Time for Unity

 

We, as a nation, have gone through (most of) a year of… Hell. Folks used to joke, LAST YEAR, about 2020 and “perfect eyesight — well we sure have seen a lot since January.

 

Legendary basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter were killed in a tragic helicopter crash stunning sports fans and leaving a mourning mother and wife. Our 45^th president was tried, impeached, and eventually acquitted. The #MeToo movement encouraged many to speak about their sexual assaults (and rapes), and many survivors cheered when some big names who felt entitled to abuse innocent victims were finally served justice.

 

America heard about the first reported cases of COVID-19 on our shores; these spurred a lot of misinformation, prejudice against Asians, fear, hoarding, restrictions, lockdowns, fighting, and even a stock market crash. Police-involved deaths of several Black men and women, as well as the outspoken rhetoric of prejudice, spawned the Black Lives Matter Movement and instigated many peaceful, and some violent, demonstrations.

 

Meanwhile, many businesses closed (some permanently) due to COVID-19 related restrictions, many children “went back to school” via the computer, jobs were lost, and families were devastated financially. For those who were able to work from home, their homes became crowded business offices, schools, gyms and more. The name “Karen” became an insult for an angry, often middle-aged white, woman who lived a privileged existence and attempted to inflict her will upon others.

 

The sitting president of the United States came down with COVID-19, and survived, and other prominent Americans from politicians to actors and sports-stars caught the virus and some did not survive. Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent 27-years sitting on the Supreme Court and eventually died after a long struggle with Pancreatic Cancer; finding and appointing her replacement was a lengthy political struggle that led to a resurgence of the #MeToo movement. Beloved TV personality Alex Terek died of Liver Cancer after a courageous battle.

 

More than four-million acres burnt, and some still burning, in California and the western U.S. costing billions of dollars; firefighters from across the country flew in to help an area where the heatwave and Covid-19 caused complication during evacuations, hundreds of homes and structures were burned, dozens injured, and multiple firefighter fatalities were recorded.

 

We are halfway through December and celebrating the holiday season in a year where many family get-togethers were only virtual, where many restaurants are closed to dining, movie theatres remain dark, and few indoor recreational activities exist. America has lost more than 300-thousand people to COVID-19, families and friends did not even get to say goodbye to many because of quarantines. And numbers keep rising.

 

But now, halfway through December, a very contentious national election has seen its final result with the Electoral College, and progress begins towards a new presidency. Vaccines against COVID-19 have been approved and a limited number of healthcare workers are beginning to get vaccinated – more vaccine is coming and eventually the hope is that most, if not all, Americans will be vaccinated against this sometimes deadly and often disabling disease within the next several months.

 

Now is the time when Americans need each other, no matter what our political affiliations are, no matter what our ethnicities are, or our lifestyle choices, and no matter what our financial status may be. We have been through Hell and we are almost to 2021. Let us come together and recover, let’s work together and heal our nation, comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who have suffered, and be a united America.

It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over

 

So America’s 2020 Election Day is behind us… at least the voting part. Ballots are still being counted and we may not have all of the results for a few days. So we wait, not necessarily patiently.

 

No matter which presidential candidate you voted for, one of the two major candidates or a third party, electing our next American president is an important event. And there were many other races as well for state and federal positions, local mayors and governors and don’t forget a few referendums in some locations.  Every person who cast a ballot was part of a very important process of our democracy. It’s really a very heavy responsibility.

 

This year’s election was complicated because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most states made voting by mail an easy option. There was also “Early Voting” to try to keep down the election day lines, but there were long lines in almost every case both for the early voting and on the actual day of voting. Mail-in ballots also gave their share of consternation with delays, stories of lost mail and concern about alleged voter fraud. No wonder so many would-be voters have been complaining of tension headaches for the past week or so.

 

According to the United States Constitution, voting is a right and a privilege. Many constitutional amendments have been ratified since the first election. Surprisingly voting was never made mandatory for U.S. citizens. And also surprisingly, there is NO statement in the U.S. Constitution that does state, inexplicably, that our citizens have the RIGHT to vote. But there are inherent rights granted to our people and individual states included the right to vote. The original folks who could make decision regarding our leadership were landowners, and then MEN, and later specified that all men were allowed to vote no matter was their race was. Finally somewhere around 1919 women were finally allowed to make their preferences known and vote as well. It’s been a long road and many people fought for the right to vote.

 

And yet even in the year 2020, some people don’t bother to vote. Why not? There are a few who can’t vote because of religion. Then there are some who simply are not interested in the candidates or races. The most common reason given for not voting is “What difference does my one vote make?” Since states are permitted, within reason, to decide their own voting rules and regulations, some people don’t meet the requirements easily — someone may have missed the registration deadline, or they don’t have the necessary documents (including residence) to prove their identity and/or eligibility. Unfortunately, there are some (relatively few) cases that seem to be voter suppression such as not making polling centers convenient to certain populations. People may become disenfranchised when the person they want to win loses. There are even some who simply are not interested in casting their votes because they don’t like the candidates running or they don’t know enough about a referendum.

 

I like knowing that I have had a say in the government where I live, even if it is just one tiny vote, even if the candidate(s) I voted for didn’t win, and even if it means getting up early to stand on a line to cast my vote. Next year, or even for the next primary, think about voting. It may not be in the Constitution, but it is a privilege.

 

 

 

 

To Vote, to Vote, Perchance to Vote

 

 In just under two weeks, Americans will go to the polls (or will have mailed in or walked in their ballots) to vote for several candidates, most importantly for who will be the next President of the United States. It’s a heavy burden on each of us. Anyone who follows me on social media knows who I support, but this post is not about WHO – rather it is about YOU.

 

I recently posted the following on my Facebook page:
     I remember, in 1960, one of our neighbors sitting on the front stoop of the Bronx building she lived in and crying her eyes out. My parents stopped to speak to her to find out what was wrong... she wanted to vote for JFK but her husband told her that if she didn't vote for Nixon she had to leave their home.
     My dad told her "when you get into that polling booth, who you vote for is YOUR business, no one else's..."
     In 2016 I heard a father screaming at his daughter over a cell phone (standing in the center of CVS), apparently she made it known she wanted to vote for Clinton, he screamed at her that if she didn't vote for trump she could pack her bags that day.
     It truly doesn't matter who you vote for (well it does, but I am not trying to make THAT point), YOU have to vote for the candidate YOU choose.
     Whether you are in a booth or filling out a ballot, you have privacy and NO ONE has the right to tell you how to vote - certainly NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO THREATEN YOU IN ANY WAY.
     Even if your polling place has "observers", YOU NEED TO VOTE FOR WHO YOU WANT.

 

Your vote DOES count. A lot of folks cry that it doesn’t, that the Electoral College actually elects our president. There is SOME truth to that as we saw in 2016 when the Electoral College did NOT declare the popular vote winner as president. However each state is assigned a specific amount of electors (supposedly something to do with population) and the popular vote of each state decides WHICH electors will cast a vote. Even if the vote is close then the electors vote for the majority candidate. There are many arguments calling this system archaic, but for now it is what we are stuck with.

 

Understand though that the ONLY and very few times the Electoral College disagreed with the popular vote, the popular vote was CLOSE, VERY CLOSE (considering the percentage of votes against the people who voted). So your vote, along with others, DOES decide who the Electoral Collage from your state chooses. Unfortunately, especially in national elections, third party candidates have not historically shown enough strength. Those votes in effect do not help decide the Electoral College count. If 100 people vote and 46 vote for candidate A, 44 vote for candidate B, and 10 vote for candidate C (third party), then candidate A will receive the Electoral College. So even if 8 of those C votes were people who absolutely did not want A but thought B wasn’t perfect, A would win because those 8 votes weren’t enough to give any strength to C.

 

This year between the pandemic and fear of violence at the polls, as well as some areas closing polling places and creating longer lines, getting your vote in may seem more challenging. Remember though that whatever time you need to take to vote, or distance to drop your mail-in ballot at an authorized receptacle – well this vote will have a major impact on the next four years of your life. It is extremely important to make your voice heard.

 

YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT!

A state-by-state guide to voting in 2020

Why should you vote for the lesser of the evils? ~ #MondayBlogs

Like many, I haven't felt in recent years that there was a single candidate for President (or any political office for that matter) where I agreed 100% with his/her philosophies - but I did feel that there were some decidedly better than others.

I wouldn't expect any one candidate to make all of the decisions I would want, how could he? It would have to be ME making those decisions and hoping that I got it all right. So each year I go to the polls and vote for the candidate that I least disagree with... you may call it the lesser of the evils, I call it the best choice of what is available.

So far in my years of voting I haven't yet regretted the vote I cast and there have even been a few rare times where I begrudgingly have felt "hey this one isn't AS BAD as I thought he would be."

Every politician is a con-artist, he or she has to be to convince others to do his bidding; every politician is in it for the glory, why else would someone subject themselves to that punishment?; every politician (in America at least) is a puppet because no office truly gives full, unequivocable power to the person sitting there; and most importantly every politician is a human being and more than capable of screwing things up.

But if I don't cast a vote for the candidate I think would do the least damage then I am handing over my destiny to others who, just like a politician, don't necessarily think the way that I do — it would be simply handing over my life without a fight.

I know which candidate I will probably vote for in the next presidential election, from track records and speeches I know which candidate comes CLOSEST to who I want in office. Even with our confusing electoral college elections, I still believe that majority votes will more likely get us the candidate MOST of us want IF WE GET OUT AND VOTE.

Please don't sit back and let a few make this decision; if you don't trust or like any of the candidates at least cast your vote for the one you LEAST DISLIKE... someone is going to get in, give yourself a say in the decision.

The United States presidential election of 2016 is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016.

(2015 elections will be held November 3, 2015)

for information on registering to vote
visit www.vote411.org/

Jimmy Carter, Our 39th President ~ #MondayBlogs

President Jimmy Carter showed a great kindness to my family in 1978 and I will forever remember how he helped us during a very difficult time. Let me explain...

Jimmy Carter
by Department of Defense
Department of the Navy
Licensed under Public Domain

My dad passed away in 1977 and following his wishes he was buried in one of the region's Veteran's cemeteries (He was very proud of his service in WW2). When a U.S. Veteran is buried in a national cemetery the VA National Cemetery Administration supplies the headstone as a way of honoring the service to our country.

For some reason though there was confusion about my dad's proper name and faith — multiple headstones were delivered to the cemetery, each time the combination was incorrect, either the name was misspelled or wrong or when the name was correct they displayed a marker from a different faith. (My dad always joked that he would take blessings from any religion, I guess the government was proving that?)

It is tradition in our religion, Judaism, to hold an unveiling several months after burial; in Judaism the unveiling (literally uncovering the stone) is a time to forever remember the love and life of the deceased as we view his/her name on the stone and a time when we are reminded that life continues. It is a very significant ritual.

With so many erroneous headstones showing up, it isn't an exaggeration to say how upsetting this was for my mom. Frustrated by her dismay and nearing the date of the anticipated unveiling and not knowing if we would indeed have the correct stone in time I decided to send a telegram to the White House and ask for help.

Almost immediately we received a response from the White House signed by President Carter (most probably mechanically) promising us that he would personally assign someone from his administration to ensure that we would have the correct headstone in time for the unveiling. He also expressed gratitude for my father's service, offered condolences for our loss and apologized for the headstone errors. (My mom kept the letter but unfortunately I don't know what happened to it after she passed away)

Even with President Carter's assurance we were filled with trepidation the day of the unveiling when we would once again make the journey to this particular National Cemetery - my husband had even fashioned a wooden headstone-shaped plaque with the correct information if necessary! We didn't need the wooden headstone. My dad's correct name along with the Star of David graced the brand new marble headstone.

We were told by the Cemetery Office that the headstone was delivered and installed just days before and that they had to submit a photo of it in place to send to the President's appointed representative. My mom sent a letter to President Carter thanking him for his assistance and expressed how wonderful it was to see my dad properly honored. I am eternally grateful to him for helping to remove a bit of stress from the shoulders of a grieving widow.

As I am writing this blog President Carter has just announced that he will be starting radiation treatments for an advanced case of cancer. I am praying for the President's well being and wish him an easy time. He has a positive attitude and has even suggested that if the treatments go well he may travel to Nepal in November to work with Habitat for Humanity; the Carters lead the Jimmy & Rosalynn Work Project for Habitat for Humanity for a week every year. Jimmy Carter, our 39th President, was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development".

This is a man who has done so much for those in need

and for my own family specifically.

I wish him well.

J.F.K.

It’s a bit of irony that some of us seem to have difficulty remembering what we ate for breakfast and yet there are monumental events that we recollect with total clarity – even if it was 50 years ago.

I remember the exact moment I learned that President John F. Kennedy was dead, killed by an assassin’s bullet in Texas.

I was walking home from school along the Bronx streets where I lived. I was nine years old and in fifth grade. The faculty at my grade school never treated us like adults and apparently believed that any “difficult words” needed to come from our parents so even though it was obvious that some of the teachers were upset, the students weren't told anything.

I noticed small clusters of people talking in whispers, some crying, during my three block walk and I had no idea why. In front of a building just a few doors from where I lived I saw the woman whose children my sister babysat; she was very upset.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She blurted out, “The president is dead. He was shot.” And she cried.

In my sheltered child’s mind I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of her statement. My first thoughts were, I’m embarrassed to admit, about my school class president and I had just seen him.

“No he’s not.” I was terribly confused as I answered her.

She yelled at me out of upset. “President Kennedy is dead!”

I stood there in shock as she ran away from me after sighting her children.

I don’t know how many thoughts ran through my mind as I ran the rest of the way home and up three flights of stairs. How could President Kennedy be dead? He was our American President, he had people protecting him. He couldn't die, who would take care of our country? What was going to happen now?

My mom was waiting in the doorway as I reached the landing. She saw my face and knew that I had heard the news and she held me and told me what had transpired in Dallas. I didn't want to believe it but she told me that it was true. And I cried.

I knew my sister was going to be upset when she got home from school, I knew that she would know. In high school the teachers tell you these things. And while I sat and waited for my sister so that we could console each other, and while I watched the news reports on the black and white TV in the living room, I just remembered…

I remembered a day a few years earlier when my sister told me that our next American President was campaigning a few blocks away. She had volunteered to hand out signs and she took me with her to see that great man in person. And we both shook his hand and I remember him being so nice when he asked my name.

The world was supposed to be a safe place. I grew up believing that my dad could fix anything that broke and my mom could make anyone feel better. That day the world changed. 
Yes, I had heard folks talk of important events that had taken place before… I had heard about WW2, the concentration camps, Pearl Harbor, the Depression and other frightening calamities. My parents even told me how they got married the day that FDR died.

To a young child it was just words. Now the nation was in mourning, it was something that I saw and I heard for myself.

November 22, 1963 was the end of innocence.

Just a reminder...

5 More Friends


no matter WHO you are voting for, please make sure your voice is heard.