Category: Uncategorized

Racial, religious, and ethnic bigotry, intrinsically, are not merely perceptual phenomena, founded upon unsophisticated experience or aesthetic predisposition; they constitute the existence of remorseless, cognitive predisposition and empirical aberration bordering on pathology. These traits, in our view, are initiated by insensitive early teaching and thereafter, submissive predisposition. Such malignity profoundly and gravely, encompasses social or anthropological perception and non-empirical, pre-judgments, often to the extent of the hatred of members of humankind who, by the vagaries of Nature, look dissimilar, or for cultural or ethnic reasons, live or believe differently from the observer.

The eternal outcome of the diverse facets of bigotry and prejudice has been its universal injurious impact on human life, blamelessly, suffered by its victims. Perverse racism, religious persecution, gender bias, ethnic and xenophobic hatred have constituted a shameful and atavistic blemish on the history of our purportedly, “advanced,” species of advanced “sentient” Homo sapiens.

We have selected, from the evidently, copious smorgasbord of hateful iterations of this human pathology, to comment on a specific brand of ancient bigotry, anti-Semitism, because of its contemporaneous pandemic-like outbreak and, its timeless and unique nuance.

The reader is presumably aware of the violent incursions into Israel, on October 7, 2023, by the Palestinian militant Islamist Group, Hamas. The attack was preceded by a barrage of upward of 3,000 rockets. Reportedly, in a single day, 859 Israeli citizens and 349 soldiers and police were killed; 250 hostages were taken, including children and the elderly. Hamas soldiers committed horrific and virtually unimaginable atrocities, including the torture and killing of parents in the presence of their later murdered young children, amputation, rape, burning people alive, and countless other unspeakable acts. According to their preconceived plan, they then retreated, with the hostages to their well-supplied, underground tunnels, strategically constructed, under hospitals and civilian centers. The result, as planned, was the tactical creation of an unavoidable necessity for retaliation for Hamas’ incursion and barbaric acts, to be visited upon the civilians, (human shields) living on the surface. Hamas, only too aware that it did not have the military capacity to achieve its goal of the obliteration of Israel, militarily, tactically conspired to thereby, turn World opinion against it for its predictable retaliation, meted out to the public by its created tactical necessity. Such a pernicious, evil, and pathological plot was successful. World opinion has (unjustly) denigrated Israel for its heartless retribution against innocent Gaza citizens, living (and dying) on the surface.

As shrewdly and perniciously planned, not only did World opinion accuse Israel of war crimes, but as has so often occurred in history, the ancient serpent of anti-Semitism emerged from its temporary pit, to again strike, indiscriminately, with its eternally-ready, ardent aggressiveness. Based upon the age-old (since the 4^th Century, Holy Roman Empire) hatred, recent historical experience reliably demonstrates that when conflict erupts in Israel, anti-Semitic attacks, predictably, soon follow in the United States as well as on a global scale. A historically accurate observation can, be made that such consistent observation is motivated by innate and ignorant, reductive prejudice. Clearly, “Jews,” as an international World subculture are distinguishable from “Israelis;” however, anti-Semitism has always obstinately persisted, irrespective of empirical cause, or rationally, or as in this case, derivatively. Reportedly, this category of hatred has increased in our Nation by 400%.

Among European Nations, especially, there is an understandable great concern, fueled in great part by the tragic experience of Jews, before and during the Second World War. This is particularly evident in those individuals who may be only one or two generations removed from people who were victims of Nazi brutality. Hamas has awakened a temporarily dormant species of human hatred and fear.

We find especially concerning the pervasive anti-Semitism currently asserting its venom on college campuses. It has been revealed by The Anti-Defamation League that 73% of Jewish college students have experienced or witnessed some form of anti-Semitic act on campus. It may be observed, that classically, College students, have universally participated in violent acts of protests and insurrection; which, in our view are conceivably motivated by an effective combination of insufficiently acquired knowledge, or reductive thought, plus empirical “Sturm und Drang” of youthful, sophomoric outrage.

By the natural happenstance of birth we find ourselves included in the ethnic category of American Jews, and, at times, when we deem it appropriate, criticize Israeli policy, however, we oppose prejudice and reductive thinking in all its malign iterations on an eternal basis.

-p.

As generally known, dreams occur in the “R.E.M” (Rapid Eye Movement) periods of sleep. In one of our R.E.M. episodes during the previous night, we experienced such a phantasmagorical, frightening dream that for the first occasion in memory, we felt obliged to get out of bed and sit in our bedside chair for some ten minutes, to relax from the tension. We, of course, realized that the surreal content of the dream was not as telling as the underlying and motivating tension. We soon were able to identify the cause of the then-extant tension as proximately emanating from our recent misgivings, concerning the nature of our monstrous-sized, population of unenlightened and uninformed citizens, some of whom refer to the despicable and dangerous Donald J. Trump, as the “Orange Jesus.” The subject tension, we realized, more specifically, was rooted in our apprehension of the possible effect of the multitudinous number of such voters who are inadequately, educated and poorly informed..

An instructive example of the underlying basis for such terror is clearly illustrated, among a virtual plethora of other such indications, by the pronouncement of the Republican Party’s, current, unanimously, elected Speaker of the House of Representatives; the evangelical, reductionist, Mike Johnson of Louisiana. In addition to his atavistic, posture on social issues, which appears to be to the right of Catherine the Great of Russia, he seems completely mesmerized by the stereotypical and skewed reasoning of the typical evangelical populist. He confidently, ignorantly, and inappropriately, declared to the House of Representatives and the public that, “All the answers are in the Bible.”  This statement, standing alone, would constitute an adequate basis for the occurrence of nightmares.

Wasn’t it the referenced, King James Bible that condoned slavery? That justified capital punishment? That declared that since” Man was the Center of All Things,” the Sun traveled around (“orbited”) the Earth? After God created the Earth, didn’t the “Good Book,” Johnson’s sole authoritative reference, provide, that, “He” rested” on the seventh day (the Sabbath)? It is revelatory and useful to rationally, recognize authoritative scientific studies which establish that Planet Earth, in objective fact, is no less than four and one-half billion years old. It is additionally revelatory to take note that the Bible, among other descriptions, attributes no less than unlimited omnipotence to the Deity, and yet declares that after “He” created the Earth, its oceans, and its inhabitants, in that short period of six days of labor, he was required to rest. Such is the limited intelligence of this legislative leader and, frighteningly (nightmarishly?) is, as well, the mentality of a significant portion of the voting American public that neurotically, sees itself inspirationally, instructing the World as to a life of moral truth and virtue.

In addition, to such cited population of unenlightened, insular voters, there is yet, the vast horde of underbelly populist voters, who see the toxic, criminal, and autocratic, Donald J. Trump, as their long-awaited, (political) Messiah and their much-deserved instrument of vengeance against society, deemed responsible for their particular brand of discontent. In their fun-house distorted perception, they irrationally, perceive Trump’s bragadaggio and multitudinous criminal acts and indictments, ranging from pay-offs to prostitutes and major tax fraud, to voter interference, election denial, inciting of insurrection and treasonous behavior, as commendable and appropriate, against the offending State. Their lemming-like loyalty to this would-be autocratic dictator is both absolute and, in reality, suicidal.

Trump has validated the old rural aphorism, “One rotten apple spoils the barrel.” By his divisive alteration and consequent destruction of America’s historic Republican Party, and, as well, the mind-set of the Nation, by means of his dangerous autocratic behavior, viz., demeaning  “truth, ”the media, established historic and  institutions, and the very existence of our democracy. The potential of a tragic impact on our democracy by the vote of this worrisomely large conglomerate of “Trump voters, inclusive of Johnson type, evangelical voters, threateningly capable of the tragic annihilation of our unique Democratic Republic, is sufficiently alarming and vexatious enough to cause any normal, mainstream American citizen, to suffer from the unpleasant experience of nightmares.

-p.                                                           

Our household has enjoyed the experience of several Dynasties of feline history. We employ the term, “Dynasty,” with apologies for its anthropomorphic reference. It has been our empirical observation that there exists a universally nuanced human inclination to perceive human traits or emotions in cats which, while commonplace, are subjective and, fallacious projections. With sincere apologies, we have, admittedly, referred to the generations of our household cats as dynasties, due to that same human, erroneous commonplace perception of their appearance as visibly royal and aloof. In this context, we are hopeful that the reader will indulge us respecting our utilization of provincial, or anthropomorphic observations.

“Bella,” about whom we will comment at a later point in this writing, has only, yesterday, successfully immigrated into our household and will have constituted the fifth dynasty in our royal feline history. She will benefit from the company and peripatetic guidance of “Gelato,” our fourth.

For readers who may be interested in our unique and admirable household occupants, we would initially and briefly relate the variety and commonality of their physical appearance. It might be of interest to know that all of the cats are “Devon Rex,” which particular breed contains no “dander” under their outer layer of fur, and so are non-allergic. Devon’s also uniformly feature small, characteristic, furrows on their heads and, further, compared to the more pedestrian, Tabby, have short, unremarkable whiskers. They are beautiful and come in various colors: white, tan, cream, brown, and gray, or an attractive mix of the same. They vary in size; two of our pets have been the size of ordinary Tabby cats, and three others, significantly smaller.

We commence our feline chronicles with the first, and, empirically, the most remarkable, of all our household cats, a male, whom we named, “Cicero.” Cicero was the larger size of the species and had ample fur which was gray to black. His unique feature was his apparent tact and diplomacy, having lived much of his life with the small and rambunctious, “Anchovie,” and the big-sized, pushy “Koo-doo.” If it is possible to ascribe human traits to cats, Cicero was gentlemanly, contemplative, and patiently tolerant. Much heartbreak was experienced at his demise, in honor of which, a fruit tree was planted, and the ashes of his cremation installed at the roots

Our second domiciliary co-tenant was “Anchovie,” who was given her nuanced (and unconventionally spelled) name, in an effort at feline originality. Much like “Cicero,” she affected an ultimate persona, reflective of her piquant name; active, attention-seeking, and independently assertive.  Yet, quite often she made the amorous choice of curling together, “yin and yang,” style, with the ever-tolerant “Cicero” in a soft circular, bed. She, too is decreased; unfortunately, cats seem to have a longevity of only 13 to 15 years.

Koo-doo, a full-size, female, Devon with a ”ritzy,” Sax Fifth Avenue quality, dark gray coat was, remarkably, an inveterate and insatiable gourmand, consuming, in addition to her cat food, whatever could be inveigled from the dinner table. She was socially independent, reserving her attention for the lady of the household, to the exclusion of her two siblings and the household’s male human. She was named after a beautiful, elk-like animal on an African Safari, viewed, scenically erect on a twilight-lit hill.

The next generation of feline pet is named, “Gelato.” It is impossible to adequately describe the beauty of this male Devon. He is a velvety coated, tan color with brown trim on his paws, ears, and face, and is almost irresistibly, huggable. Despite his light tan color, he has blue eyes and a brown tail. His quick changes of attention and insatiable curiosity make him extremely entertaining and his proclivity for snuggling renders one in a state of incessant love. Until yesterday, Gelato was the sole household pet.

Yesterday, the historic entry into the household of a tiny, snow white Devon kitten, with amber eyes, added yet more love and excitement to the household. It is a female kitten, imported from Belarus, Russia, which we named “Bella,” short for Belarus and, in many Latinized languages means “beautiful.” Gelato, her new sibling is an extremely handsome, small cat; but tiny Bella’s beauty is indescribable. We are in the delicate process of encouraging the comfortable acceptance of the handsome Gelato and the beautiful Bella, and we anticipate their happy coexistence and our enhanced pleasure.

-p.

On every tract of Earthly land
Man finds the sacred bits of dust
Blown by night, misted by day
He must look sharp, they’re hard to see!

On every day of every life
Man inhales, ingests that dust
And thus, does fortify his life
With tiny bits of mankind’s past

When life is done, and body’s down
As has been so, eternally,
The air will add more sacred dust,
That new mankind will then respire.

Leonard N. Shapiro (NYC. 12/1/23)

Manufacturers and merchandisers of gift items have, for some months, been in thoughtful and selective contemplation concerning choices of merchandise soon expected to be in holiday demand by the consuming public. Such considerations are pragmatically vital to seasonal commercial success and are judgmentally dependent upon each industry’s nuanced experience and selective perception,

By contrast, in the rational and pragmatic context of the operation of a democratic republic, however, elective choice of principle is, principally and dynamically antithetical to its societal dynamics and fundamental philosophy. Nevertheless, It would seem that such a functional precept has been, self-interestedly trampled upon by wealthy conservative and influential religious interests, inclusive of judicial, legislative, and citizen offenders, to the chagrin of the mainstream, right-thinking citizen. This species of travesty has resulted in functional and rational derogation of our basic Constitutional principles and persists as an impediment to our traditional representations of America’s fundamental, democracy.

The relevant, malignant flaw exists in the practice of subjective choice of application of certain provisions of the United States Constitution, which, by errant choice, have been tactically misread, misapplied, and shamefully violated, viz., the Second Amendment (regarding the bearing of arms), the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, (Religion) and the foundational Fourteenth Amendment; the second two concerns relevant to due process and the right of women’s privacy.

It would appear that many Conservative members of the judiciary, legislators, and citizens, arbitrarily arrogate to themselves, the arrogant franchise to arbitrarily, “pick and choose,” among the particular provisions of the U.S. Constitution, in an analogously, improper fashion to the above-noted, selective, manufacturers and sellers of holiday merchandise. In our view, doing so effectively would require the donning of horse blinkers to avoid personal charges of arbitrary and self-interested inconsistency.

[THE SECOND AMENDMEN]: The tactical misreading of this Amendment by manufacturers and merchants of armaments items, solely capable of death and grievous injury, can be pragmatically cognizable. The approval and endorsement by the judiciary and the legislature of the manufacture and sale of the same, are indicative of an inappropriate choice, made, purely on a political basis. The gun lobby has been successful in its commercially, profitable, but irresponsible, position, arbitrarily accepted by SCOTUS, to the effect that the Second Amendment was bizarrely intended to grant every American citizen the right to own and use hand-held weapons of human destruction.

As any casual (and objective) reader of American history is aware, this distorted and commercially, irresponsible interpretation is subjective and arbitrary bogus.  Recorded history shows an early major contention between those who wished to construe a “Federal,” (i.e., Central) government and the “States” rights,” proponents who demanded separate State sovereignty. As revealed, the hotly contested issue was compromised by the parties’ mutual agreement to a Central Government, with the proviso, that the constituent States (the “People”) were granted the right, to maintain independent standing militias which were authorized to “bear arms.” The selective and commercially inspired misreading of Article 2, transmogrifying the historical reference, “The People” to signify a purported right of all American citizens to be “gunslingers” continues to wreak daily tragedy. It is to be thematically, noted that the “gun people,” strictly adhere to this arbitrary, chosen misreading with an ardent fervor equivalent to religious orthodoxy; perhaps, it may be said, with an analogous history of tragedy.

We note, thematically, such unwavering supporters of the constitution, in their patriotic fervor, like the pre-holiday merchants, tend to “pick and choose” (selected Constitutional provisions) arbitrarily, and subjectively. Their unparalleled zeal for Constitutional adherence, in bright contrast, seems to be notably, less, regarding provisions concerning fundamental personal rights.

[THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE, (First Amendment, freedom of religion) and the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT, re: Due process and privacy]:

The Founders, bearing in mind the evils of Europe’s long bloody history of unjust religious authoritarianism, placed special emphasis on the principle that the realm of religious belief in the newly created democratic Republic, would be entirely separate from government participation. The concept of “Separation of Church and State,” was specifically incorporated and permanently, enshrined within the very base of the newly created Nation. Thus, the First Amendment of The United States Constitution contained a clear directive, “The Establishment Clause,” providing that the government may not interfere, with nor affect, in any way, the free exercise of religious belief.

With similar zeal, the Founders intended to form a Nation with citizen rights that would not be limited without appropriate civic reason and a fair process by established law and legal precedent, (“due process of law.”). The provisions of this “Fourteenth Amendment,” notably, among other protections, specifically, are inclusive of the right to privacy.

The societally, inappropriate dynamics involving the errant choice of compliance with selected provisions of the Constitution can be legally and inappropriately, compared with the “pick and choose” determinations of the commercial enterprises referenced at the outset of this essay. Yet, it appears that such unjust and undemocratic practice is, evinced by our judiciary, legislators, and many citizens. The prime example relates to the woman’s right to abortion, a salient feature of the citizens’ right to privacy.

In 1973 the Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, judicially confirmed the right of American women to elect to have an abortion, under the provisions of the 14^th Amendment, with special emphasis on the right to privacy. These rights were established and relied upon, as precedent for a full, half-century of American law. Recently, a controlling majority of conservative Justices on SCOTUS, arbitrarily, chose to render homage to certain prominent religious and evangelical groups, by its arbitrary derogation of the 14^th Amendment, the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment, and fifty years of relied upon legal precedent, and chose to overturn Roe v. Wade’s legal approval of the right to abortion. As stated in the Dissenting Opinion to the decision overturning the half-century of precedent, “Young women will come of age in a World where they have less rights than their mothers and grandmothers.” The observed, universal incidents of heartrending tragedy caused by this arbitrary compliance with influential religious lobbyists have already become patently clear.

The existential functioning of any society requires not only uniform rules but uniformly objective judicial and legislative application and compliance. It is to be brightly contrasted with a dinner menu for the temporal exercise of dining preferences or the situational need regarding a merchant’s choice of goods for an anticipated holiday sale.

-p.

Were we obliged to accord any reasonable degree of verisimilitude, or rational utility, to the recent media-reported results of the Presidential polls, we might feel obliged to perceive the same as analogous to the gross distortions of a carnival funhouse mirror. Such results, bizarrely, appear to indicate a significantly greater percentage of support for the autocratic, multi-indicted, and totally unfit, Donald Trump, and distortedly, a significantly lesser quantum of support for the presidentially successful, Joseph Biden.

We have previously written of the myriad acts of wrongdoing of former President Donald Trump, whose known record of criminality ranges from: “pay-offs” to prostitutes, to multiple criminal indictments for major felony crimes and, shockingly, even treasonous acts against the Nation. His is a shameful record of serial mendacity, incapability, bigotry, egocentrism, autocratic derogation of the media and of metaphysical  “truth,” itself, election denial, incitement of insurrection against the American government, theft of top secret government documents, numerous commissions of major tax fraud, denigration of the U.S. Constitution, overt voter interference, multiple acts of extortion and bribery and gross negligence. Regarding the latter, during the period of the COVID pandemic, he has been shown to be the proximate cause of no less than 237,000, otherwise preventable, deaths by his misleading pronouncements and denigration of vaccination and other medically recommended prophylaxis.

In order to fully illustrate and support our stated perception of the grossly, distorted political image, as reflected in said Presidential polls, we might usefully compare and contrast the above litany of negativity with the positive record of accomplishments of President Joseph Biden. Biden’s accomplishments are sufficient in number to make an appropriate summary listing:

• Rescued the American economy and changed the course of the pandemic
• Provided for rebuilding and rehabilitation of America’s infrastructure
• Reduced the cost of families’ everyday expenses
• Presided over  the highest employment record in American history
• Provided for the long-awaited and much-needed improvement in benefits for veterans
• Demonstrated sincere and consistent support for civil rights and voter fairness

In notable addition to such listed major accomplishments, President Biden has competently managed the delicate Hamas-Israeli hostage situation and, as well, steered a wise and practical National course relative to the war itself; evincing his innate, emblematic diplomacy and well-known, reputational compassion. Additional kudos can justly be awarded to President Biden for his appropriate policies and material support of Ukraine, in its defensive war with Russia and thereby, his ardent, and demonstrative support for democracy and peace against the autocratic, unprovoked aggression of Putin’s Russia.

Presumably, like all mainstream traditional American citizens, we will admit to some measure of concern for the Nation relative to the forthcoming Presidential election. Unfortunately, Donald Trump still appears to boast the support of a large populist, perennially discontented, and poorly informed population of voters; moreover, he unexpectedly won the election to the previous Presidential term.

However, it is our optimistic expectation that, in the next Presidential election, voters’ rational comparison of the contending parties’ empirical performances, and notably, their publically demonstrated characterological differences will avert the nightmare of a fearful and tragic funhouse distortion, and result in a clear and accurate reflection of the true character of the American Nation.  

-p

The two-party political system, we are informed, developed early in the Nation’s history. It would appear that the nuanced fact that the “winner takes all” dynamic, extant in United States elections, traditionally enabled a two-party system, in which, whoever gets the most votes, wins, even if less than a majority. This political feature was an arithmetically, practical incentive for like-minded voters to amalgamate into two (major) competing political parties. Voters accordingly, would consider each candidate’s stated position and vote for the one they thought was best for the Nation and themselves. It appears, from our cursory research that the historically, salient issue concerned the disputed extent of power of the Federal Government,

As time went on, it, unfortunately, appeared that there arose an increasing number of insecure politicians who were motivated, not by principle or perceived rectitude, but by competition to retain their jobs, by sentiment, often unrelated to their pre-election representations to voters. With the surprise and unfortunate elevation of Donald Trump, this unhealthy and undemocratic tendency, notably, in the Republican Party, descended to such a degree, that, essentially, the entire party, acquiesced in such behavior; with the (undemocratic) result that it morphed, in practical effect, to a cult of obeisance to his perverse will. The viral infection spread rapidly and metastasized to such a toxic degree, that the entire Republican Party, with some few courageous exceptions,  fearful of the large cohort of Trump populist voters, became subject to Trump’s autocratic control, abandoning individual principle and submitting to a uniform” group think” in his support.

It appeared that a large conglomerate of discontented citizens, principally composed of inadequately educated and poorly informed populist citizens, perceived Trump’s bizarre and unconventional persona and actions, as their identified representative in his perceived, brash opposition to the status quo and as a  long-awaited panacea for their respective personal discontent. With such a sizeable accumulation of a populist base of voters, politicians fearfully perceived that their political jobs were contingent upon the public and irresponsible support of the incapable, egoistic President; despite his gross negligence resulting in no less than an officially, tabulated, 234,000 preventable deaths during the Covid pandemic, and his demonstrated felonious actions and consequent criminal indictments, Federal and State.

 Principles of consistency with publically expressed policies, individual reason, and professional ethics were self-interestedly and unconstitutionally, abandoned. There evolved a virtual, “Pied Piper” submission to the pathologically deranged, head of State, whose unconventional, egoistically bizarre, autocratic actions were tactically supported. It was the proverbial “rotten apple,” spoiling the entire political barrel i.e., the constitutionally legitimate Republican Party. The new fearful, “groupthink” destroyed the utilitarian legitimacy of the Republican political representative, his reason d’etre, and the functional existence of his party; and by necessary extension, America’s two-party political system.

Such populist Americans perceived in Trump, a derivative and satisfying derogation of the establishment, including the media, the aspiration for advancement in science and knowledge, and sanctioned the creation of a veritable, modern-age Frankenstein monster, viz., the anti-societal concept of “alternate truth.” The decline of reason and sanity gave rise to widely disseminated conspiracy (paranoid) ideation and a contemporary reprise of a “Dark Ages” mentality; the latter pathological atavism, courtesy of the bizarre genius of the Trump cult and proximately responsible for the demise of the modern Republican Party.

Sadly and alarmingly, in our Nation, there persists a large and worrisome population of American “lemmings” who, despite consideration of objective reality, persist in ardent and, ultimately, suicidal, support for Donald Trump, the “wanna-be” autocrat, and the now, functionally extinct GOP.

-p.

The holiday season traditionally summons up the dual images of nostalgia and food. As a “Time Out,” from our recent spate of metaphysical, ethical, and analytic themes, we would choose, once again, to venture into the World of the 1940s-50’s Brooklyn, popularly requested by readers. In this context, we would recall, with a measure of nostalgia, a phenomenon, now extinct or reconfigured, of the exotic and delectable variety of peripatetic sidewalk food vendors. Their modern replication by food trucks, selling entire meals to the public, like chicken or lamb over rice and the like, may be of greater utility but at the same time are lacking in comparable nuance, color, and nostalgia.

In our childhood days, routinely following a softball or basketball game played in a New York City Public Park, we would, in a way, loosely analogous to the more elegant, “après ski” ritual, traditionally congregate, in front of the local candy store for our routine ceremony of two salty stick pretzels and a bottle of cold “Mission Orange” soda. We would especially note that the scene on so many neighborhood concrete sidewalks was significantly and markedly at variance with the present.

It was common to see peripatetic vendors, standing at their umbrella-advertised, pushcarts, selling eatables to the passerby public. Publically familiar varieties of traditional food products were predictable and selectively varied. In our recollection, the most delectable and noteworthy were the hot-baked potato knishes. The particular iteration of this classic food, sold by the street vendor, differed from those sold by neighborhood delicatessens. The latter was square-shaped and prepared with a light yellow coating enclosing an ample, mashed potato-tasting filler. The tasty and memorable version of the knish, sold by the sidewalk vendor, by contrast, was a truly delicious, oval-shaped, light brown, baked version with less potato filling, but a more savory taste. Inevitably, and usefully, a mug-shaped metal perforated container, situated on the lidded cover of the heated container, contained the accommodating salt.  We later discovered, to our dismay, that, both the potato-knish street vendor and, sorrowfully, such iteration of the baked potato knish have become, irretrievably extinct.

Another iteration of the extinct sidewalk food vendor was the seller of baked sweet potatoes. Like the knish vendor, the baked sweet potato vendor operated from a closed, heated, push cart, selling his product, handed over to each purchaser in a piece of thick, temperature-protecting piece of paper. We had often eaten baked sweet potatoes at home but for some (possibly, romantic), reason, the hot baked sweet potato consumed outdoors, on the street, seemed especially and deliciously exciting.

Among our favorite, street-vendor-sold foods were “arbis” (Yiddish for chickpeas), sold warm, in a paper bag with a similar available metal salt shaker.  To consume such soft, salted, chickpeas slowly and enjoyably out of the bag was a memorable experience; one, as recalled, perhaps exceeding the pleasure of today’s gourmet prepared “hummus.”

Another selection from our 1940s-50’s sidewalk menu was (in wintertime) roasted chestnuts. On cold winter days, these heated eatables were, in addition to their doughy-nutty tastiness, not part of the customary European-Ashkenazi menu, and, accordingly, an exotic item on the street (winter) menu. The chestnuts were sliced and roasted by the vendor, and, similarly delivered in small paper bags.

Today, we, fortunately, possess the ability to roast and enjoy seasonal chestnuts in our country home fireplace. However, the long-ago, limited experience of our unsophisticated, youth, yielded a special excitement.

Four items, on the traditional street sidewalk menu, it appears, have escaped extinction and are easily and contemporaneously available. These consist of twisted salt pretzels, frozen ices, the jelly apple (the latter two, in season), and ice cream, sold from a refrigerated, and, on occasion, music-playing truck. However, gone extinct, is an item of ice cream, existing in the earlier era cited, called the “Melloroll.”

Finally, in the interest of remaining compliant with our eternal and resolute determination to be unfailingly candid, the reader might entertain the cogent possibility that recollection of our youthful street menu was, indeed, as exotic and savory as recounted, but, nevertheless, possibly in need of some minor adjustment based upon our early, unsophisticated, state of inexperience and, as well, a present proclivity apparently, to romantic subjectivity concerning personal, long- past recollection.

-p. 

Initially, to avoid possible misconception of our thematic meaning, we would assert two caveats:[First]: This writing is not relevant to the pending Hamas-Israel War or Gaza.

[Second]: While we unquestionably support the State of Israel, we do not approve of any act of violation of legitimate Palestine territory. We do believe in a peaceful, two-state solution. The latter subject is similarly, irrelevant to our present theme and contextual intent.

Student-led rallies and mass protest events, historically seem to be, a concomitant feature of University life. In our Nation, at present, University Student mass demonstrations appear to be in full season from coast to coast. There are psychiatrists and other behavioral professionals who would relate the underlying dynamics of this notably youthful phenomenon to the specific stage of the individual’s developmental turmoil, of adolescence and youth, professionally termed, “Storm and Stress,”  (“Sturm und Drang”) empirically, evinced by parental conflict, mood disruptions, and risky behaviors.  

Whatever the commonality may be, we have noted many student protests whose articulated causes contain cognizable moral or philosophical merit and others about which we would have some question. Public expressions of mass concern regarding, academic freedom, book banning, “Black Lives Matter,” voter interference, excessive tuition charges, and affirmative action, are examples of causes with a meritorious aspiration. Additionally, the youthful participants would seem to have an understandably, zealous motivation, having been relatively recently in life,  exposed to the more sophisticated context of justice and its opposite; albeit, somewhat lacking in empirical experience, which latter consideration, at times, may offer to a more mature perception some degree of objective mitigation.

As stated in the outset of this essay, we do not support any acts of Israeli settlers that violate Palestinian territory, as prescribed by International Law. Student protests against the same, however, often appear to lack propriety in view of America’s past history. With regard to its 19th-century history program of expansion under the quasi-religious rationalization, proclaimed, “Manifest Destiny,” regarding which, protesting American students seem myopic and completely disinterested. In our view, this entirely, ignored consideration makes the uninformed, perhaps, misled, student protester lack equitable standing or credibility, regarding the contested issue of Israeli-Palestine borders.  

But first, a snapshot of some relevant Middle East history: In 1947 the UN drafted a” Partition Plan” which officially divided the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish States. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was legally created. The foregoing act sparked a pan-Arab war against Israel, which, unfortunately, continues to this day. The issue of boundaries, it seems, has since been in contention.

Our criticism relative to the mass protests on the contentious subject of Israeli-Palestine borders is two-fold: the protestors’ understandable zeal for principled justice, often far outweighs their information, and second, their expressed aspirations for territorial justice in the Middle East, inappropriately, perhaps, even sophomorically, ignores our own, American History, concerning the immoral displacement of the aboriginal American Nations and the plunder and territorial aggrandizement of the entire continent. To repeat, we do not approve of acts of illegal trespass or incorporation of legitimately established Palestinian land by zealous Israelis, nor the reverse. It, however, seems reductionist and sophomoric to loudly protest claims of specific trespass by wrongdoing, over-patriotic Middle East wrongdoers, by “idealistic,” possibly, inadequately informed protestors, vocally seeking territorial justice while, at the same time, ignoring and tacitly, accepting our Nation’s felonious theft of an entire continent, and continuing to remain, “Manifestly, myopic.”

-p.

In the classic verses of Ovid’s, “METAMORPHOSES,” the protagonist, (Narcissus) suffers eternal punishment meted out by the Gods for excess vanity. He is sentenced to spend the rest of his days, endlessly admiring the reflection of his beautiful face in a pool of water.  It notably may be observed that many modern humans appear to suffer from a similar egoistic predilection, but rather, on a voluntary basis, without divine mandate. At the odious risk of premeditated commission of the offense of copyright infringement, we would, empirically, declare that the penal sentence divinely meted out to Narcissus has eternally and universally been served by humankind on a volitional basis. One has merely to substitute an ordinary mirror in exchange for the lengthy poem’s symbolic pool of water, to credibly, witness the charge that Ovid’s Narcissus has been intentionally and premeditatedly replicated and photo-shopped, on a constant and universal basis.

The reader may be assured that in this critique, we emphatically, do not include one’s routine act of occasionally monitoring the current state of his appearance.

Humankind’s bizarre predilection to eternally examine and re-examine his facial identity might conceivably, be attributable to various phenomena: a penchant for insecurity, a lack of confidence in a stable personal self-image, or, in an appropriate situation, the reflection of doubt, a shallow sense of temporal discomfort and/or the presence of weak resolve. An audit of Planet Earth’s developed Nations, we would imagine, would conceivably reveal only slightly fewer mirrors than the total of its human population. What might possibly be the nature and motivation underlying such frequently enacted self-voyeurism? Do we dare commit a possible act of excess by further supplementing this enigmatic observation with a subtle reference to snapshots and the modern affinity for “selfies”?

The instructional lesson portrayed by the fate of Ovid’s protagonist was, inarguably, one regarding excessive vanity, for which the offender was eternally condemned to ceaseless and uninterrupted self-admiration. It is our personal observation that, while universal vanity may be a cognizable motivation, in our view, there are several other, more cogent, profound, and metaphysically revealing possibilities.

Based upon our subjective perception, the fundamental and cogent motivations for the incessant practice of auditing one’s visage are those of insecurity, personal, and situational. The amelioration of either category of such causes has an existentially vital factor in common. It has been our observation that the fundamental ingredient is the failure to sufficiently acquire a mature confident, and referable internal self-image. It clearly demonstrates that one has failed to satisfactorily implement the classically sage admonition of Socrates, “know thyself.” The incessant desire to steal a peek at one’s face, or, identity, in times of equivocation or felt confusion are, in our view, symptoms of such failure.

The normally socialized individual, as we have often noted, in time, develops a vital sense of himself, or “self-image,” by consideration and contemplation of his responses to life’s varied stimuli. From the accrual of, and learning from, his consistent responses to singular empirical experiences, the contemplative individual, at some point in his maturing experience, derives an image of himself (i.e., “knows himself”); he is enabled to respond to stimuli, when called upon, based upon the assistance, garnered from his referential his self-image. He has no need to call upon his mirrored reflection in vain attempts to properly construe a response. His reflective capabilities are internal and referential, not external and mindlessly, reflexive. He seldom flounders, looks for group approval, or fears potential oppositional opinions. The image in the mirror, when he does consult one, is not motivated by indecisive delay, or deflection but one of assured confidence.

Two additional causes, we might choose to postulate for the constant (“narcissistic”) reference to mirrors are, the neurotic subjects of, an immature and ungrateful fear of aging (about which we have copiously written) and that of the ruminative phobia of hypochondria. The latter two additional causes, respectively, evincing, an insufficient ingratitude for the invaluable franchise of life, and the second, an independent and chronic pathology for which counseling may be clinically useful.

As a matter of appropriate social interaction, the next time you do glance at a mirror, you might properly choose to say, “Hello,”

-p.