Alternate Universe

I am a huge Star Trek fan, how about you?  Some of the episodes that really threw me for an interstellar loop were the ones where the crew were somehow flung into an alternate universe. The characters all looked similar but the worlds were polar opposites; more diabolical, the Trek characters more sinister.  They seemed to exist under a darker atmosphere.

This is how I have felt since October 7th…as if I am existing in an alternate universe.  Oh, much looks the same and yet everything feels darker.  The tone of evil has replaced that of innocence.

On October 7th, the world looked on as Israel was the victim of horrific acts of terrorism inflicted by Hamas. Rape, murder, burning families, dismembering women and children and kidnapping 240 hostages…and I felt so confused as I experienced the media and many people turn Israel into the perpetrator rather than the victim.  The silence was the worst.  I have seen the western world fight for black lives, women’s rights, indigenous rights…but it seemed that Jewish lives did not matter.

Where am I?  I simply cannot wrap my head around this?  Of course this was now a war. What country would not go to war after such devastation? And Israel was under  the scrutiny of the western world’s magnifying glass.

Suddenly the media, which I perhaps once had a blind faith in, was quick to report twisted rhetoric,  mangled truths and  even out and out lies.   Suddenly too many may people were incredibly quick…perhaps even eager to believe this misinformation.  Suddenly news coming from a terrorist regime was considered viable…and suddenly people I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams began exposing their antisemitic leanings under the guise of anti-zionism.   Our already growing divisive world was transforming into this alternate universe.

In this alternate universe, friends have become enemies. My world has shrunk, I feel more fear and anxiety.  In this weird existence I have had to leave my daily swim routine due to antisemitic ramblings of some elderly women.  I have had to manage my conversations so as not to mention my strong support for Israel but, thank God, I have also found a handful who stand in my corner.

As I witnessed the riots on university campuses, anger welled up inside of me. Jewish students being threatened, unable to get to classes.  This was surreal.  I listened to the heads of these universities with their crazy evasions of the truth; that these riots and hate crimes were acceptable? Merely freedoms of speech?  

I continue to scratch my head as I watch as the US and Canadian governments flip-flopping, one minute saying they support Israel, the next advocating for Hamas; holding back arms, pushing their political agendas upon Israel and not intervening as hate crimes continue to be perpetrated all over the Globe.

I’m no rocket scientist, but I can clearly understand the dangers of an oppressive  Iranian regime promoting Jew hatred in the Middle East. I can understand that the teachings of Islamic Jihad make the implementation of a peaceful two state solution impossible.  There have been too many years of hateful brainwashing in the Gaza educational system.  It will take time to change this. Being Jewish, I can see the situation from the side of Israel, the impossible situation it is in.  Hamas continues to taunt it’s population with intense psychological torture, with the abduction of 240 civilians…who knows how many still alive.  And I watch as Israeli families are fracturing within their own population.

Where am I. How did I get here?  My mind becomes so confused sometimes.

When I speak with my higher power, which is often, I pray; “Dear God, please help me to understand. What is happening in our world?”

A response somehow calmly downloads into my brain;  “Don’t take any of it personally.  People will believe what they want, you can’t change them or their thinking.  What they think is always a reflection of their own inner turmoil.  If you can,  shield yourself from the hatred with this understanding, their hate and anger… is stemming from deep inside of them.  It maybe directed at you, but it is about them.”

This makes good sense to me God.  Thank you.

I continue to pray for miracles, the release of the hostages, and better days ahead…for all of us.  May this veil of darkness lift.  I truly believe that something good always comes from darker times.