Hatred.

My posts appear to have but one word titles these days.

Am I lacking creativity?

Or am I struggling with words?

Or is it the force of the world that has taken them away?

Hatred.

For all that is holy and good in this world, there is so so much hatred.

So very much.

I know.

You know this.

You're nodding along with me.

Saying it's always been there.

I know that, too.

As a white woman who does not live with my minority status as permanently visible to the rest of the world, I'm privileged. I'm able to slide by.

But I do not want to.

I speak freely of my Judaism.

Always have.

And now, with a return to my maiden name, it's pretty obvious.

And I wear that with pride.

Always have.

My father and his family came to this country decade upon decade ago for a better life.

For a new world.

We've seen hatred. We've seen anger. We've seen prejudice.

Growing up in New York there was a large Jewish population.

Always.

I had friends of all religions and races.

I never had to say anything along the lines of 'I have Black friends,' because we all did.

I never had to say 'I have Catholic friends,' because we all did.

I never had to say 'I have Jewish friends,' because we all did.

And so on.

You get the picture.

Families were mixed. Religions more than races, it was the 70s and 80s, after all. But both became and remained my norm.

And yet I sit here, and my daughter asks what I am doing.

And I tell her I'm writing.

And she asks about what.

And I tell her LIFE.

And I tell her about the seven synagogues in Brooklyn that were vandalized. Set aflame.

The Jewish schools among them.

And I spoke with her about the shooting in Pittsburgh. The one that claimed eleven lives.

And she looked at me and said,

"It's getting worse."

And you know what?

It is.

There's not a damned thing I can say that shows otherwise.

Not.

One.

Damned.

Thing.

But I raise my voice.

I use it.

My words.

I sit down and I write.

Always have.

Always will.

I've used my voice before for others.

I've not been one of those people who wait for "them" to come for me and mine before I say anything.

I stand up for those who suffer.

Always have.

Always will.

But today I stand up for myself.

For my daughter.

My family.

For my father.

His mother and father before him.

And I put this upon our leaders.

Our current administration.

To condemn these actions of hatred.

As those before them have.

As those after them will.

Because it's unacceptable.

It's impossible.

It's unfathomable.

And I won't sit back silently.

I'll raise my voice against the hatred.

Always have.

Always will.

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