonsense. Trump will be "reinstated". "Elections are all rigged". If a GOP candidate wins, it is G-d's handiwork. In fact, to them, it is obvious that G-d is on their side - for so  their pastor or religious leader has said. And so they believe, despite all the negative consequences. Despite the deaths. Despite the cracks in the firmament of the nation. Despite the ever growing danger of the outrageous thinking and actions of the fringe, their growing success in destroying the balance of this country, destabilizing it to such a degree that once unthinkable thoughts are now commonplace.

It puzzles me. It frightens me. No, it terrifies me. When I read of open calls for a "white Christian country, one religion" I get scared. So should you. When my thoughts and opinions, the very same ones I was told were absurd, extreme, jumping the shark, come out of the mouths and pens of the thinkers of society, when I read book after book, fiction and non fiction, echoing these thoughts, I tremble. I wonder. What took them so long? Were they afraid to speak out? Where were these people till now? As for all the truth tellers and their tell all books, why did they enable the madman? They allowed this. Writing of their fears, their secret meetings, are nothing, of no import other than to underline their complicity in the destruction, in the rape, of our nation. They allowed the avalanche of insanity to begin, to pick up speed, allowed a rolling ball of absurdities to pick up political validity.

It worries me, frustrates me to the nth degree when I daily read and hear of the uncovered filth, of  alleged crimes of Trump himself, his advisers, his family members, his financial organizations, his lawyers, when the echoing screams of dying officers on Jan. 6 reverberate through the air. I wonder why the hell have we not acted already? Why are these people not imprisoned already? Why have they not been called to pay the price for treason? Why are they continuing in office? In State Houses. In Congress. As judges. As once loyal citizens of a nation rather than cult believers.

Time to pay the piper. If not, those rats of Hamelin will prevail in their current role of the rats gnawing away at our foundations, threatening the children of this nation and their futures. Paying up hurts; I know that. But not paying hurts even more. Like the stored jets in the desert, now infested with scorpions and snakes, posing danger to all unless thoroughly cleaned and inspected, so too is our nation right now. The snakes, the scorpions, the traitors, the haters are all there. The inspectors in the desert use "whackers" to chase the snakes out of their hidey holes, to prevent future dangerous possibilities of poisoned bites. 

We, too, need these whackers, these steel poles, these broomsticks. We need to chase the snakes out, wake up people to the danger they pose. Fight them. Get rid of them and do what must be done to preserve the nation. We must relegate the fringes to where they belong - on the fringes of society - and "The fact of the matter is, the only way to save our state, so to speak, is to fight for the rule of law and to fight for our democratic values ..."

Enough talk. More action.

IF YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC, THEN ...

  If only it were that simple. We so do continue to enjoy that simple, exciting, wishful moment when we are asked to clap if we believe in fairies. I have never been at any performance of this show, be it on stage or via TV, where adults present did not clap, probably with more force and wishful thinking, with more hope, than any child present. The adult fell back to the magical thinking of childhood, hoping, praying, that there yet remained something of the magic of childhood, something of the optimism from a time when anything was possible. Sadly enough, tragically enough, there is very little of that around.

Whose fault is that? How and when did we lose that optimism, that sense of can do American spirit? Cannot give a specific date, but I do know that the loss began decades ago, commenced with the angry opposing forces of progress versus regression, of extremes on both sides which precluded any kind of compromise or rational talk. It continued at exponential pace during the Trump era and is rapidly gaining even more speed these days. Today,  analysts are openly speaking, warning, of a possible - probable? - Second Civil War, late to my train, but finally there. Woe upon us when there finally is no one left in the audience who will clap to revive Tinkerbelle, no longer believes in the possibility of impossibility. A sad day indeed.

Replacing hope is cynicism, resignation to a coming world which will please no one other than those on the very top of the food chain. Even they will face the ever teetering and tottering of that ladder they are perched atop, ever shaky in an authoritarian world, where there is no loyalty to anything or anyone other than to oneself. A most sad, bad day for life.

A sick deer ran into a hospital, while her brethren are being slaughtered on the byways of America as they engage in wild runs away from the hunters. We passed numerous dead deer on the roads of Pennsylvania. What a metaphor for the crazed running, the useless ducks and dives that we take today in order to survive. It is laughable, if not so worthy of tears instead. We run for what appears to be the closest shelter and find ourselves deeper in the hidden muck inside, struggle to get out, and only get deeper into the mess. We then look around frantically, frenzied, seeking aid from wherever. Above it all we now see the head of one presuming extra privilege, extra safety for believers, poses as a return to sanity, to order, and even as a branch is extended to us, the muck and mire grow thicker, never truly losing their grasp upon us.

A former general states re COVID that "Society's very existence could have been threatened." Correct other than for that one word - could. No could there, rather a 'was', most definitely, threatened and remains so today. We have lost all sense of society, of possibilities, of talk rather than confrontation. We have lost that sense of honor, of representing the true needs of constituents; instead one votes for the powerful, the one who frightens us the most. Even if totally diametrically opposed to the truly needed by the district's population. We do not even bother anymore to ask for believers in magic. That is gone. Tinkerbelle lays dying in front of our eyes and still hands.

 "if...you’re not part of the solution and you’re potentially part of the problem. I feel very strongly: This is a case where responsibility to the whole trumps a person’s right to do whatever they want." 

That is what we need to remember, to etch in our understandings of reality We need to be grateful, more so, for what was, what remains, and what can be, if only.... We need to return to the unity of a UNITED States of America. We have room for all within our borders. Natural American traits will prevail - if we allow them to. We will regain our faith in the possibilities ahead of us, before us, challenging us, but oh so possible, if only....

If you believe in fairies, please clap. Now. Loud and strong.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD, SAME OLD

  Same difference, the more things change ... Does it ever? Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Language, the words used to express things, can change, but underneath it all is the same old, same old. The same filth. The same ugliness. The same canards that have plagued humanity since the first humans roamed this earth. And who knows, perhaps if we ever do get to other planets, other universes, or they visit us, we will find the same old there as well.

Before we continue, I would first like to apologize for an unexplained no blog yesterday. Flying time again. The airports are full again, the lines long, the planes delayed, people running like lunatics through the concourses to catch their connecting flights, and now we add on the eternal lectures re wearing masks, accompanied by threats of federal crime, being tossed off the plane, mind you, everybody is wearing one - and the unbearable crowding, a la sardine style, into jammed planes. Oh, don't you love the warning that if you do not surrender your rollaboards, they will be confiscated anyway if the flight attendants deem the overheads are full. And as for service? Forget about it unless you are in Business or First Class. The rest of us, we just pay through the nose, endure the 'charms' of flying, and remember to bring some food and drink for inside the plane - choices are quite limited. Be that as it may, plane travel does serve a purpose, allowed us to attend a wedding and celebrations, and can tie the country together. We will see. The jury is out on that.

Back at the ranch we are back at the same old filth and garbage that has plagued humanity since time began. With the first person  who looked upon another, of differing gender, color, place of origin, physical appearance, whatever the choice or excuse, it all began to go wrong. Sorry to say, religion, the very thing that should unite people, give them standards, morals, values, of high standing, that very same religion instead turns the world on its axis, upside down, malicious and vicious. Where have we gone wrong and how do we self correct? Can it even be done?

 "One nation, one religion" ... under G-d". What god? Which true god wishes this to be? Which true G-d wants the believers to kill others, to destroy all those who are 'different' in one way or another? To chase them down, to obliterate them from the face of this earth, wipe out even the memory of their existence? Which G-d, which true G-d, has spoken to His or Her people and told them to refuse the benefits of science, of discoveries that benefit humankind, choosing instead, opting for, the death of those pitiful believers? WE have twisted the alleged words of gods throughout the centuries until they benefit us, allow for our own sins and crimes against humanity, excuse the results as collateral casualties of the beliefs of the time. That would fly, if we did not go right ahead and repeat them!!! When we definitely know better. Or should.

So yesterday we are told of a preferred new Pledge of Allegiance. One religion. Here we go again. Mind you, this is not new, a sudden uptick in nastiness. No indeed, for it is a canard, a filthy belief in the inherent superiority of one religion over another. Catholic, Protestant, sects within, warring. The same for Islam, with Sunni and Shia at it and Yazidi blasted by both. Jews and their warring sects wishing to dominate the others. Where, when, and why have we decided that one is the best? Whence? Derivation? Benefit? 

Actually, there are no benefits unless one calls it good for the soul - the terror of the flames and torture of the Inquisition, the burning of witches right here in good old America, the second class citizenship of too many, the overzealous Zealots of Islam and Judaism, so contrary to their true beliefs and once again, forever and eternal, the horde of those who are believed to be dispensable, perfect as pawns in the competition of nations. Now it is out there, public, the proposal again, to make this country, our America, into a one religion country and by the way, Heaven help the agnostic and atheists in this equation! 

Think not, that this does not impact negatively on the rest of the thinking of the nations of the world. The harmful effect of a powerful country even thinking aloud in this manner is disastrous. Yet there it is. And who is first in this not so brave New World? Is it the Jews again? Or the Moslems or perhaps those pesky Catholics, or that one annoying sect of Protestants? Who knows? Where does it stop? Well, it doesn't. Never. We see that. We felt that. All throughout the centuries. Through all the blood, the rapes, the awful horrors that we inflict on other humans because they are not just like us. The tragedy is - they are indeed, just like us and our actions bear spoiled fruit in the shape of the same horrors upon the oppressors in turn. What have we done!!! We have so very much perverted the words, meaning, intent, and beauty of religion.

Today, here in the USA, we have states promising bonuses for reporting 'wayward' teachers. We have Churches claiming religion bans vaccine. So much better and oh, for sure, G-d's will that people die. For sure. What the hell is the matter with people today? Furthermore, the exaggerated sensitivity of those opposed to these negative facets of humanity are not blameless. They foster, in others, a backlash of anger. Newfound, newly restored, newly versed actions and reactions. An evil mulberry bush dance.

"We’re in hell,” intones one TV pundit. So true.

Where are we going? Why have we chosen the wrong horse to ride? On the wrong paths. Why do we once again have hordes of relief seekers massing at borders worldwide? Have we forgotten so quickly the hordes of stateless Jews thrown into the no man's land outside Poland? As they do it again to another group? Are we classifying all those who came illegally with the dirty word "migrant"? Despite the fact that so many have become contributing members of society, with American families, whatever that means. What are we doing? Where are we going?

"The signs on the road ahead give cause for concern. America suffers from a list of societal and political conditions that predispose it to violence, and the list seems to be growing longer. At the same time, states that have always defended their sovereignty are more and more defiant of federal authority,..."

Not "Look, see what G-d hath wrought", but rather a 'Look, see what man hath wrought.'

Have we truly advanced since the first war club of bone bashed another? Are we proud of what we have accomplished? In all areas? Think about that. Now what do we do?

iT IS COLD HERE!!!!

  Ahh, to be back in the warmth of Florida, where temperatures in the low 70's earn the comment, "bit chilly today." Well, trust me, it gets bone cold here in the north and me without my gloves. I wonder if the hearts of the northern dwellers are as cold as the temperatures.

I think that we, all Americans, have grown cold, forgotten our manners, our shared citizenship, our shared dreams and goals and instead concentrated on the differences, causing us to move further and farther apart. The big question now is whether we can come back from the frozen tundra of our hearts or not. Can we warm up again to each other? It is even more difficult now because of the past two years when lockdowns and fears kept us apart, from from friends and family as well as the opportunity to meet new people. We grew afraid of each other, drew away when one approached, almost as if we were vampires out for their blood! The sight of little kids wearing masks made me cringe inwardly, wondering what we were doing to their psyche.

Worse than that, we seem to have grown a generation of people who think that not working is okay, that leaving it to others to support them and their needs is okay. They state they cannot find a job and need help even as store after store, business after business are desperate for workers. To make pretzels now in Annie's pretzels, is to earn over $17 an hour, along with benefits. Not bad.

But we have grown lazy. We have forgotten the rewards of working. We have forgotten the need to work. We have become lazy, manufacturing going, going, almost gone. How can we possibly be a superpower if we make nothing. We take no pride in the creation of an article meshing beauty and necessity such as we saw in older, vintage and antique items. Personally, I have fallen in love with them, amazed at the ingenuity and variety found in them. We need to learn to see again, the meshing of ideas and people. The creation of new beginnings out of older ideas. New hopes from old dreams. New life where it is almost dead.

Can we do it? Yes, we can, says Dora. We need to delve deeply into the American conscience, find ourselves as we should be, Americans first and foremost and stop this dead in the water unthinking partisanship which is truly harming us.

Remember, we pledge to the flag and this country, not the elephant or the donkey!

PLOP, PLOP, FIZZ, FIZZ

  Oh, what a relief it is!

Remember that jingle? Remember how simple those times seemed to be? All it took to erase the headache, the upset stomach, the daily frets, was a magical tablet which was dropped into water, would fizz up said waters, and down it went. All gone!

Unfortunately, those days are long, long gone. In fact, many of us, particularly we elderly, feel that today we are living in a transplanted alien world or a parallel dimension, complete with different values - or lack thereof. How else to explain the reality of today, the everchanging details of which change, fizz, so fast that all we feel is the sting of the fizz but no relief in sight. Or taste. Or anything.

Ya' gotta' admit that the whole thing is bizarre. Ted Cruz, a sitting Senator from Texas - maybe that explains it - takes on that powerful and oh so dangerous fiend, Big Bird, even as he talks secession from the Union. I thought we had definitively answered that question a century and a half ago, but obviously we have some slow learners in the bunch. Perhaps Teddy boy fails to understand the power of history, of imperatives that will burp and bring forth another Civil War to preserve the Union, and G-d help us then, for the consequences will be dire indeed. Perhaps it is Ted whom we need to send back to Mexico. 

The fizz of that magic tablet is overcome, rendered useless by yet anther formerly impossible scenario of a former President of this country under investigation, along with his cabal buddies, re alleged treasonous actions and plotting. Any day now I expect a curtain  to be pulled back. There, in open display at Mar a Lago will be not a Wizard, but three ugly witches and wizards, oddly enough resembling Eric, Junior, Jared and Ivanka, busy boiling eyes of newt, chanting ditties, while Trump and his cabalists dance in the altogether, along with Lady Macbeth. Oh, Lord, where is that tablet now?

Need more? Most of us can remember going down to a local K Mart, a 122 year old company, and finding just what we needed. Well by end of year there will be SIX stores remaining. Fizz, anyone? In the era of warming and realities of global warming, we are now being told of a burst of polar cold, brrrr! coming at us. Where the hell are my gloves? 

An aggrieved deranged man demands things go his way - all the time - and if not, well, just change things around! Worse, he drags along with him the deluded thousands upon thousands who believe his lies, swallow them whole, die for them and of them, and this newfound epidemic, no, not COVID, but Trumpian Derangement, and political nefariousness, grows apace. One pol makes the statement, "There's a lot of hurt out there." Trifle understated, true nevertheless. One muses, about how much longer this country and its judicial system will last, at least in proper format - or is too late already?

Evidently Amazon delivers people now; witness the woman who jumped out of a van and then calmly plucked her phone out of the top of her shirt and called...whom? Another van? Amazon - to complain about delayed delivery, - a mystery! Wonder if we could find another tablet to fizz things up a bit. My headache and tummy ache.... 

And now we need an entire bottle if we are to obtain any relief at all. 

 " (DHS) Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas has issued a terror advisory amid a "heightened threat environment" across the United States.

"The United States continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment as we approach several religious holidays and associated mass gatherings that in the past have served as potential targets for acts of violence," 

Yup, the cherry on top in this crazed world of ours. Hey! Was that the Bizzarro Superman flying by? It figures. Is this Tuesday? At least then I would know its Belgium! Oops, it is Thursday; hence, off to another plane! Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is - just not today!

SEVEN MINUTE RANT

  What is that? That seven minute rant and its poisonous content had a student telling his parents thus: “I’m never getting vaccinated. I’m never getting any more shots of any kind. Did you know Trump’s still president?”   From a 'history' teacher, Lord help us, going berserk, yet another victim of the deadly Trumpian virus. New strains emerge almost on a daily basis, hourly, if one listens to all of Trump's own rants. Apparently there is no vaccine, no cure other than.....  Other than what? That is a most frightening realization.

So what does it matter if one teacher loses his marbles? Well, it is not one teacher. It is the thousands upon thousands of deluded souls who bought into this revisionist history, ala Hitler, ala Bolsonaro, ala Putin, ala Xi, ala Peron, ala any and every dictator or wanna be dictator who needs to pervert and twist the narrative to fit their needs, their wants, their oh so dangerous attempts to destroy the democratic nature of a country. Treason. It is time we recognized it as such. Free speech is one thing, but treasonous speech, advocating the overthrow of a government, or making hundreds and hundreds of phone calls to harass and frighten officials who stand up to these lies - well, that is treason, assault, harassment, stalking, whatever name it fits. That behavior, those actions, must, absolutely must, be punished under the mantra of "let the punishment fit the crime".

How do we reunite a fractured country's soul when the hammer wielder persists in a continuous pounding, seeking every piece that remained intact until now. "Republicans are increasingly divided over the bipartisan infrastructure bill that will soon become law, with tensions rising among GOP members over whether the party should remain united against all aspects of President Biden’s agenda or strike deals in the rare instances when there is common ground.' How do we run a government when half of it obeys, like automatons, every word, every hint, every order, that spews forth from that toxic being? Seriously!!!!???? The new operative imperative is apparently screw the nation, f**k the people and their needs - the only dictat of any import and consequence, that ranks high above all else.

Why do people believe in, support to the end, face their own imprisonment, all in the name of, for, a man whose own aide stated that his administration was run like the Gestapo, complete with purges, rants and threats. Loyalty to the man was the First Law. Loyalty, fealty, to the country - never mind!

Now all this raises another point of discussion. If all these people who have written all these tell-all books, the former personnel of the Trump administration, knew the truth, why did they shut their mouths? Why did they not engage in 'rant' behavior, shouting out the truth, rather than supporting the falsehoods, the imminent danger to this country and its people? "Riddle me that", quoth the Riddler. Indeed.

This country will not heal, if that is even a viable possibility anymore,, unless strong, perhaps harsh measures be taken. Complicity is a crime, is abetting, a crime for which there are laws. There are laws for treason. There are laws that take precedence over all. No one, NO ONE, is above the law. Until and unless we take steps to enforce the law, imprison the violators, the abettors, the complicit, and the poisonous head of this ugly pimple on our country - Trump- well, this will all continue until we reach and cross the point of no return. If we have not done that already. The jury is out on that, but closer and closer to a verdict. 

So. Folks, while there remains much that is good, wonderful even, in our lives, we must, absolutely must, watch carefully and act accordingly. If not, well, the end is clear. Just read the paper, hear the new and analysis, truly listen hard to the words, the plans of Trump and Trumpians. The future is in our hands - presently. How much longer? Do not know. Their timetable? Their plans? Definitely chugging along, even as our train is wearily trying to make it up that steep grade. The outcome is in our hands - now, but hands are broken easily. Where are we going? Is that seven minute rant the forewarning mantra for us? You decide. I have decided already. Long ago. About 2015.

 

SENSE AND NONSENSE

  At times one must distance oneself from the ugly reality of everyday life these days and invest, instead, in the joy of the moment, hoping and praying that the moment continues for years into the future. I apologize to my readers for neglecting to write that there would be a day of no entry due to flying and the obstacle course that flying these days has turned into. So, sorry. On the other hand, what a glorious time was had by all.

Then reality strikes. Ugly reality. Contrasts so stark that one wonders how one is ever to meld the differences into a workable whole, fit all the jigsaw pieces in with no single piece missing to spoil the entire puzzle. The ugliness, the petty meanness, the vanity and spitefulness of those engaging in these squabbles so stupid, yet so dangerous to our nation have embittered so many so as to preclude unity within groupings which used to maintain ties of goodness and concern through thick and thin. 

Blood was blood. Friendships were tethered with sinews, proud and thick. Open conversation was allowed, differences were celebrated as well as similarities, with the latter stronger, more powerful, than the former. Religious differences and standards were allowed without group censure, tolerated, even if close to anathema for some.

Today, that piece, those pieces, of the puzzle have gone missing. Seek as hard as we can, they remain invisible to the naked eye, ruining what could be, what should be, a beautiful conclusion, result, of tolerance, of moral value, of acceptance of the innate beauty within all humanity. We despair, wondering whether we will ever be able to finish that puzzle, bask in the accomplishment, the glory, the victory and its importance.

This past Sunday afternoon and evening proves that such an accomplishment remains within our grasp. Tolerance, attention to the ties that bind rather than to the words which divide - it works. It really does. If we could only bottle that essence, remind people that it does exist, that elusive and evasive possibility, that seeming impossibility these days. We have only to seek better, work better, feel better.

There is no doubt about the fact that the Jewish people are in the midst of great differences - of opinions, observances, thoughts about Israel -differences which often preclude friendships, relationships, unity, and befog the truth of it all; be it as it may, we are one people and must remember that, feel it in the marrow of our bones.

Sunday evening it all came together. Varying dress, varying levels and standards, clashing political opinions - it all made no never mind. There before our eyes, two young people were married. Their love for each other shined brightly, and even in the moment of gravitas of a sealing together, of two into one, these two were able to smile, to speak with love and humor. It produced a joy, a hope, that there is indeed the possibility of finding  those missing pieces, reminding all of the tethers that bind, rather than the differences which shred all in its path. The power, the strength of tradition - was totally awesome. The tears of joy fell upon the cheeks of many. The celebration after the ceremony was amazing, simply amazing, as all danced, the men whirling, stomping and the women creating new dances, new paths to portray their joy and happiness for this couple. The chatan, the groom, danced for his kallah, his bride, his partner for life, and the hearts of all were overflowing.

Two characters in a novel were having a serious conversation at a crossing point. One stated that not everything has to make sense.  "Some of the most important things in in our lives defy reason... here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Open the hearts. Clear the connection to the soul.

That is the path. That is the way. Possible? Yes. Hard work? Yes. So let us all get started.

CONTRASTS

  Yesterday, while reading, I came across an excerpt from John McCrae's powerful poem Flanders Field. I can remember reading it in high school, felt its power then, but it is nothing as compared to the emotions felt today, in these troubled times.

"We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved," 

It is precisely more incisive at this moment, precisely when we are celebrating the wonderful occasion of a granddaughter's wedding. How do we meld those feelings with the emotions raised by a poem which pleads for an end to wars, to the coverups of deaths that rend the survivors, of losses that never ever go away, even as Nature tries her very best, cloaking the death with beautiful poppies. In fact, how does one allow thoughts of death in such a time of joy, an affirmation of the continuity of life, of the chains of generations which led to this point?

How? Why? Because it is at such moments that we realize, feel powerfully, the phases of life. Even as it begins new journeys for some, for others it is the final stretch. We realize the futility of denying death, its inevitability. However, at one and the same time, we try to pass on to the younger generation our apologies and our understandings, the outcomes and hopefully, the wisdoms of our experiences.

Generation after generation we have refused to recognize the futility of war. We glorify it, rightfully honor those  who died fighting for one noble cause or another, even as the same causes need more infusions of blood through the centuries. No matter how we name these wars, be it in terms of longevity, as in the Cousins' War in England, or The Hundred Years War, or the Civil War here, whose echoes remain, The Great War, the war that was to end all wars - which did not - its deadly futility remains hidden to the minds of many.

And so we leave these kids a world still, ravaged by war, its deaths, its horrid spillage of blood, its uselessness in the long run, the pressing necessity to find other answers, ones that benefit humankind. We apologize for we have failed in that task. In fact, we have made war an ongoing never ending part of life in areas of the world, with constant threats of ramping up with more powerful weapons, with savagery inflicted upon the 'losers' even as all are losers in war. The victors lose parts of their humanity, never to return, never able to undo the wounds of their souls. There are no victors, no victories, in war. No matter the nobility of the cause, for it returns almost immediately. The murders of Jews continued even as they returned from death camps to former homes. The anger of enemies rushed into the future, merely changing names. The beauty of  the poppies planted, the birds singing overhead - futile in the long run. The land continues to be soaked in the blood of those who perished.

I look at these kids standing under the chuppah, I am filled with joy and happiness for them, with them, fervently, with all the power of my heart and soul, only good, happiness, health, joy in and for their children, for a future. Yet I wonder if that is to be. Look around. See our world, besieged with seething hatreds, decimated by plagues of one sort or another, the devastation of the planet.

"Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep," 

We were charged by the poet with a duty for the future. We have most emphatically not fulfilled that charge. And so it falls to those two kids and the rest of their generation. And the generations to follow. One can only hope and pray that these kids, beginning a life together, hopefully a blessed one, will take on that charge, that duty, and leave a better world for their inheritors than we have done.

To them and their generation I, too, leave a charge. Tell the truth, always, for not to do so is only to invite danger into your homes and nations. Respect the humanity of all, the rights of all, the basic needs of all. Strive to do your best. Keep G-d in your hearts and love each other.

Now to the joy in life. Mazal tov!! The glass shatters and the singing, the dancing, the affirmation that there will always be a time for the sounds and joys of marriage, for the hopes that these marriages present and represent.

Shortly, I will be in the midst of this joy, in the midst of the singing and dancing  - and I would not have it any other way. We are told there is a time and place for everything on this earth. Time to rejoice.

Kol sasone, v'kol simcha.

Kol Chatan, v'kol Kallah

The voice of joy, the voice of happiness

The voice of the groom, the voice of the bride.

             MAZAL TOV!!!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT AND YET I CAN'T STOP BELIEVING

  That iconic song from the group Journey had the entire country singing it, hearing its message of hope and encouragement and was a major, major, major hit on Glee. Personally, I love the song and wish we could all hear its message, particularly during these turbulent times. We, in America, cannot seem to agree on anything. One says white, the other black, the first agrees and the second changes his mind. We are at a dangerous impasse even as the world stretches to new heights of tension and challenge. Russia invades, China aims for the world, warns its citizens to buy in bulk, frightening them, we are losing the cyber wars, the nations of the world are playing games of chicken with war ships and warplanes. What the hell is going on.

"If there is a second American Civil War, which side would you choose? It may be wise to make that decision now, in the spirit of planning for the worst while hoping for the best.

A recent public opinion poll by the University of Virginia Center for Politics finds that a majority of Trump voters want to secede from the Union. Alarmingly, nearly as many Biden voters, 41 percent, also feel it may be "time to split the country."

That is what is going on. Is your hair standing on end? When a bulwark of the world, a place of confidence and surety, of progress and innovation, loses its way, well, the population sees that, feels that, participates in it and the above is what happens. I absolutely hate reading this. Yes, I have been sounding the clarion call about this lo these many a year, but I hoped I was wrong. Was I?

Angela Merkel warned us that the world has apparently not learned the lessons of WWII. Read that again. And again. Why not? And where do we see that? We see it in the GOP 'side' of the civil war as they absorb, nay, desire the extremes, the white power, the neo Nazis, the trash of humanity. Shall we all take seminars re WWII if we are to avoid this? Actually, sadly, I am growing ever more certain, much to my dismay, my horror, my fear, that this is indeed in the offing, a future with no hope, a future in which I see no place, no room at the inn for my people, the Jewish people, once again to be exiled, chased, killed, blamed, whatever negative one can think of. Nor will it be good for anyone else either. That is the way of dictatorships and hate.

Perhaps if this nation were to stop this infantile yet so dangerous practice of head butting, even as their brains migrate to their butts, and grow up. Look for points of agreement, ways to benefit the populace, stop ignoring violence or encouraging it. Avoid the calls to doubt the legitimacy of the elections, the basis of this country. Just stop!!!!! Before we cannot.

KNOCK, KNOCK

  Almost the last few words spoken in the play Come from Away, it made the point of the play. First, a quick review and a suggestion. It was great, fun, serious, hopeful, with hints of what was to come. Suggestion: go see it, at the Broward Center thru Nov. 17 and it will be at the Kravis Center as well (check for date). What I loved about the cast, other than their acting, singing, good cheer, audience rapport, was the fact that they were not the usual youngster cast one sees so often on stage. These were people well distanced from the teen years, even the twenties and more. Yet their energy was amazing, along with their talent and enthusiasm.

Caught by surprise, as was the entire world, the Towers tragedy forced 38 planes, over 7,000 people, to land on Newfoundland, swamp the little town of Gander along with the rest of the island. Instead of whining, moaning, cursing their fate, these people immediately swept into action, taking from their own pocket, and opening home and heart to the stranded passengers.

Based on fact, small vignettes were reenacted through song and careful words. The warmth was there, along with the sour and acidic signs of the hate that was to come and is still with us. The sentiment of "come from away", is that of welcoming all, for all, each and every one of us has come from away at some point or other, or our families did. Sometimes both.

It is a sentiment that once ruled this country, America, even as it continues to rule Gander and its citizens. At a time of crisis they were able to put aside the struggles and strife of the island and turn to the task of aiding the stranded, going so far as to make them feel at home, so much so that friendships were generated that have lasted for years. Return visits, funding of scholarships, and perhaps, just perhaps, left a spark of welcome and warmth that might strike a chord somewhere within Americans today. Once we too welcomed those come from away, etching that sentiment on a great big green lady in NY harbor. Yes, there was always anti immigrant sentiment as well, but the mix of Americans continued, allowing for absorption into the American cosmos.

Today we have instead embraced difference, an emphasis of differences which has cut a huge wound in our country. Have you ever heard someone say a Greek-Frenchman or  Somalian- Spanish? No, for they are French. Or Spanish. Or Greek. Or whatever. But they are most emphatically not hyphens. Period. So why has America increasingly stressed the hyphens, capitalized the differences, and forgotten that bottom line, we all came from away; we all became Americans - or should have. But that thought, that idea, is so buried deep under overlaying layers of hatred, intolerance, isolationism, selfishness, that even its echoes grow fainter and fainter.

Come from away needs to grow within our society. It should be a theme of the education within schools, shouted from the rooftops, printed in the media, a theme online, whatever it takes. We need to stress the positive rather than the negative, the sins of the past by people of the past, a past and a life structured on different mores. Stress instead the fact that America has come a long way and will go further - if we all share in the come from away sentiment and direction.

Perhaps oversimplified, with many hurdles and blockades newly grown or allowed to grow, but it can be done. If that small group of people on Newfoundland, in that small town of Gander and the rest of the even smaller places could do it ,then so can we. So must we.

Oh, why the title? Here it is. The question was asked why the people of that wonderful island were so bad at knock, knock jokes. Here is the explanation.

Knock, knock

Response: Who's there? Come in, the door's open.

'Nuff said.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN.....

  Hard to know what to answer these days. What does one believe in anymore? Why are the issues of faith growing? Is there an inherent danger in the ongoing crisis of faith? If so, what do we do? Do we even bother to do anything? Have there been corollary problems emanating from these beliefs? Are they even beliefs or mere shabby attempts to pull the shabby wool over pathetic attempts to hide bigotry, misogyny? Hmpf!

More and more, conservative evangelical belief and extreme forms of right wing religion have fallen in line with the Trumpian calendar of griefs, laws, and typical Big Lies tenets and approach to life. Normally, one could say that religious freedom is constitutional law, but actually, the way it is going now is that the Church and the State are crossing that mandated separation of powers, mixing in where it does not belong, much to the detriment and worse for the country.

Notice I did not write - 'our' - country. More and more I am feeling once again, that this is not my country, but rather some bizarre reproduction missing huge pieces for a necessary core. As as Jew I am truly frightened, on high alert. As a woman I am threatened, afraid of being 'afghanasized', doomed to a return to chattel law, in the face of  increasing outspoken opinion of so called political leaders, their deluded followers, particularly extreme evangelical churches, how stupid and incapable women are, how they cannot be allowed to control their own bodies, and what next? They cannot control anything? They cannot enter fields where they compete with men? No higher education, perhaps none at all? Where and when  does it end? Or doe it not?

Do I continue to believe in the inherent strength of the body politic of this nation? Difficult, when I read of crowds of humanoids awaiting the revival, the return to life, of JFK, Jr., who will then run for office with Trump. I kid you not. And these are our voters? Is it the water out there? Boll weevils in the brain? Where do we put our once almost unassailable belief in the wall of protection around our nation based on the integrity of our elections. our body politic, along with the bodies which make up that body politic?  

How do we believe in a Supreme Court of Justice, when Lady Justice is relegated to a dusty rear closet, never aired, never referred to? When the Judges of this court make decisions based on biased foundations, personal beliefs, from decisions of two alleged perverts? When they seemingly support right to choose if they disavow the Texas law, and in so doing actually leave a wider door open to the total banning of Roe v. Wade altogether. So much for women, those uppity beings who believe they are equal. Tsk, tsk. 

Wire hangers, anyone?

Those of us who retain our sanity believe that the truth will out, but how much more difficult can it become? Read and decide on each paper of the Archives individually? A crass attempt to postpone forever the truth and the consequences of those truths. Not a game, and all too real.

Whom do we trust? Our religious leaders are mixing into politics, many being exposed as perverted victimizers of women and children, unable to keep their own values and beliefs intact, tarring, unfortunately, even the pure ones. Our political leaders have long ago succumbed to the siren call of power and lust. Lost cause there. So where do we turn for succor? Perhaps nowhere. And that is the honest to god truth, the reason for despair in many Americans, the wave of hopelessness that rolls across the land, and the extreme, futile, dangerous attempts to alleviate it all. Danger ahead! Not even so much ahead.

A riddle. A conundrum. An enigma. A mystery. All not wrapped around each other, but rather enmeshed in each other, so much more difficult to unravel. Perhaps, possibility, with probability growing, of its impossibility to indeed unravel and smooth out. 

My sense is we are running out of time. We are running out of beliefs. We are running out of positive possibilities and running headlong into negative probabilities. Bad news. Bad news indeed.

Belief is powerful. As the people of the Jewish nation awaited certain gruesome death in the gas chambers, or at the edges of forest abysses, or at man made pits, or as they took on the might of the Nazi army with their smaller partisan forces, as they held tight to their little ones, to their elderly parents, to loved ones, they sang Ani Ma'amin, I Believe, a song of hope that goodness will prevail, the Moshiach, the Messiah, will come. They sang Shema Yisroel, Hear O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One. That belief in the eye of death is difficult. Can we begin to approach that level of belief, in our ability to turn this mess around?

Dear Lord, but I hope so, I truly do. Do I believe that it will happen? Go away Do not ask me that right now. 

TODAY IS THE BEST DAY

 ... of your life. Remember the song? Remember the optimism behind that song? Remember the America that was a bespoken fit for that sentiment? Remember the 'can do' attitude seen from the cartoon characters of Bob the Builder who assured all that "We can do it. Yes, we can.", to the growth of cities, the development of the middle class and so many who found much to hope for in their lives, from the office workers to the guy punching in at a construction site. American optimism. Remember that? Miss that? I do. I certainly miss it in myself as well as in my country.

How do we return to better times, when we can cheerfully walk out that door every morning with that feeling, top of the world, nothing can stop me now attitude? Perhaps the better question is - can we return, is it even possible, or shall we once and for all, wave goodbye as it fades into the distance? Truthfully, I am conflicted, not truly sure of myself on either side of the issues. What I do know, though, to the very core of myself, is that the existence of these questions, the mere wondering about it, shakes the ground beneath our feet. 

How do we deal with the glaring and growing inequities of society. Where once that middle class provided a solid core of strength for American society, that core is now endangered. The children of this class cannot afford college. If you are a minority or poverty stricken or wealthy - then there is help, but for the middle class boy or girl it is a Hobbesian choice: either forgo the possibility and its provisions for a good future, or burden oneself with loans that preclude  much of and for the future.

What is this? Why is this? The answers are not cut and clear nor of equal weight. The blame can be so easily shared by so many, too many. Selfishness. Greed. The lust for power. The growing debasement of those who would serve this country and its people in honor and honesty. Hence, the result: a sour taste in the mouth, a growing tendency to look away, don't bother me attitude, and a growing very un-American bitterness within the souls of all of us.

What does one say to that? How do we justify its occurrence? How the hell did we get here? Is there a road back, or forward, can we see beyond the new Great Divide - the red and the blue? But then again, how do we do that when the red, the GOP, the drinkers of Trumpian juice, fail to 'protect and serve'? Worse, if not in active planning re the destruction of our country's soul, then they are equally as guilty explicitly, complicit,  implicit, as they shake and shiver in their shoes, afraid to face up to a deranged man who is the closest clone of Hitler that we have seen in America. Who refuses to go away. Far worse and more dangerous, the many who do not want him to go away. The opportunity to indulge in their hatred, to wallow in it, even as he is bad for their well being, well, guess this opportunity is too tempting to ignore.

Even those who purport to support the people, to care for them, well, see the crooked road they hoe and follow, all at the same time. Manchin is Senator from West Virginia, the home of  Appalachia, one of the most poverty stricken areas in this nation, seemingly forever, rivaling any Third World nation. No jobs. No food security. Education? Forget it. Hope, dismal at best. This man, this millionaire or more, wealth accrued on the backs of miners and agony of souls, sits on his yacht, talking down to kayak goers who plead for him to aid the passage of a bill desperately needed if this country is to get back on solid land, all the while emitting a message of 'screw you all' . He enjoys his role as the devil in the broth. He has wrapped himself in the cloak of a Democrat while within, his GOP traits have a party! Thus he endangers the chances of his presumed party to repair the broken infrastructure of this nation, to give it a much needed infusion of cash and hope. For shame!

Is there a way to return to sanity? Can we overcome the horror of a sitting President trying to overthrow the legitimate government of this nation? Can we repair all the harm done, the damage inflicted, the hopelessness and anime that stalk the land? Big problems to address; big minds needed to fix it. Where are those big minds? Who the hell knows. What I do know is they are obviously not within the Senate, the House or the GOP, or even within many of the Democratic party.

Today is the best day of my life? Your life? The nation's life? How do we mesh it all? How and when can we expect to be able to sing in full voice, in beautiful, soul building harmony? I dunno. I simply do not.

DO YOU HEAR IT?

 Can you hear it? Do you want to hear it or is your preference selective deafness? The world is creaking, with obsolescence or overuse or self destructive behavior, but do we hear it? Or do most of us deny reality, deny the ever growing truth of the worries for self implosion of this planet, of life as we know it, as we hope for, as we go right along basing decisions on assumptions of a reality that will not manifest itself?

Look at how life has already changed. Once flying was pretty much assured. You made a reservation, got there on time, sat down, slept, read, ate, whatever made you comfortable, then deplaned at destination. Today, direct flights are dinosaurs. One has to fly hither and thither before reaching a "final destination". That is, unless you get dumped somewhere in the middle of the night to fend for oneself in the echoing emptiness of a deserted concourse, to figure things out for yourself.

One has to now fly defensively, as one is never quite sure if luggage will show up. Definitely one of the worst moments in life is watching that luggage sail round and round but yours is nowhere to be found. Oh, but wait, there is the vaunted tracking system. Aha! Your luggage was placed on the wrong flight! What happened to the tracking? Did it not read the error? And what about the clothes in there for the next day wedding? Oops! Nary an apology in sight! No more cheery ads for flying. Now people stomp through the airport, stand in lines, reveal the faces behind the masks, and pray they get there within a reasonable time. Two hours delay? Piece of cake!. Truly, what have we wrought with our airlines?

The echoes of the theme of Twilight Zone pick up in decibels. We read that Musk wants to build a tunnel or two to the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, avoid the traffic of the roads. Great thinking! In Florida, where flooding even on no rain days but at high tide times, is growing. So, of course, build a tunnel beneath, into the soft limestone, and hope and pray that the construction, the pollution beneath, and the waters of the ocean itself do not drown the motorists within one bad rainy day. Not quite the same as a bad hair day, but seemingly, too many people are willing to write off common sense, all the better to make a buck, ignore the consequences.

How about the nonsensical studies that do nothing other than eat up funds needed elsewhere. A study finds that those who believe in vaccine conspiracies are more likely to get COVID, lose jobs and are more socially isolated. That's a duh! Add to that those who make up 'religious' reasons to avoid vaccination, evidently worshipping a vicious god who prefers that his believers die. Brilliant thinking there don't ya' think! 

A politician says "enough is enough" and came clean re details of his conversation with Trump wherein that toxic individual asked him to "find" some votes. Kinda' like 'finding' things that fell off a truck. Same difference. Except that this was a sitting President with a mad goal, a treasonous goal, to subvert a perfectly fine election - other than he lost, obviously - to overturn the democracy of this country. Fie! For shame! And yet, tragically, there are those brain dead believers. Still. With all the proof showing up, for the truth will always out. Will people continue to deny the truth, to forget that Lindsay Graham, that little toady, called for the rebels to be shot. Uh huh. With friends like that ..... well, you know the rest. The ugly rest.

But of all the discordant tones besieging the music of the spheres, the worst is that jagged, ear shattering, blood spilling, ever haunting to the point of murderous death, that discordant music of anti - Semitism. Every damned day yet another incident. Not really an 'incident' for that implies isolation, one here, one there. It is not so. A Nazi flag flown at a synagogue on Shabbat. Threat, vandalism, even shootings, bombs, attacks. The consequences rear their brazen, ugly, deadly heads. Their jagged teeth rip at the souls of all decent people. At the same time they heighten the level of fear, of despair. When the hell will these creeps ever leave us alone?! My guess - never. This hatred permeates their souls, feeds upon, encouraged, by the growth of an atmosphere of sanctioned hatred of others, the hatred generated and used as a political tool, an avenue to return to office and burn it all down.

For thousands of years Jews have sacrificed themselves as they sought to rescue their holy scroll, the Torah, or holy books. In a burning synagogue, there will always be those who run into that fire to save them. Thus, when in a frat house in George Washington University a Torah is selectively desecrated, as the animals ignore Christian items, the hackles are raised. The cost is growing each and every day; the fear , the hatred, the desecration, the shattering return of past horrors, questions as to where next, will it ever go away, will concentration camps and true ghettos once again blight the land?

 Do not answer quickly. Think it through and then think of the larger picture. What does it mean to and for the everyday person? Hatred never ends, forever needs to fill its gaping, ugly maw. Everyone is 'next'. Remember that. Feel it in your bones, in your guts, in your very souls.

Today is indeed the times which 'try men's souls". The words ring out loud and clear. The warning is loud. Either we shape up, as a union of humanity, of humankind, clear the air, literally and figuratively, or all our plans can be for naught. Such is the nature of our actions upon this earth. Use it or lose it? Use the proper way or we will lose it, and perhaps even deserve to, if after all the millennia we continue on our so wrong a path. Time to shape up indeed. No more prep. No more practice. We have run out the clock on that. Real existential time here, folks, the real game. Where will we be at halftime?