 |
|
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Nov. 5, 2008
/ 7 Mar-Cheshvan 5769
We forget ...
By
Paul Greenberg
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
We forget. In the mad rush of speculation before the polls open, and the hubbub of claims and counterclaims after they close, we forget. We forget the solemn daylong pause in between. We forget the momentary peace that descends on this suddenly one nation indivisible. We forget the in-between day, Election Day. It is gone as abruptly as it came.
We forget the variety of places where The Decision was made by we the people. Not en masse, not in The Street, not by the cheering throngs with arms upraised to a Fuehrer or Il Duce or President for Life or Dear Leader or El Lider Maximo or Mullah So-and-So ... or any of thousands of other names by which the most modern of that ancient species, the Tyrant, is known in our oh-so-advanced times.
We forget that here the people rule — not in the aggregate, but one by one, just the way we cast our votes, in solitude, in conscience, in that moment of silence like prayer that separates the before and after of the great, quadrennial tumult called an American presidential campaign. We forget the holiness of this day.
We forget the variety of this land reflected dot by dot on those maps of your neighborhood's, your county's, your parish's polling places. From the Norman Rockwell scenes at little churches, schools, and fire stations, to the Ashcan School's crowded tenements and airless streets.
We forget to look up at the cerulean sky presiding over it all on a perfect, still early fall day. Election day dawned bright and clear here in Arkansas, with mild temperatures, as if it were any other, and not the great sabbath of democracy. Are the leaves ever any brighter, the rustle of those that cover the yards and sidewalks ever more satisfying than on a perfect election day in these blessed latitudes?
We forget to look down at the ever-fecund soil, or the cracked sidewalk leading to the polling place. A friend on his way to cast his ballot noted how the roots of a great oak had, over the years, lifted up a whole slab of the concrete walkway. The sight brought to mind a prophecy by a Russian writer deep in the Stalinist snows of another but always the same Russia: Even if the whole of the Earth were covered by concrete, he wrote, one day a crack would develop, and in that crack a blade of grass would grow. Freedom is like that.
We forget this nation's capacity for renewal, its power to remain what it has always been while it is always changing. The last, best hope of the world, Mr. Lincoln called this Union he saved, even though, by now, however derided America may be by those who don't know it, we have become the first. Which is why they still come from all over, the Americans to be. They know something all of Europe's sophisticates and America's own cynics don't.
We forget ourselves, just as the grown forget the child within them. We forget that we are our history as well as future. But Election Day reminds us. Is there a voter with soul so dead who has not left his polling place, his vote cast, his voice recorded, his steps crackling through the leaves underfoot on a golden fall day, the voices of neighbors and once-every-election-day acquaintances, who, his duty done and right exercised, has not thought: This is my country! The United States of America, wrote Walt Whitman, is the greatest poem. It still is.
We forget how many have sacrificed how much for this simple ritual, this pause in the year's occupations, and how many still guard us today. We forget the veterans still paying the price, and those who have paid it in full. We forget to whisper: Thank you.
We forget to vow: We shall not forget.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
Paul Greenberg Archives
© 2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|
