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A belated L
’Shana Tova to all the members of my tribe! Last Thursday was Rosh Hashanah, the
Jewish New Year, and like so many events of this past summer, I learned of it
the day of. As I sat in Warrior’s Hall last Thursday night, alone with my
mother and father-in-law, and Dad’s caregiver, a group of young Jewish gentlemen
walked by carrying shofars, ram’s horns blown like a bugle on this High Holy Day
to herald in the New Year. The sound emanating from a shofar is a wonderful,
unique sound, and to me it has always symbolized hope for a good future. We
asked this group of Jewish men if one of them might sound the shofar for our
little group, which one of them did willingly. It was a moment of joy and humor
in what has been an unhappy period in our lives. In keeping with the
challenging nature of the past six months, Rosh Hashanah was another deep trough
on our roller coaster of hopes. The previous day we had learned that one final
attempt to insert a feeding tube had been unsuccessful, and that short of
comfort feeding, there was little more we could now do for Dad Taylor. The sad
part about all of this is that his vital signs are generally good, but without
nutrition he cannot survive. Unlike the sad but definitive prognosis of a
standard terminal illness, the uncertain and ever-changing future of stroke
victims is full of confusion and emotional pain for the family.
Lines are
being drawn in the sand, one behind the other. The big news last week focused
on the proposed U.S. strike on Syrian targets to retaliate for Syria’s use of
chemical weapons on her citizens. This is when international politics baffles
me. Most of the world has publically decried the use of chemical weapons, and
considers this a war crime, one that should be punished. Yet, when we have (allegedly)
clear evidence that Syria has committed this crime, gassing and killing 1400 of
her own people, and when the U.S. threatens to retaliate, everyone backs away
and says, “well, let’s talk about
this.” I found it interesting to hear former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, opposing the proposed strike on Syria. Largely blamed for mishandling
the conflict in Iraq, and stung by bad intelligence on his own watch, perhaps
Rumsfeld is gun shy. Of course it is politically opportunistic of him to claim
Obama lacks leadership, but what IS the right thing to do? Since there is no
international consensus, it puts Obama and Kerry in a precarious position. Back
Israel or back down. Politically this is a lose-lose for Obama as most
Americans clearly do not want another protracted involvement in an unwinnable
Middle East conflict. Most of the Free World does not support this strike, and
there is a very real danger is that the powder keg will erupt into a much
bigger fight. Russia and Iran back Syria, so this could escalate. Obama will
make the case for a “limited action” with no boots on the ground, but if the
U.S. is sucked into a bigger conflict – and there is plenty of history to prove
this is a distinct possibility – he then becomes the guy who started WWIII. Assad
is not Hitler (yet), but perhaps a symbolic gesture should be made to drive
home the point that some weapons are off limits. Meanwhile, the Arab Spring is
turning to a harsh winter, and Egypt is unstable right now. If you figure out a
peaceful solution to all the conflicts in the Middle East, let me know!
From the
sublime to the ridiculous, the Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF as most Torontonians call it, was
on all last week, and the stargazers were out in the streets hoping to catch a
glimpse of the hundreds of pampered, overpaid celebrities roaming about. I
listened with bemused detachment to the non-stop drivel reporting what red
carpet event this star or that would be attending. I just came from the stroke
ward where my retired firefighter friend George was rejoicing because he had regained
some limited motion in his non-dominant hand, and I’m supposed to be interested
in some bonehead bartender earnestly discussing the importance of providing “A
List” celebrities with perfectly presented cocktails? What a joke. George was
an underpaid hero; movie stars play people like George and get paid millions to
do so. Go figure.
Did you see
Matthew Cordle’s online confession to drunk driving, wherein he basically takes
responsibility for his crime (“Because I Said I Would”), insuring he will serve
a lengthy jail sentence? One side says he should have thought of that before he recklessly killed a man with
his car, but another says that because his message has gone viral, maybe it can
change the behavior of some heavy drinkers. Long ago, Shauna’s grandfather was
killed by a drunk driver, so that message is relevant to her. I read that NFL
has recently anted up $750 Million to compensate NFL players for crippling head
injuries. And finally, here are two new expressions that have emerged from our
hi tech society: zombie pedestrians: people who don’t pay
attention to where they are going as they text, and “Gameboy Back”: an affliction of young video gamers hunched over
their Gameboys. Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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