“I AM BECAUSE WE ARE”

 

A series of essays….

THE TORAH: HEBREW IS READ BACKWARDS 
WITHOUT PUNCTUATION OR BREAKS.
READING THE TORAH PUBLICLY IS ONE OF THE
BASES OF JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE.

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Life has been exceptionally busy lately for our daughter and her family. Our oldest granddaughter has been preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, scheduled for this Saturday, long before her thirteenth birthday. She is now fourteen years old. We’ve all learned the hard way that important milestones don’t come to a complete stop due to Covid-19. They do tend to slide into place, eventually, like a runner attempting to make it to home base for the score. And life goes on as we attempt to make the best of it in order to survive; to come away from this rude intrusion into our lives maintaining our dignity and respect for ourselves and others. We have been learning to adapt and who really knows what positive changes may come about because of it.

Not everyone sees it this way.

We the people have voted a new administration into the White House that has been challenged right from the beginning with saving us from four years of neglect and pain inflicted upon us by very selfish leadership. Certainly this was a burden and challenge not many of us would be able to or would want to place on our own shoulders. 

The Biden administration has felt opposition to their reformative policies (Shots in Arms and Money in Pockets) every step of the way and under the most unusual circumstances. Not many newly elected  political leaders have had to begin office in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, as well as deal with a previous administration that had denied its existence and led the country into chaos and the death of thousands! Perhaps someone you know and love has succumbed to Covid-19 since March of 2020.

Even when scientists proceeded to work through compressed time on their way towards combating the disease or, at least, allowing our immune systems to fight its horrific spread, the previous administration purposely bungled the task of getting the new vaccine out to the American populace. As we now know, they went out of their way to sabotage the forward momentum of securing health and well-being for all and mocked our right to this privilege in doing so. Just as they are now attempting to suppress our legal right to vote. 

And yet—

And yet, this life altering activity and blatant ignorance continues to this day among those (anti-vaxxers) who remain opposed to taking the vaccine. Putting the lives of their own children, as well as ours, at stake is reason enough for many of us to shake our heads in disbelief. That’s as assuming and ludicrous as taking up weapons and the position of storming a government building with intent to do bodily harm to the elected officials of our government whom they knew to be inside; officials observing the duties set-forth by the Constitution of the United States.

This act of insurrection on January 6, 2021, in Washington D.C. continues each day when someone refutes the legitimacy behind becoming inoculated. It really doesn’t matter whether their reasoning stems from drinking the Kool-Aid poured out in generous proportions by an ex-president who continues his hate-based war on our Constitution or their own ignorance of the truth within a common sense format that seems to blind their perception of good vs. evil. There are no winners here. Everyone will pay the price for it, eventually, if we haven’t already. Sadly, there are those who adamantly failed to get the vaccine who are now begging for it while lying in their own sickbed.

OUR TEN-YEAR OLD GRANDSON, GAVIN,
UNDERSTANDS THE IMPORTANCE 
OF WEARING HIS FACE MASK

Even when we believe we’re doing the right thing by wearing a face mask, maintaining social distances, and becoming inoculated — our personal sacrifices continue to rise in volume. Even when we were warned by prominent authorities that not getting the vaccine would negatively affect us all. Even when statistics substantiate what has, is, and will happen in our future if we fail to heed these warnings, as too many of us continue to do, even when the proof exists right before our very eyes! You might ask, “What does it take if death doesn’t persuade them to change their minds?”

A dear friend reposted on FaceBook a true story by a lady named Susan Chamberlain where she explained how an anthropologist was working with the children of an African tribe when he placed a basket of delicious fruits near a tree trunk and told them that the first child to reach the tree will get the basket. To his astonishment, the children held hands and walked together to the tree where they shared the fruit. Why do this he asked. They answered with astonishment in one word — Ubuntu.

AN ENTICING BASKET OF FRUIT

George Clare
(1830 - 1900)
Apples, Plums, Raspberries, and Grapes

Ubuntu translates to, “How can one of us be happy while the rest are miserable?" Ubuntu in their civilization means: I am because we are. Ms. Chamberlain explains that truly this African tribe knows the secret of happiness that has been lost in all societies that transcend them and which consider themselves to be civilized societies!

Ubuntu. I am because we are. It does take a village. In this day and time, it takes an entire society to want to make good change happen; working together for the benefit of and goodwill for all. 

When our sweet granddaughter holds the Torah scroll in her hands and walks among the relatives and friends gathered in the Temple to honor her hard work and wish her joy and peace this coming Saturday, I will be thinking of her sacrifice, as well. The original date of her Bat Mitzvah was back in April of 2020, right before her thirteenth birthday in May. I will be thinking about all of the brides and grooms who postponed their weddings last year. The many children of older adults who could only correspond with their parents with panes of glass between them will come to mind. I will be thinking of all of the graduating students who had to Zoom their smiles out into the world these past two years; all students and teachers who learned to adapt via video communication. 

RABBI GIVING BRENNA INSTRUCTIONS DURING
REHEARSAL FOR HER BAT MITZVAH CELEBRATION

THE ILLUMINATION OF THE TEMPLE
DURING SUNDAY’S REHEARSAL 

Today, I think about all of us who have seen the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel and began to challenge our new adaptations back into some semblance of normalcy. This alone has been a hard task made up of a multitude of difficult decisions! In doing so, we begin to realize that not everyone thinks in terms of ‘how can we be happy if others are miserable?’  Now, we wait to see if all of our efforts sink back into the abyss or flow upwards towards the light of recovery and the acceptance of what a bright, new, more informative world may have in store for us. 

We can all learn from the positive reactions to adversity by our own youth to the simple truths brought about by innocent children of an African tribe whose elders have taught them that their society as a whole will succeed only if each member of their society is happy.  

Ubuntu my friends!

Copyright © 2021 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved