Maybe I’ll Never Write You Again

My world is littered with digital and paper fragments of pieces of writing. Cobwebs of thoughts that I placed upon something with the idea that I might use them for something…someday.

Sometimes I remember what I was thinking about when I put the words upon the page and sometimes I don’t.

I came across one in the garage that I threw away because I saw no value in holding onto something that said “maybe I’ll never write you again” and included something else that was so obscure I couldn’t place it.

Was I happy, sad or angry when I put it down?

Beats me, but it was old and in a box so I sent it on its way to its next destination.

There is too much stuff here and every time I manage to rid myself of clutter we find news ways to import more. It is beginning to grind upon me so I have begun to take note of what is there so that I can feel good about making it “not there.”

Got a fair amount of responses to Facebook Videos, Blog Posts & The Naked Pictures Exchange which made me laugh because it reminded me a bit of when I first joined the blogopshere and began messing around with SEO.

Though that post is superior to most of those from the early days or at least I think so.

So Many…Changes

Had another conversation with someone who said they were having trouble with so many…changes. I repeated what I have said to a few others regarding it being a bad place and time for not being able to roll with change.

I am not thrilled with the uncertainty but I have learned to live with ambiguity…mostly.

I still have my moments.

Anyhoo, I listened to someone speak about some of what is going on and two thoughts shot across my mind.

“They either lack self awareness or don’t care they come across as being disingenuous and uninterested in others.”

Neither are good but I hope it is the former and not the latter.

I have a reached a place in life where kindness and compassion are more important than ever to me. That is not to say they didn’t matter before because they did, but I am more cognizant of how the little things can be big things.

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When you post that Israel’s response to 10/7 has increased antisemitism what we hear is that you hate Jews.

Same as when you say you don’t hate Jews, you just hate Zionists. Replace Zionist with any other race and see how that reads.

I shared those words elsewhere and received a collection of insults, whataboutisms and retorts alongside multiple comments in support.

I followed up with a comment about how attacking Jews in America or Europe for things that happen in Israel is straight up Jew hate and was told that using antisemitism as a weapon is played out.

It is not hard to have more respect for the people that own their hate and tell us they don’t like Jews because we know where we stand.

The people that try to live in this middle ground where you claim to be a good person but think attacking people for the policies enacted by a government they didn’t vote for in a country they don’t live in are bad too.

Not sure if they don’t have the stones to own their hate or are really that myopic.

What I know is my children, friends and family have entered a time where we are getting a better understanding of what my great-grandparents had in the old country.

Our task now is to work on improving things for us, not by hiding but by living authentically and demanding better treatment.

We won’t get it from everyone but it doesn’t mean our collective actions won’t have a positive impact and that is worth working for.

We’re Not Victims

I don’t think of myself as a victim nor do I think we should adopt a victim mentality. But that doesn’t mean that when bad things happen we don’t demand justice either because both things can be true.

And to be clear I think things overall are pretty damn good for us still. Doesn’t mean they can’t get worse and that we should be complacent nor does it mean the sky is falling.

Now is a time to plan for the present and future in a way that is similar to retirement. You do the best you can to anticipate needs and plan for them.

But like everything else in life you can guarantee there will be changes and we cannot anticipate all of them. We cannot anticipate whether they will be good or bad or somewhere in between.

You just have to agile enough to adapt and evolve as needed.