Sunday, November 21, 2021

November 21,2021 RESPECT

Whatever happened to respecting elders?  Respect--"due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others." That's the respect I'm talking about. I'm shocked by the lack of respect the younger generation shows today.  When did this become okay? So--do kids NOT respect their own parents anymore? Is that where this comes from? Is it the trickle down effect? Are parents not behaving in a manner that fosters respect so that kids aren't learning it at home?  I NEED TO KNOW. When I was I kid--my brothers had to take their hats off and put a shirt on if they wanted to eat a meal. NO elbows on the table and PLEASE AND THANK YOU WERE THE MAGIC WORDS. Once--I actually held "the door" so long that -- I  missed a whole day of school. On a serious note--I'll never forget the ONE time I was disrespectful to my grandfather. I actually told him to "Shut Up" because he was teasing me about  being chubby. I was in fifth grade AND MY WORLD actually stopped for a minute. The shock and hurt in his eyes was more than I could bare. I apologized immediately but the hurt had been done.  I have never used those words again to tell someone to be quiet. I was being disrespectful--took responsibility--and learned a hard lesson. Maybe the problem is that parents don't make kids take responsibility anymore?? Or is it that parents don't take responsibility?  HUMMMM........on to bigger and much better things. I just finished reading one of my favorite authors--Amor Towles new book The Lincoln Highway. Emmett, one of the main characters, has just been released from a juvenile work camp after serving time for involuntary manslaughter. After being  dropped off at the family farm in Nebraska, Emmett is finally reunited with his eight year old brother, Billy, but they soon discover that they are not alone. Two of Emmett's friends from the camp, Duchess and Woolly have shown up needing help. All Emmett wants to do is leave Nebraska in his studebaker with his little brother to start over--and possibly find their mother in California-- but reluctantly agrees to give his friends a ride to Omaha first.  Once they arrive in Omaha, Duchess and Woolly take off in Emmett's  car leaving the brothers in pursuit of the car--that is now in New York--where they meet a cast of characters that make the story one hell of a ride. This highly entertaining story is a long ride down the Lincoln Highway that you will be sad to see end. It's about 600 pages or a 6 mile ride that I thoroughly enjoyed. 


Saturday, November 6, 2021

November 6, 2021 MY GENERATION

Not sure I've ever mentioned this before but I'm actually Jewish.  I'm Catholic but I'm also Jewish. My mother was raised Jewish but converted to Catholicism and raised us as Catholics. According to Jewish law though --the Jewish status is passed down through the mother--so it's in my blood. I grew up raising a glass of wine and toasting  L'Chaim (To Life)--LOOKING at gefilte fish that totally grossed me out --eating Matzo ball soup and lighting a menorah.  I also grew up eating pork, shell fish, decorating a Christmas tree and  celebrating Christmas. I guess it was the best of both worlds.  My mother converted to Catholicism early on because she said that she always hated being Jewish. I never understood why--or even asked her about it until this week AND it was only after reading this wonderful memoir about another woman who converted in the 1940s. It would have been impossible for me to understand my mother's rational because generationally--I am so far removed from her situation that I would not have been able appreciate her thinking. I finally get it. Books. The places they take me  and the lessons I learn.  What would I do without them? I just can't believe it took me so long to find The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. This beautifully written memoir was a collaboration between McBride and his  remarkable mother Ruth McBride Jordan. Ruth grew up in the South. Her father was a rabbi and she was often persecuted in her white community for being Jewish, so she turned to the African American community where she was accepted. She eventually moved to Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn, married a black man and founded a Baptist church. She also became a mother to 12 children who all graduated from college. It is quite a story--laugh out loud funny at times, emotional at others and totally inspirational. McBride never knew anything about his mother's past until he was an adult when she finally agreed to share her history, then he finally understand his own place in the world. This National Book Award winner should be required reading for every human being. It's that good. At only 295 pages--it's a 4 mile run--that is worth every page.