A World Without

Dear Person,

I am writing you this note today, to share with you, frustration, and hope. When I woke up this morning, I thought I knew what I wanted to say. I knew what I wanted to write today but it changed when I saw the news. Today, the first day of Hannukah started in Australia with two people killing 12 celebrating at a party. Well, it occurs to me today that we Jewish people are historically and indefinitely locked into a cycle of death, destruction and endless hatred. The whole reason for Hannukah in the first place is because there was a 2nd century BCE revolt against the Syrian-Greeks. Antiochus IV Epiphanes conquered the land of Israel, forbade Jewish practice, and took over the Jerusalem Temple to make it a shrine. A brave band of fighters, beat back the Greeks, took back the Temple and establish rule over the land of Israel. We Jewish people are celebrating, survival and war. Taking back something that was taken. In the middle of the destruction, the Greeks had left only one container of oil with the seal of the high priest. I’ll assume that was a Cohen. There was only enough oil for one day but somehow, it lasted eight days. Someone it lasted eight days and we are meant to celebrate war, destruction and a fight for the land of Israel. I thought today, we are all celebrating holidays about winning battles, wars, taking back what is ours, taking over what is ours, freedom. What we have today is a world without peace. We as a people say we want peace, but history teaches us that we don’t want it. We want what other people have and at the cost of the lives of others. We want as a body to have someone to hate. We embed this notion into our daily lives. It is in our sports; it is in everything.

What we have is a world without peace. We have a world without broad kindness, caring and compassion. We have a world without love for each other and mindfulness. We have a world in constant war, disagreement and in many places, chaos. Men would rather live in filth, sickness and poverty than hold the hand of a brother. I said “men”, but you know, it is the people, and here we are in silent civil war that is escalating slowly as the idea of the frog is being boiled a degree at a time.

You know, the majority of people stay silent and they get forced like cattle into the carts to do the bidding of the few that gain power. It is not something to take lightly but many of us don’t know history. This is our legacy and our history. It is not just about hate or anger, it is the lack of compassion, kindness, understanding, sharing and peace.

Animals know not defecate in the same exact spot they eat but with all of our intellect, humans have not figured out yet that death and destruction in the name of some deity or cause will in fact destroy them and/or their families. In my short lifetime, I have personally seen it over and again across the globe. What do we end up with? Images of children starving and buildings destroyed. Places where there is no water and sewage. The few that want power and control, they gather and build and create a machine of destruction. Pick a country and you’ll find it. It is inherent to almost all of us.

We have a world full of kind people, that want peace, but they don’t want to fight, or they aren’t prepared for fighting. I don’t know if we were born for peace or that we require conflict so that we can have the equivalent of non stop “reels” in our lives. Would life be too boring if we spent our energy building peace?

Our children’s books and holiday greeting cards provide reason to celebrate. Something to bring us together, while the rest of the year, we rip at each other and push ourselves away. The Christmas Truce of 1914 was a moment of peace where German and British soldiers stopped, had friendly interactions and overrode the nature of war for a moment. When people have courage and conviction to be at peace, they can’t be stopped, and they have the propensity in the moment for cause.

The holidays are meaningless without a change in behavior. Good will to all on one day is not enough when on the next you kill your neighbor for G-d forbid he has something you want.

What we learn from this, and all history is that people with a full cup can still want all the cups. If they share a little or just enough with others in power, they can control everyone and everything from wherever they are. This is a historical fact and consistent with what we see today.

We also know that their control and ownership is historically temporary. What has changed in our world is that technology has advanced to the point where they can advance massive destruction. While they can destroy faster, they can also rebuild faster without any emotional connection or consideration for human life. After all, we are driven as a people to pay attention to the story of today not study yesterday. If we all studied and were consistently reminded of our past, we may be more likely to prevent what is happening.

Dear Person,

While we have not reached the end of times. We have an opportunity today to take note. In our foreseeable future, there is no peace. In our present, we continue to kill each other. History informs us that we will see an end to this madness only to bring on new levels of madness. The people in power are simply using the playbook that most people have not been taught to read. As the people look into the dim blue light of their phones watching fights in the local McDonalds between two women, their homes are being taken, their food and water are poisoned, and their children are being intentionally diseducated. We are a world without peace and a world with more cognitive dissonance than ever.

The only thing that anyone could ask of you or of anyone else in a realistic way is to help one person at a time. Help one another with the understanding that we have an ability to be of service. The issue that we all must face is this very important truth. If you feed the hungry only on Thanksgiving and Christmas, there will be no one to feed next year. Kindness and compassion aren’t one time acts for a singular purpose.

In the same way, if you only stand up for your family when a bad guy has broken into your home, you aren’t standing up for all the bad guys that already nested themselves passively throughout your home and your life. You are only dealing with the obvious criminal not the thing that is actually taking from you.

So, Dear Person, I’ll leave you with this.

“Love is the only revolution that can change the world.” – V

“Even the smallest action can create ripples of change.” – V

“Compassion is the root of all true justice.” – V

Compassion is a verb. For all my Jewish friends and family, I say “Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh La’zeh” and I’ll go beyond this to say what I have learned from my friend and mentor Ron B. “All of us and I mean all of us are children of Israel.” If we believe we are separate, we may seek to separate but if we learn and know that we are together, maybe there is a chance that we can together save ourselves from celebrating war, death and destruction and instead, celebrate, life, peace and extended prosperity for all human beings.