This should be a wonderful time of the year: It's spring, the
weather's mild, and two major faiths are celebrating glorious
holidays. Wednesday began the feast of Passover and this Sunday
is the most important of all Christian celebrations - Easter.
Some may find it hard to get into the spirit of the season,
though, when news about Iran joining the nuclear club is all over
the airwaves. At the risk of sounding like Mad Magazine's Alfred
E. Neuman, my attitude is: "What, me worry?"
I can't help but remember the fall of 1962, when we came the
closest to the very real possibility of nuclear annihilation. I
was a student at Hunter College and President Kennedy had just
warned the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, that we
would block any ships bringing missile parts to Cuba. It was the
height of the Cold War and we had a young president challenging a
man who had promised to bury us.
The Soviet Union had ICBMs aimed at us and vice versa. Our young
minds had been inundated with horror films of apocalyptic visions
and post-nuclear wastelands. In short, we were scared to death.
The silence in the school hall as we exited our classrooms was a
testament to our anxiety. We looked at each other with eyes that
said: "This is it." Quite a few of my fellow students
made plans to get high in the Village, as usual, but I fled to
St. Cecilia's on 106th Street. The church was filled with people
burning candles and praying the rosary. I did the same and later
gave thanks when the Soviet ships turned back and the crisis was
averted.
No doubt the synagogues were also filled with congregants lifting
their prayers to the Almighty that humanity might be spared
self-destruction. That is what people of faith do when things are
beyond their control. In my advanced years, I've learned that
worrying about things like the end of the world is a waste of
valuable time. Practically speaking, there's not much I can do
about it except to make sure that I vote for good and decent
people who can handle any situation. They remain in my prayers.
Somehow, faith has become a dirty word to those who think they
are wiser than we, while extremists at each end insist that we
are in a war against each other's faith. In truth, all people are
basically decent when they are born. Hatred and bias is a learned
trait. If I've attained any wisdom at all, it's due to my
experience as a mother watching my children and their friends
develop character and a sense of morality.
At a very young age, children are completely free of our
prejudices and unaware of our diversity. I discovered this in a
playground when my 6-yearold came over and told me he had made a
friend. I asked him to point out this new acquaintance, and he
said, "The girl in the blue dress." He knew the color
of her dress but not her skin, which was a deep brown.
Our neighbors back then were a large family of Albanian Muslims.
The elders wore the traditional head coverings, the adult
children did not, and the grandchildren played with and went to
the same parochial school as my brood. It's hard to imagine this
family harboring any terrorist ambitions, but some say Islam
sanctions the death of all infidels - and that means me! The
reality is that I live in America, land of the free, not in one
dominated by the kind of Islamic fundamentalism that advocates
the persecution of other religions. God bless America.
All Americans need to recognize just who is creating discord
among us. In this blessed season, many have become angered at the
immigration rallies and the Mexican flag-waving. What is not
being reported in the mainstream press is that the New York rally
and others were organized and controlled in large part by
International A.N.S.W.E.R, a communist organization that,
according to John Hinderacker of Powerline.com, has consistently
championed dictators like Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il.
We need to ensure that this country never forgets why we are so
richly blessed. It is that love of freedom that we should be
passing on to our children. Where we have been failing in this
mission is in allowing the creeping nihilism of demagogues and
Marxists to subvert what has made us a great nation ... under
God.
I wish you all a wonderful Passover and a Happy Easter.