Today's musing minute. Trying to see through the sadness.
October 7 came and went this year, and I did not post about it. I thought about posting but could not overcome the inertia holding me back, a pervasive, nagging sadness.
Truth be told, I don't know what more to say about it, or any reason for saying anything more. The details and the implications of event are so shattering, so wide ranging that it seems depressingly futile.
Suffice it say that as time goes by, I become more distressed by what Oct 7 revealed about the mental makeup of large numbers of humans on this planet; about the persistent, irredeemable, diabolical existence of Jew-hatred. A singularly evil phenomenon that still evades my complete understanding; about the abysmal ignorance and lack of concern about all this, about October 7 and its details, and even more about the perverse reactions to it in involving a monstrous inversion of morality, about the doubling down on eggregious double-standard applied to Israel - even while falsifying the sins she is accused of. It goes on and on.
And then there is the failure to recognize that Oct 7. was much more than a barbaric display of gleeful depravity, accompanying a clearly stated larger objecteve of completely destroying Israel - it was much more that this, because it part of a much bigger religious ideological agenda to destroy Wester Civilization itself. Once again, the Jews are the canary in in the coal mine, the litmus test of of threats to freedom in any society. [excuse the mixing of metaphors.]
When a Palestinian student of mine asked me why I was sad and I to briefly expllain, it became clear that he was ignorant and uninformed, but said quite sincerely that he wanted me to explain it all to him. In the current environment I felt apprehensive, but agreed to make a time to meet with him - after the end of the semester. Maybe is one person can gain a bit of understanding, it will spread and do so good.
In the meantime, i think we are at a crucial point in this struggle for our civilization that could go either way. America, as a representative of certain core values, has endured many serious challenges. Can it do so again? Benjamin Franklin wants to know if we can keep it?
