My Seventy Year Old Eyes

As the World is getting more dangerous and frenzied by the day, and as I am slowly adjusting to our recent move, I found that there were a few  pensive moments to contemplate as I was unpacking boxes and situating my “stuff” in their new home. I took the time to delightfully look over my high school yearbooks; I wistfully read over documents from my activist days and our hopes for Palestinian/Israeli Peace that were doomed before they even started; then going through family pictures and albums as nostalgia overwhelmed me and memories brought tears to my eyes! During that process I also realized that History Does Exist! You can’t simply erase, forget or alter it to suit your purposes, which is exactly what Trump, Project 2025, Authoritarians, Dictators, Racists, Colonists and Extremists are always trying to effect. Yes, they might issue Executive Orders, Rewrite Laws, Ban Books, Trash Progressive Cultural Issues, Attempt To Re-educate Children, Ram Their Hypocritical Christian Values Down Our Throats, or do any other nefarious stuff of this sort, and, they might even succeed for a few years, a decade perhaps, but they cannot succeed in the long run because History Exists despite their best efforts to rewrite, alter, or erase it! I published a post on October 15, 2021 which I have hereunder updated and from which I extracted some excerpts to suit my purposes for today.

My granddaughter asked me once: Why do we need to study boring history? I hesitated. What do I tell her? That we do that in order to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them when we have been doing so for thousands of years? That we learn about other Countries? Politics? Wars? Major Events in our Journey on this Planet in order to become Wiser, Kinder, More Peaceful, Less Bigoted? That “Never Again” has been repeated since the Holocaust by Everyone and their Mother but does not seem to apply to Palestinians, or “Others?” None of the answers i was thinking of made any sense to me, let alone that they would to a bright young adult who hears every day of individuals targeting others for being ethnically, religiously, culturally, sexually, politically, or any “other” differences? Any explanation is bound to sound hypocritical, untrue and vacuous. So I just said: History Exists.

And, yes, History Exists, and, it has been for centuries written by the Victors, those who painted themselves as the Gallant, Righteous Knights who only subjugate, discriminate, enslave and kill the Bad Guys in order to save The World for the Good Guys. Simple, huh? And this argument was sold to humanity and most people bought it until recently! So, what happened? What happened was that some of the World’s Colonized People, who were studying about their history in schools where curricula where set up by the Colonizers woke up one day and said to themselves: That’s Not What Happened! And so they began Writing and Writing and Writing . . . and they have no intention of stopping! However, some of the Victors decided that the Colonized People’s Version of History was Untrue and they worked themselves up into a frenzy, ranting and raving about “Critical Race Theory” “Woke” and “Cancel Culture” while claiming that the Only Valid History Is Their Version. In doing so, they are attempting to negate the Fact that History Exists, and that their racist and frenzied denials will not and cannot change that.

This brings me to The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate, The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates and “The 1619 Project” by Nikole Hannah Jones all of which talk of the experiences of Black Slaves in the United States. They are a Must Read! I have read quite a few novels and historical documentation about this subject, and they never fail to mesmerize me as to how cruel, ruthless, merciless and heartless slavery was, and to how Black People endured all that pain, suffering and dehumanization, as well as the massacres of Indigenous Humans wherever in the World White People were Occupiers and Settlers. However, History Exists and Facts Don’t Lie as the three writers mentioned above (as well as many, many others) prove, whether it is through writing novels, or producing movies, or through the plentiful fact-based historical documentation that is available in America’s and the World’s archives. So, yes, they began Writing . . . and Writing . . . and Writing . . . and Whistle-blowing . . . and Investigating . . . and Exposing all that had been white-washed and hidden and, they have no intention of ever stopping, nor should they! The Palestinian Humans won’t either no matter how Brutal, Savage and how Long Israel’s aggression perseveres!

Whether it is Slavery, Occupations, Colonialism, Runaway Capitalism and Greed, the Separation of Families and Heartless Immigration Measures, or Climate Change and its severe effects on the Developing World when it was mainly caused by Industrial Societies, this same horrific story continues to unveil itself, and, unfortunately for the world, there seems to be a concerted effort by numerous Western, US and other Nations to steer humanity towards Authoritarianism and Dictatorships. This includes Shameful Gulf Arab Dictators in Nations where populations are seething with rage while not being allowed to protest on the streets lest they be jailed, tortured, disappeared. However, Resistance is a Badge Of Honor that All Of Us who express it wear with Pride, because Authoritarianism, Occupations and Colonialism in any of their sinister forms Have To Be Resisted!

And Resisting Israel’s ongoing and constant attempts to rewrite the catastrophic story of Palestine and the Palestinian People and to erase any vestige of our existence, our history, archeological relics, cuisine, and culture (while claiming some of them as their own), this, too, is being vociferously countered by an abundance of writers some of them brave Israelis; others, Jewish people in the US and Europe; documentation; eye-witness accounts; movies and songs that tell our story again, and again, and once the bloody hell again! History Does Exist, despite the Israeli Government’s savage denials, futile brainwashing, antisemitism victimization, lies and colonist propagandist white-washing. History Exists! Not the Victors’ sanitized version of it, but the Facts! How this heartbreaking and tragic story ends I have no idea, but until it does the massacres, the starvation, the cruelty, the brutality and the criminality are ongoing and absolutely heartbreaking! There are No Justifications for these horrific, merciless, heartless crimes, nor for those Complicit with them! None! None Whatsoever!

So my daughter and I are on the phone chatting about this, that, the other and the politics of our world and, as usual, I’m worriedly dispensing my cautionary advice that she has to be careful, that we are living in a dangerous world, that we should be alert and vigilant all the damn time! At the end of the conversation I tell her: I will always worry about all of you my children and grandchildren! “Mama,” she says, “Stop it! You are now laying on the guilt and sounding like a typical Jewish Mother!” How do you like that sassy response? As we are laughing, I tell her: “Don’t disparage me! That’s antisemitism you know, because I am a Semite after all!” I went on laughing all morning after that, and, at the same time thinking about how throwing around “antisemitism” has become a very convenient tool to brandish about for valid reason, or utter nonsense! It is a desire probably based on Human Frailty and Victimhood, which the ADL and AIPAC have Mastered to a Nauseating, Self-defeating and almost Comical Degree! Much as we declare that we have evolved as a Human Race I often think that we are Regressing in so many aspects!

These past two weeks I have been scattered all over the damn place! You see, my daughter, her two adult children and moi (for the umpteenth time!) have been in the process of moving from one home to another smaller one and finding out that downsizing and packing is not an easy chore after living in one location for a long time. Our “things” and “stuff” had all found a home in a closet, on a shelf, in a corner somewhere around the house. Now, as we are packing we wonder why we had held on to this or that item that hasn’t even been used for years on end? Why do we have much of everything really? This Consumerism that has overtaken most of us is quite disgusting to be honest, myself included! As I make a donation pile my mind wanders off to Gaza and the West Bank. “They couldn’t even pack,” I tell my grandchildren. “Many barely had time to get out of their homes, or the shelter they were in before the bombs went off! They scurried away and some were felled by the sniper bullets being aimed at them by a Heartless, Merciless Army and the Evil, Cruel Government that Ordered them!” Ach, my Aching Heart!

I took my favorite plant in the car with me after the truck was loaded and on its way to unload at our new place. I looked at her trembling and shaking with the movement of the car as I drove along and I heard her mumbling: “Where is she taking me? I was happy and comfortable. Why is she disrupting my entire existence?” Was the plant reflecting my own anxiety? My own trepidation? Is it because the older I get the more difficult and discombobulating moving and everything else becomes? Or, is it that Life itself has become more Complicated, more Insecure, more Dangerous, more Unfathomable now that we are living through some of the most Dangerous Years that the Political Leaders of this World have created and mismanaged to this disconcerting extent? There have always been dangerous situations in our World, somehow, though, it never felt that there was this much angst all over the Planet, that so many Humans are suffering, questioning, wondering and dissatisfied with their Leadership? Is it that we are all more Aware of the Malevolent Greed, Ineptness and Corruption of those whom we have elected, or whom have appointed themselves to rule over us? It is even more astounding how much Ignorance, Misinformation, Lies, Deceit and Propaganda are swirling around us causing a miasma of foreboding and contributing to the unease. I think this Modern Technological Life is making Humans Stupider not Smarter, Stressed not Relaxed! A striking example for me, amongst the other numerous jaw-dropping occurrences these days, was resurrecting and reexplaining the Epstein Scandal ad nauseam. (And, no, Epstein did Not commit suicide. He was offed! Full stop! End of discussion!) Moreover, Trump has certainly caused much of the jaw-dropping – undoubtedly and of course! – with his Chaotic, Erratic, Rule By Whim and Mood Governance and depending on which side of the bed he arose from, let alone the Illegality and Unconstitutionality of his decisions, but, I have to admit that he has also caused much of the once-hidden Corruption and Ineptness in our Government to be Exposed, as well as the fact that Both Political parties – Democrats and Republicans – are rotten to the core. Could we do something about that perhaps? I don’t have an answer! I just hope that we will before it’s too late!

And Gaza? The West Bank? Palestinian Humans? Some are saying this, some are saying that, all of them are just assumptions, because none of us know what “arrangements,” “deals” and “quid pro quo” agreements are being plotted behind those closed doors! They say: “We’re Negotiating.” and “We’re thinking about options.” Really? Seriously? “What’s the hurry?” “It’s complicated!” “Yes, thousands have perished, thousands have been orphaned, widowed and maimed, but that happens!” Really? Seriously? All of you are a bunch of liars, hypocrites, cowards, racists, colonists and total failures! It is much beyond Tragic, Egregious, Cruel and Criminal!

However, Yes, I’m settling in after our move, but I’m still scattered all over the place! There’s too much that is absolutely incomprehensible going on in our world, and does anyone know what our future holds, that is, if there is even a future to look forward to when even the climate is behaving as Erratically as Trump and causing tragedies all over the Planet? Europe is arming itself and getting ready to confront Putin? Do they even realize that “Poking The Russian Bear” (get it?) will not end well for them, or the World? Trump threatens to bomb Iran (he did!), Russia, China and Whomever, Whenever! I’m afraid that all this Bad Blood will Erupt in a Humongous Catastrophe? I don’t know! Does Anyone?