Hate Rides Again

I should be blogging about this being the end of this decade.

Instead, I'm taking a trip back in history.    A trip back to very scary history for those among us who are Jewish.

We Americans thought, when I was growing up in the 1960's, that our children would not repeat the hate of the past.  We would be different.

We were wrong.

This past Hanukkah, which will be entering its final day at sundown tonight, has seen at least 13 anti-Semitic incidents in New York State.  The latest one, in a heavily Jewish county to the north of New York City, involved a (allegedly) 37 year man entering the home of a Rabbi and stabbing or otherwise assaulting at least five visitors (one being a son of the rabbi) with a machete.  He then ran to a nearby synagogue, but the people inside, hearing the screams coming from the house, wisely barracaded themselves in.

This is what we have come to.  We don't want to go back any further in history.

Temple Israel, Binghamton, New York

From time to time in Jewish history, the lighting of Hanukkah candles had to be done in secret.  Are we heading that way again?  You'll recall that I blogged recently how the synagogue above has had to lock its doors and install security cameras to screen visitors, as have many synagogues and Jewish community centers throughout our country.

Menorah, Oakdale Mall, Johnson City, New York

On some days during this particular Presidential election season, it seems that hate oozed from every dark corner of this country.  Those dark corners have come alive. People of hate are now encouraged, thinking that finally, the conditions are right once again for their hate to blossom.  It isn't just Jewish people at risk.  Other ethnic and religious minorities have been targeted.

You, dear reader, can always become the target tomorrow.  In truth, I feel we have more to worry about from domestic terrorists than ones coming from overseas.

Meanwhile, various minorities walk around the United States feeling they have bulls-eyes printed on their backs.  If you aren't one today, you could be one tomorrow.

So now we hold our breaths and see how our fellow citizens will react.

Facing Fear

Does your fear block your creativity?  This is a question being asked in the Write Tribe Festival of Words #4.  And, for once, I am going to admit my fear on the Internet, which is like admitting your fear in front of about 1 billion people.  Gulp.

For the longest time, I admit, fear has blocked my creativity.  I can not take a first step I've wanted to take for several years now. 

I am about as introverted as one can get (if I believe quizzes and online personality tests) but I tend to be a lot less introverted on my blog than I am in "real life".  I do fine with blogging, Facebook, and email.  But if you called me on the phone, I would hide under the table.

Public speaking?  Nope. (I've done it before small groups where I know everyone, but that's it.)  Meet someone I don't know?  Attend a gathering where I don't know anyone?  No. No. No.

But I'm not talking about phone fear or fear of groups.  I'm talking about writing fear, and the fear of taking action.

I've wanted to write a book for several years.  It isn't a memoir.  I don't quite know how to describe it.

What I have to say would anger some people, because I want to tell a story about a system in our great country, the United States, that is broken.  Seriously broken, as this country deals with an epidemic that is growing all the time.    This broken system is making thousands and thousands of people suffer.  Some have lost their homes trying to help their loved ones. 

Worse, such people without families who love them find themselves caught in a nightmare.  For some, there is little future.  And more of them are becoming adults every day.  When they become adults, many lose all the supports they had for the first years of their lives.

I have seen a couple of bloggers trying to tackle this topic.  They've received so many hateful comments that they have stopped.  Attracting trolls is something I do not need, and I don't have the personality to deal with it.

If you don't take risks, you are not truly alive.
Or so they say.


If people like me do not speak out, this terrible system will never be changed.  Perhaps it is the story I am meant to tell because I can use my experiences and my emotions to help others.

Do I dare take up this challenge?  Do I move past my fear?  Do I permit myself to grow?