8 December 2012 “ Light one candle

Saturday, December 8, 2012

8 December 2012 “ Light one candle

…”

Cassi Creek: What began as a sleepy, overcast day that promised rain has become a sunny afternoon. The predicted thunderstorms have remained distant. That, no doubt, pleases the dog without her knowledge.

When I took her outside this morning, someone down valley was shooting a .22 gun that upset Loki. She’s forgotten about that and is trying to convince Gloria to take her out now. Gloria gets the afternoon dog walk. Loki has a rather good sense of who and when. She rarely asks the wrong person to take her outside.

Hanukah begins at sundown this evening. The New York Times printed a good article about the actual significance of the holiday in contrast to the pallid supposed miracle that has become the Americanized version of the tale.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/opinion/hanukkah-unabridged.html?adxnnl=1&smid=fb-share&adxnnlx=1354997034-8ZkeywueGEoOmIaTkAhkPg

“The True Meaning of Hanukkah.”

I have learned or been taught much of this history from one source or another over the years. It never hurts to review history, in hope of picking up a new source of information or a new and improved interpretation of the material we thought had been stripped of secrets and lost facts.

With the U.S, embroiled in Afghanistan, with the teavangelists and hard-line GOP pushing the nation toward becoming locked into a ground conflict in Syria, and with yesterday the 71^st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is wise to count the potential cost of any new conflict. Fighting for political and religious self-determination is usually justifiable. However, our reactionary politicians, most of whom have never put on the nation’s uniform, need to be reminded that we can’t fight those wars for another nation, nor should we try to fight them. For us to put troops into Syria, intending to use our force of arms to create a political democracy that somehow becomes Christian in nature and which actually thanks us for our assistance instead of hating us like all the neighboring Muslim states would require a true miracle. And I’m not buying lamp oil or snake oil this year.

A note of thanks to my cousin Jean Pearlstein for pointing me toward the article. Thanks! Chag Sameach!

“Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn't die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand…”