Surprises

Before anything else,  RIP Kobe Bryant, Gigi, and the 7 other coaches, daughters, parents, who lost their  young lives so very tragically.

And thanks to you Jim Lehrer, for all the years you gave us of your intelligence, decency, wisdom, and maturity.  You went in peace, and may you also rest in peace.

And to the supposed peace plan drummed up by Trump and Netanyahu - ????????? Really?????

And the impeachment ......

The 75th Anniversary of the Holocaust - and we have not learned a thing.

All of these things in the space of a few days, and January is not yet over.

Oh yes, the coronavirus.

Earthquake in Turkey.

A 7.7 quake in the Caribbean.

Fires, hail, thunderstorms, animal extinctions in Australia.

And now I am about to expose another of my innermost secrets.

The name Dershowitz jumps out at me from Trump's defence team, as do the other names in the headlines, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Steven Mnuchin, Stephen Miller  --- what do they have in common? They are all Jewish, and they all cause me to hang my head in shame and embarrassment.

And so something happened  during these last few days that gave me some relief.

On Saturday I went with my writing group to the De Young Museum to see The Soul Of a Nation (outstanding exhibit and something everyone should see.)

On the drive in we were talking of current events.  Two of the group are African Americans, the other is Jewish by birth.

I mentioned the name of Dershowitz, and then she and I intoned the other names. Oddly enough the two other women did not understand why we were so ashamed.  Once we explained, both women had stories of their own, and they said "all minorities feel the same way."l 

One of the woman related a program from the series "Blackish" when the family members listened to a newscast of a mass killing of 9 people.  When they heard the name of the suspect and realised he is not a black man they all whooped with glee until someone reminded them that nevertheless, 9 people were killed.  It was not a joyous occasion.

These women made me feel slightly more at ease with the current events - not better of course, just not so deeply ashamed.  They did not get that all these names are Jewish.  Clearly not everyone in the world gets the import of these surnames.  What a relief.