Hello Darkness and Now What?
A R I E L L A C A S E Y
Nothing is the same as we once knew it. I remember a common-sense world where outcomes were generally predictable, where the good was exalted and evil was shunned, where crime was punished. Where boys were boys and girls were girls. (Those were the days!)
Nothing is the same anymore, and I wonder when exactly we stepped over the threshold into this new reality. When did black become white and vice versa?
Today we have a new vocabulary containing words which some of us who are over 50 years of age can’t quite wrap our heads around. Our old-timers’ logic doesn’t seem to work anymore. When it is cold in a part of the world that is usually cold, we now say it is the result of climate change. Funny how “global warming” quietly became “climate change”. Could it be that too many independent thinkers pointed out the illogical reasoning behind the accumulation of too much ice and snow being caused by the earth heating up?
Now baby boys can choose to be baby girls, just because they “feel feminine” – at the age of three! My six-year-old daughter used to put makeup and ribbons on my two-year-old son, but they were just playing and I never thought to take them to the psychiatrist. Fast forward to college: in universities, racial proportionality – not intelligence, acumen or hard work – is now the determining factor in deciding who will attend. Football stars don’t even have to show up to Economics class or Basic Algebra more than once or twice in a semester and they still graduate with flying colors (no pun intended).
On The Way To Jerusalem
And what about the current attitude towards us Jews? We hear all across the mainstream media that Jews are guilty of genocide – for exerting effort to defend our country and protect our inalienable right to exist. This generation doesn’t even know the meaning of the word genocide. But what do I know? The meanings of words have changed, so I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.
Maybe it’s better to sit back and wait for the current generation to destroy itself. Unfortunately, many of us have children and grandchildren who are caught up in the new reality, so that is not an option. What, then, can we do about it? I think one (completely rational) solution is for all of us who still retain some semblance of normality to beg for a ride on a passing U.F.O. We can travel to a planet a few light-years away, then return when the earth is back in balance. Yes, that makes perfect sense to me! At least as much sense as the crazy newthink that is being forced upon all of us. Sadly, the way things are looking, a balance is not going to return in our lifetimes, so on second thought forget about the U.F.O. ride.
“This generation doesn’t even know the meaning of the word genocide. But what do I know? The meanings of words have changed, so I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.”
How then do we deal with all the insanity? Go out and fight? Attempt to re-educate the sad, woke masses? Or do we don rainbow-colored glasses, disappear into our own minds and pretend we are back in the 50’s? Maybe we should just jump off the cliff with all the other lemmings.
The best way, in my opinion, is to get out and fight, whether or not it is easy, or even possible. It may seem an improbable prospect, but we have to try. There are some people who are putting up the good fight. We can attempt to link up with them by crying out on social media or, better yet, by talking face-to-face to people. If they will not listen to us, then let us still have enough fortitude to keep pushing, even if people reject us to our faces. If not, a civil war may be the only remaining option to put things right. Upheaval is what has always changed the world quickly, and if less drastic measures don’t work, then this is all that may be left to us.
None of us alive today remember the attitudes that were prevalent before the use of electricity became prominent and before the first airplane lifted off the ground. Some of us were not even alive when the omnipresent mobile phone replaced the good ol’ wall phone. Thus, the question looms large: has our current insanity been the tradeoff for all this technological progress? Though we can’t live without electricity, the airplane and the cellphone, we must ask ourselves the question: Did their advent diminish the eternal values associated with more simple times? For sure, personal interactions were far more meaningful when we had to walk a few blocks to buy a quart of milk at the friendly corner store than now, when we charge our Teslas to drive across town to a Sam’s Club to buy milk made in a factory farm. I mourn what has been lost as much as I celebrate what has been gained!
“The best way, in my opinion, is to get out and fight, whether or not it is easy, or may even seem possible. It may seem an improbable prospect, but we have to try.”
There are so many questions that the modern age has brought up, which we never had to even think to ask before. How do we assess virtual reality and the effect it has on our ability to distinguish the real world from fantasy? Can men really give birth? Is it no longer a moral act to kill murderers? Is social media now the new education system? How does fake news impact us? Does it steer us in the direction of being automata, blindly fulfilling the will of the loudest voice out there? Does a person have the right to take his physical health into his own hands and refuse medical treatments that he does not want? Does 2+2=4 anymore? What is real and what is not?
Thank G-d for those remaining few who, in this chaotic world, fight for the eternal values of what is right, logical, and true. Thank G-d for those who still hold on to the unchanging principles of justice. Kudos to them, and may those of us who listen and support them not give up hope, just as they have not given up hope. They may well yet bring a golden age where peace reigns and a Messiah can lead his people to better days. Will we roll up our sleeves and be a part of it? Or will we sit back, wring our hands and watch the world careen off course towards oblivion?
Ariella Casey is originally from the United States and lives in the Golan Heights where she writes prolifically on the topics of politics and religion in Israel. She publishes the blog Take Hold the Tzitzit.
Ariella Casey may be contacted at juliehetterle@gmail.com.
