Be Kind

 This letter was forwarded to me by someone special....

My Torah portion is Re’eh, the Hebrew word for “see.” In this Torah reading Moses gathers the Israelites and declares: “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.”

 Moshe then goes on to instruct the Children of Israel in the plains of Moab, for this is where they waited before entering the Promised Land. As you know from today’s reading there are specific commandments to obey. The Children of Israel were told to destroy all idols of the land they would inhabit, they were told the laws of Kashrut to follow in their new land, and they were given specific guidelines for other commandments as well.

If the Children of Israel followed the laws, it would be a blessing; likewise, if they did not follow the laws, it would be a curse.

How can something be a blessing and a curse?

This phrase confused me for a while until I realized its significance to my own life. I was just three years old when I lost my dad. I was too young at the time to grasp the intensity of what happened, but the more I grew and matured, I internalized more and more the devastation of the loss of my father. This was a curse. I lived each day in sadness, wishing he could come back.

The essence of the phrase; “It is a blessing and a curse” suggests that man has free will; he has the ability to choose his path through life. I can relate to that because I had to make a choice; Should I stay angry for the rest of my life and take what happened as a curse? Would it be possible for me to accept that he is not here anymore and try to see a blessing from the curse?

Here is where you all come in. I am sure most of you read that story that went around the internet about a young autistic boy named Jack who would watch some of his schoolmates playing baseball every week. One day one of the teams was short a player. Desperate to finish the game, the captain looked up, saw Jack, and asked him to play. Jack hurried in and played in the outfield until the 9th inning. When his side was up, the teams were tied with two outs. It was Jack’s turn to bat.

The rules of the game suddenly and magically changed. The pitcher, previously intent on winning this game, purposely threw a slow, underhanded pitch right down the middle. Jack swung and hit the ball to third base.

As Jack ran to first base, the third basemen overthrew the ball past the first baseman’s head.

“Run to second!” cheered his team.

Jack ran, and as he was coming home, the first baseman threw the ball to the pitcher…who intentionally missed the ball. Jack won the game for the team and both sides went wild.

Jack had a special community around him, all intent on performing mitzvot for him. Their eyes were open, " Re’eh… they could see.

I, too, have a special community all around me.  I have all of my friends and family and people who I don’t even know who, like Jack’s teammates, are intent on keeping me in the game. And so, I do understand how something can be a blessing and a curse.

I know my dad can see me today and every day, "Re’eh", and I know how touched he would be by the mitzvot you have unselfishly done for me. Thank you.

Everyone gets the opportunity every day to make something a blessing or a curse. If you ate one or two of the Sunkist jellies, that was likely a blessing. But if you ate more than you can count, it’ll definitely be a curse.

I leave you with this challenge: When life presents you with something that could be a blessing or a curse, try your hardest to make it a blessing. Keep your eyes open…."Re’eh"! 

I try to do this, my shortcoming in the ability to recognize persons in need of a mitzvot. 

Reminds Me of Midnight Oil

Don’t play with matches.

Iran: Man set on fire by the burning Israeli flag he was holding

Follow the link, the clip is short, amusing.

Ossoff on Immigration

 I participate with NumbersUSA and have been known to send a few emails and faxes to my representative in Congress. As one would suspect the messages are generally pointing out perceived flaw with the course of government action.

Such is the case with John Ossoff, one of Georgia's relatively new Senators. Elected by a narrow margin that to me is suspect given that illegal vote harvesting, and outright ballot box stuffing has been proved with video evidence to have occurred during the last Georgia election.

Attached image is a screen shot of an email received in response to one of my assertions. He tells how is is the child of an immigrant, and that his great grandparents came through Ellis Island. Then is travels into the illogical connection to the position that person having entered the country illegally should have a pathway to citizenship. 

He seems to miss the the fact that is relatives entered the country legally.

It boils down to what he wants, there is no logical reason I can imagine, other than it is the position that the Democrats have taken, ignoring that MOST Georgians are against pathway to citizenship.

If aliens are given a pathway to citizenship, they will have been rewarded for breaking a law of the sovereign nation they invaded. Illegal immigrants don't deserve shit. They came north for wages and that is exactly what they have received. 

A result of the invasion has been the depression of wages for low income citizens which in turn fuels intransigent poverty. Other impacts include depression of home values in regions where aliens collect. Don't try to tell me that is not true, I live in one of these regions.

From the start this little howdy-do has weasel written all over him. 

Free Speech in the UK?

Free Speech in the UK?: 

'It isn't hate to speak the truth.' — J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, Twitter, June 6, 2020. 

'An entire generation are puzzled by the idea that anyone has the right to say things they don't agree with”

and 

“Freedom of speech is doing extremely poorly in the UK, according to a recent YouGov poll. When Britons were asked what should be the priority, 43% said protecting people from offensive or hateful speech should be the priority, while only 38% said the focus should be on protecting free speech. Generally, men and conservative voters were more concerned about protecting free speech, while women, younger people and Labour voters were more concerned about blocking offensive or hateful speech.”

For my first thirty years, I was really bad at self censorship. Saying the wrong thing was a talent that cost me, in part, a marriage. In families, and in greater society, people are taught, by way of reward and punishment to watch what they say. This was and is done to teach people how to function in civil society. Today self censorship is encouraged and impugned upon people who make innocent remarks, or assert opinions not contrary leftist dogma. 

It has been going on for some time. Here in the states, I first noticed when post presidential candidate Al Gore, went on his personal hypocrisy parade for global warning, saying things like  “the science is over”. An absurd statement in any scientific discussion. Stupid as it was, it has been repeated thousands of times in the last 20 years.

When it comes to politics, it has always been polite to avoid conflict in friendly situations. Our modern ways permit people reveal opinions and judgements in ways that feel impervious to reprisals. Free of repercussions, people can be nasty.

In the end, consume as much information as possible, don’t purposefully hurt people, and fuck the noise

Jevver

Did you ever.

In context:

"Jevver hear anything so dumb in your life?"

Big Red Bus

I first saw Herschel in 1980, having nearly front row seat, as he scored right in front of me.

Now Herschel is a candidate for governor of Georgia.

I just might vote for him, it’ll surely be a fun primary to watch.

Hope his son Christian campaigns, he’s an interesting, and entertaining young man.

After all that, To Hell with Georgia.

Idinit

 Term used by genteel southerners who wish to avoid saying "Ain't". 

To put in context.

"Mighty hot today, idinit?"