Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 44
Every morning, after I write and, usually make Harriet her coffee, she reads what I have written and we talk about it. Yesterday’s writing spurned a discussion that is continuing-I played Bridge yesterday afternoon- about what is it that causes the 3rd and 4th generation to bastardize, blow-up, abuse, etc the brilliance of the creators, the inventors, the thinkers, rather than take their brilliance, take the wisdom of the Bible, etc, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, scientific breakthroughs, family business’ and improve upon it and NEVER losing the spirit of these things? We are still talking about this idea.
In the political arena, we are watching, many of We the People in horror, the 3rd/4th generation after the “Greatest Generation”, according to Tom Brokaw, went to war, won the fight against fascism, witnessed the atrocities that senseless hatred and prejudice, blame and anti-semitism can bring about on an entire continent and came back, enough of them to make a powerful minority, to hate Blacks, not wanting women to be anywhere but barefoot and pregnant, taking care of the house, and those uppity Jews had better stop their money-grubbing ways and NOT have a seat at any table of power, only a table with ‘those n——-‘ to bring their vision to fruition, to cause senseless hatred between minorities, to split the Black/Jewish alliance that caused the Civil Rights Act to happen, that worked together with a shared belief and commitment to the words and lessons of the Bible. And, it seems, they are winning at the moment-hence Trump is in the White House, Thune is the Majority Leader of the Senate, Johnson-a lying no good, IDOLATOR and CHARLATAN who MISQUOTES the Bible everytime he speaks, are in charge-YIKES!
What is also apparent, certainly since the days leading up to the Civil War and ever since is that, like the Jews have not all ‘been one people’ except for maybe part of the 40 year reign of King David, We the People have not been united States, rather red/blue/purple, at one another’s throat ever since Gingrich declared politics is war-again beginning with the 3rd/4th generation following the Revolutionary War. Now, as we approach the 250th anniversary of Independence Day, it is a joke that all of these ‘big, beautiful activities’ are celebrating our Independence, like Trump’s face on a $250.00 dollar bill, 70 billion more dollars to fund ICE so more cruelty can be wrought on a nation CREATED BECAUSE OF THE CRUELTY OF KING GEORGE!, a new Arc D’ TRUMP disrespecting both Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, tributes to brave men and women who served our country with passion and purpose.
In business, many times the same experience happens, be it through mismanagement, sales of companies like Warners, MGM, Columbia Pictures, the entrepreneur spirit has left and all that remains is the search for more money, power, prestige. Today’s entrepreneurs are interested in making money, not music, in enriching themselves and their shareholders and, like Trump stated, they “don’t care about the plight of average people”, only how it affects them, their bank accounts, etc. Think about this movies are less than 150 years old and the commercial studios are less than 120 years old, again the 3rd/4th generation. In families, the 3rd/4th generation have, in many instances, lost their family story, their family history-hence the popularity of Ancestry.Com-there is a yearning to know where we come from, how we got here, etc. What causes this is for tomorrow, hopefully, after Harriet and I discuss it more:)!!
This is the reason, to me, that Hosea’s words are so important, so powerful! RETURN, walk back to the ways of Godliness, the ways of decency, the ways of loving our neighbor-not suspecting them, take the path back to kindness and concern for the needy, the poor, the widow, the orphan, walk back to the path of freedom and proclaiming it for EVERYONE! This walking back to is not going backwards, it is reclaiming the roads and paths that our recent ancestors left so they could ‘make it’ and using the principles, the pathways to MOVE FORWARD and promote the ways of decency, love, kindness, concern, compassion, TRUTH, and JUSTICE! Knowing the difficulty of this task, knowing it is counter-intuitive to everything society preaches and does, I can attest to the joy, the power, the finding of my authentic self and an adult partnership, covenantal relationship with God which gave me a new address to live at: Joy, love, truth, justice, kindness and, at times, my house is messy and I screw up-this too is part of being human, I do my Tshuvah’s upon realizing them.
ACTION STEPS:
Find your Family history and see how you are honoring the power of the good in it
Re-read the Declaration of Independence for US and Israel and ask if we are living in to them, up to them or ignoring them
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi mark