A Letter on a Letter

From time to time I receive a letter from someone complimenting me on a piece of mine that has been published either in the New York Times or the Record, a Bergen County newspaper. Each catches me by surprise, that someone I do not know would take the time and effort to locate me and thank me for my words (fortunately, I have not had a note from someone voicing their displeasure with me),

But today, something came in the mail which was different. Instead of my indicating why this is so, I will let the author speak for himself:



"RE: January 30, 2017 New York Times Letter To The Editor

Mr. Nussbaum:

I hope this letter finds its way to you as I have been meaning to write it since I read your letter almost a year ago. It is simply masterful.

Like you, I do not recognize the America my father went to war for, the America that people from different countries came to and shared their laughter, recipes, trade skills, language, work ethic, and personal pride, nor the country that - in your words - displays such a "depraved indifference to others' welfare",

Mr. Nussbaum, thank you for your letter and my apologies for the delay in writing to you. You inspire me in many ways.

Best personal regards"

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Here is the piece to which the writer referred:


I am an immigrant.

I may have been born in the United States but this country is foreign to me. 

This land is not my land.

I do not share it's beliefs, I do not countenance it's actions,  I do not even recognize it's methods.

I am not an American, not this America..

The country I lived in did not treat human beings with such utter contempt, did not 

display a depraved indifference to other's welfare, did not inflict such needless pain and suffering.

There are no words that can fully describe my alienation from the unconscionable mandate that now brands millions of people as unworthy of entry upon our shores. The very heart of this nation is being torn out. 

This is not who I am. This is not who we are. I am a stranger in a foreign land .

I am an immigrant.

Taking a Shot at Gun Violence

("Oh Lord, Now the Gun Thing's Back")

We are all complicit in murder. We have accepted the notion that guns are a rational part of our everyday universe. A nation under attack.

Armed and dangerous.

Instead of arguing for nuance and tweaks, let us call for a new dialogue, one in which guns have no part in our society. Do we seriously want protection for all? Get the guns out of everyone's hands. Let us not bargain on semi-automatics, on concealed carry, on background checks or domestic abuse. Let us instead have a conversation about our disease, our obsession, our insanity.

We don't want to hear that countries that have disarmed are immeasurably safer than we are? Are we made of different material? Our are brains incapable of adapting to a new paradigm?

We can stop the killing if we have courage, if we do not accept what we suggest we cannot change, but rather fight for that change to become reality. Ask a generation ago if same sex marriage would ever be the law of the land.

This the not the 1800's, and this is not the Wild West. We don't need a gun to our head, or a holster on our side anymore.

A Failed Nuclear Test

("Is North Korea's Nuclear Test a Sign of Hope?")

Threaten? Always. Negotiate? Never.

Such is the proven history of this bombastic leader. No, not that one. The other one. Trump.

The seven nation treaty with Iran. Our commitment to NATO, to NAFTA. The world wide agreement to environmental clean up. Going, going and gone.

Mr. Trump builds not trust but enmity, walls (imagined) not bridges. He does not create bonds but breaks them.

China, Russia. His rhetoric has gained us nothing. North Korea, Iran. What benefits, what progress has been made during Mr.Trump's tenure in office?

The art of the deal? Like everything else in Mr. Trump's universe, this is but a fiction. There has not been one moment of political triumph, merely a staggering amount of spoken or tweeted nonsense. The smell of success. Not even a whiff.

There is little reason to believe this administration capable of serious protracted discussion, leading to significant resolution with any foreign power. And on a matter as fragile and fraught with pitfalls as this?

The little Rocket Man and Big Bird k-i-s-s-i-n-g? Just a failed nuclear test for Mr. Trump, an explosion waiting to occur.

First Do No Harm

("Senators Face Test of Their Own Principles")

We keep reading the same names, McCain, Corker and Flake, who have been openly hostile to the President and the attempted plundering of the fundamentals of our democracy, Murkowski and Collins whose protection of their constituents has outweighed the pressures from the White House. These few who have said that victory at any cost is not victory.

But there is no contemplation that defeat of this abomination of a tax bill will come easily. For it is the role of each party to make things happen, not to be in stasis, not to let bad enough alone. It is how any person in power, Republican or Democrat, envisions their duty in shaping this nation.

And thus there is an immense pull towards action. No matter the personal animus of McCain, Corner and Flake to everything Trump, no matter the real fear of Murkowski or Collins for the effect of this legislation on those entrusted to their care.

The coming vote is indeed a test of courage, as competing voices speak loudly in the heads and to the hearts of those who contemplate the future path of their country and their party. And I suggest that the Hippocratic oath applies to all those in whose hands rests the health, literal and figurative, of this our beleaguered enterprise.

First do no harm.

On My Mom's Return for Thanksgiving

Yesterday's e-mail from JD Powers to Dorothy Nussbaum:

"Tell us what you think about your recent meeting with Becker Funeral Home"

Here is how I would like to reply:

Thank you so much for your inquiry. A critical aspect of any business is following up with potential clients. Unfortunately, my mother declines your invitation to respond.

Well, declines is probably not the correct word. Declines would connote a choice, a decision not to do something that one could do if they so wished. And sadly for Dorothy Nussbaum that is not a possibility.

You see, my mom passed away on March 25 of this year. And unless there is something you want to tell me, she has remained dead ever since that date.

Maybe I take "recent" too literally. Maybe you merely meant "once" as in sometime in the last 100 years. And if that was your actual intention with your words, then maybe your email was not wrong, merely too late. 

My mom survived to 99, but couldn't hang on to January 8, 2018 to crack the century mark. And thus, maybe your correspondence was but wishful thinking.

Today is the first Thanksgiving without her and so she has been particularly present in my thoughts in recent days. And maybe all you meant to accomplish in your email was to return the recently departed back into my life for one more chuckle.

And if that was your mission, you were wildly successful.

I give thanks on this day for many things. I can now add your "erroneous" solicitation to the list. It brought a smile to my face and my mom into my heart.

I wish you and all your family, living and dead, a most happy holiday.

Game of Thrones

And now, back to real life. 

After binge watching endless hours of unspeakable wrongdoing, sexual assaults, treachery and betrayal, I return to our regularly scheduled program. 

My mind is not nearly facile enough to properly catalogue everything that I have recently taken in. It is a mentally exhausting process and it leaves me almost disoriented as I stare at the screen and try to recall all the cascading horror without each act just being lost in the morass. And then there is Game of Thrones.

Winter is upon us. The landscape is filled with enemies, real or perceived. The Wall has crumbled. Friend or foe near impossible to distinguish. Truth and lies inextricably entwined. Danger can be found in every house and we are but one misstep from the apocalypse. And then there is Game of Thrones.

The final season will take some time to arrive. Until that day comes we are counseled to be patient, and are left to imagine whether there is survival on the other side of this cold and brutally harsh reality. And then there is Game of Thrones.

The Guillotine

AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS POST IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN THE RECORD, A BERGEN COUNTY NEWSPAPER

("Franken Should Go")

It sickens me to think that Al Franken, by all apparent measure, a decent person and dedicated and serious politician, would end up on the trash heap while Donald Trump, who possesses none of the good qualities of Mr. Franken, remains unscathed despite a lifetime of aberrant behavior.

There must be degrees of sexual impropriety, Republican or Democrat, new or old, when we consider and before we condemn. There must also be context. Mr. Franken's egregious act seems, for the moment at least, isolated. It was not done as a private attack, but a public joke, ill conceived as it was.

There are Anthony Weiner's, Roy Moore's, Donald Trump's, Kevin Spacey's, Harvey Weinstein's,  even Bill Clinton's. Men whose lives are replete with episodes of wrongdoing, that speak to a pervasive corrosiveness, that demonstrate time and again a failing at the core, who commit assault as the very nature of who they are.

But that does not appear to be Al Franken. He seems a comedian who seriously stepped over the line and for that he has admitted he violated another and gave his mea culpa.

For me, it is a matter of degree. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Don't create a frenzy in which everything is a first degree crime. Whether it is Al Franken or some Republican politician for whom I have no love, let us use our better judgment in deciding who deserves the guillotine.

Imagine

Imagine there's no Donald

No one to tell us lies

No tweets that blow up

No talk of Russian ties

Imagine all one people

We're immigrants,you and I

Imagine there's no Donald

No need our plaintive cry

No war is threatened

Health care if we try

Imagine all one people

Just think how it could  be... 

And I say we're all Dreamers

Yes each and everyone

A better life awaits us

When Donald's day is done

Imagine there's no Donald

No false as truth disguised

No rich just get richer

While others can't get by

Imagine all one people

As it was meant to be

And I say we're all Dreamers

Yes each and everyone

A better life awaits us

When Donald's day is done

An Unqualified Success

("Siding With the Enemy")

If we hoped that having Mr. Trump out of the country might provide temporary respite from the storm, we were mistaken. Calamity is his constant bedfellow and he is never more than a foot (in mouth) or a tweeting finger from the next self inflicted wound.

His pretzel twisting "I believe Putin, well I believe he believes",  and "I don't believe  our agencies, or maybe I do believe our agencies now but I didn't before" was a headache inducing, maybe I went too far Trump masterpiece of utter nonsense. But we expect nothing less (more) of this befuddled autocrat wannabe.

With each stop on this 12 day journey we hold our breath and hope that he doesn't do or say anything immensely stupid. We have yet to find the true floor of our expectations. Is not starting a war a good starting point?

As much as we despise Mr. Trump's presence, we fear his absence equally as he kisses up to Putin, cozies up to China, seeks solace in Saudi Arabia, dances with Duterte. There is the unmistakable odor of incompetence emanating from afar.

He is a man on a mission to destroy our credibility around the globe, one mistake at a time.

And in that quest he is clearly an unqualified success.

Of an Anniversary and a Fading Picture

Today would have been my parent's 72nd anniversary. It is the first where neither is alive.

Earlier this week there was a sale of a property that had been in our family for three generations, from grandparent to parent to my sister and myself. It was held in concert with two other families and had grown unruly in numbers, over 20 and increasing, who now claimed some ownership interest. Divergent needs and desires propelled this transaction. My voice was but one of many, my beliefs and wishes mostly muted.

When the deal had been concluded there were congratulations shared. But when I wrote to everyone I spoke of a sadness that both my sister and I felt keenly.

My mom always said, "whatever you do, don't sell" this property. But it was not failing to abide by my mom's orders that was painful. It was that one more piece of what bound my sister and myself to our parents had broken away. That we lost that irrefutable bond which remained as long as we could claim a stake in what now was no longer ours.

Today is our parent's anniversary. And we remember them for everything they were, not every possession they held or passed down to us. But now they appear a little more remote, a little less recognizable, a photo fading with age. One more piece gone with the inexorable passage of time.

A Deafening Silence

AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS POST IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

("A Conspiracy Of Inaction on Sexual Abuse") 

I was a student at Horace Mann from 1964 to 1970. It was then that the abuse was likely most prevalent and so many lives were irreparably altered.

But unlike Mr. Leonhardt some years later, I was not remotely aware of what was transpiring. It was a moment not only of institutional cover up, but cultural blindness, where we were not ready to consider, much less confront, the issue of sexual abuse. 

More than a half century later, men like Mr. Weinstein are the progeny of a  school and a society that looked the other way.

And for that we all share a collective blame and guilt.

The Odyssey Updated (Trump According to Homer)

Donald Trump has been on a journey unlike any other. Filled with low points and then lower ones. Stepping on toes, hell stepping on entire feet.

Giving new meaning to that 3 AM call. Putting this country on perpetual high alert, not in fear of enemy but our own President. Forcing the country to learn the particulars of the 25th Amendment.  Piling up mistakes, miscues, misstatements at a rate that staggered the imagination, boggled the mind and challenged our capacity to recall. The calamities myriad and the potential for catastrophe omnipresent.

From Pence to Putin, Perry to Papadopolous, Price to Priebus, Pruitt to Perdue, scary Bannon to Scaracmucci, Megyn Kelly to John McCain, Ben Carson to Betsy Devos, from the "hiring" of Kushner to the firing of Comey, from the injustice to Merrick Garland to the installation of Justice Gorsuch, from Ivanka with a little lust to immigrants with much hate, from Russia with love to North Korea with nukes, from shutting borders to closed minds, from grabbing pussy to grabbing attention, from the First Amendment to the Second, from the birther morass to the Mexican mess, from NATO to NAFTA, from both sides to blame in Charlottesville to warmest condolences in Vegas, from alternative facts to alternative energy, from destroying Obamacare to destroying the ozone, from attacks on the media to imagined attacks from most everywhere, from manufactured voter fraud to intended voter suppression, from fomenting fears to pandering to prejudices, from criticizing judges to castigating the FBI,from weekdays with Fox and Friends to weekends at Mar-A-Lago, from groveling sycophants to kneeling football players, from intimidation to insinuation, from twisted tweets to constant taunts, from broken pacts to broken promises, from small hands to large hysterics, from taxes to just plain taxing, from morning to night and siege to endless siege.

Always but a moment away from creating a self inflicted wound upon our nation. Lacking in attention, in diligence, in understanding, in empathy, in perspective, in the very words necessary to express himself. Self centered, obsessed, unbound by tradition, by regulation, by protocol or propriety. Willing to destroy our standing in the world and doing a wonderful job of it. Bitter, petty, divisive, petulant. Often  unmoored. Treating his office like a chew toy and peeing on the rug. From the first day he descended upon us like a plague to the latest tweet he left, like poo, on our front step. 

And all that does not come close to accurately describing the full extent of the damage this man has done and is capable of doing

And where can we turn for guidance  in our moment of deep distress if not to Homer? For nearly 3000 years past he wrote much on the travails that now lay before us. And much as we perceive Mr. Trump as unlike any other, Homer would remind us that everything new is old again:

"There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep."

" A hero is intelligent; his greatest weapon is his mind."

"And empty words are evil."

"Friend, that was not well spoken; you seem like one who is reckless; So it is that the gods do not bestow graces in all ways on men, neither in stature nor yet in brains or eloquence;less noted for beauty, but the gods puts comeliness on his words, and they who look toward him are filled with joy at the sight, and he speaks to them without faltering in winning modesty."

"Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth,nothing is bred weaker than man."

"Ah how shameless - the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say comes all their miseries, yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share."

"Greed and folly double the suffering in the lot of man."

"For never, never wicked man was wise."

"Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies: And sure he will: for wisdom never lies."

"Skepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is of skepticism."

"For a friend with an understanding heart is worth no less than a brother.'

"Of the many things hidden from knowledge of man, nothing is more unintelligible than the human heart."

"By hook or by crook this peril too shall be something that we remember."

 

Where this Odyssey ends is anyone's guess, as we watch, wonder and worry.

But one final thought from Homer may provide a measure of  solace:

"Take courage, my heart, you have been through worse than this. Be strong, saith my heart. I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this."

 

The Idiot and His Odyssey

His has been a journey unlike any other. Filled with low points and then lower ones. Stepping on toes, hell stepping on entire feet.

Giving new meaning to that 3 AM call. Putting this country on perpetual high alert, not in fear of enemy but our own President. Forcing the country to learn the particulars of the 25th Amendment.  Piling up mistakes, miscues, misstatements at a rate that staggered the imagination, boggled the mind and challenged our capacity to recall. The calamities myriad and the potential for catastrophe omnipresent.

From Pence to Putin, Perry to Papadopolous, Price to Priebus, Pruitt to Perdue, Mnuchin to Manafort, scary Bannon to Scaramucci, Megyn Kelly to John McCain, Ben Carson to Betsy Devos, from the "hiring" of Kushner to the firing of Comey, from the con jobs of Conway to the crimes of Flynn, from the injustice to Merrick Garland to the installation of Justice Gorsuch, from Ivanka with a little lust to immigrants with much hate, from Russia with love to North Korea with nukes, from big arsenals to a little rocket man, from continual shitstorms to one bloviating shithole, from can he possibly know less to absolutely no Moore, from Huckabee Sanders to Spicer, from Israel's one state two state to our red state blue state, from the vanishing net neutrality to vanquishing the social safety net, from shutting borders to closed minds, from Hillary bashing to master baiting, from grabbing pussy to grabbing attention, from the First Amendment to the Second, from Haiti to Hawaii, from the birther morass to the Mexican mess, from the alt-right to the always wrong, from NATO to NAFTA, from threatening DACA to thrashing CHIP, from both sides to blame in Charlottesville to warmest condolences in Vegas, from provoking Palestinians to pissing on (off) Puerto Rico, from alternative facts to alternative energy, from destroying Obamacare to destroying the ozone, from attacks on the media to imagined attacks from most everywhere, from manufactured voter fraud to intended voter suppression, from fomenting fears to pandering to prejudices, from won't he just shut up to will we now shut down, from criticizing judges to castigating the FBI, from weekdays with Fox and Friends to weekends at Mar-A-Lago, from groveling sycophants to kneeling football players, from intimidation to insinuation, from obstinancy to obstruction of justice, from twisted tweets to constant taunts, from broken pacts to broken promises, from small hands to large hysterics, from taxes to just plain taxing, from morning to night and siege to endless siege.

Always but a moment away from creating a self inflicted wound upon our nation. Lacking in attention, in diligence, in understanding, in empathy, in perspective, in the very words necessary to express himself. Self centered, obsessed, unbound by tradition, by regulation, by protocol or propriety. Full of bluster, easy to fluster. Willing to destroy our standing in the world and doing a wonderful job of it. Humbling our nation and haunting our dreams. Bitter, petty, divisive, petulant. Often  unmoored. Treating his office like a chew toy and peeing on the rug, from the first day he descended upon us like a plague to the last tweet he left, like poo, on our front step. 

Sound and fury signifying nothing. Or more precisely, fire and fury signifying a man, and a nation, on the brink.

Lin Manuel Miranda and Donald Trump

FROM THE KING TO MR. MUELLER

You say the price that I ask is much more than you can abide

You cry you need to indict all those men who stood by my side

What'd you think? 

Remember there is danger in the game that you play

I'll not sink

Remember that fiction is stronger than truth any day

You'll be gone

Soon I know

Just an asterisk in history

You'll be gone

From the show

Just a shadow in the light of me

Charges rise, charges fall

Did you think I'd let you make the call

You don't fit, hand in glove

I will tweet a fully loaded note to advise you that you're done

You say you'll drain the swamp well that's my line

You know when you are gone that I'll be fine

And no don't make me say it

Cause I would love to say it

And lord knows I will say it

You mangled, overplayed it

Forsaken, forever and ever and ever

You'll be gone

Shown the door

You have won a battle, lost the war

You were wrong

Sad to say

You'll regret this to your dying day

Soon you're gone, I will smile

Just remember I'm the one with guile

'Cause when push comes to shove

I will kill all the charges to show what can be done