Here’s where we can talk about all the terrible things going on in the country, like we’ve always done, but for gosh sake don’t talk about why.
Perhaps we can just offer thoughts and prayers.
It will be a challenge to pretend.
Watching the crowd at the area of the synagogue right now. They are singing. It’s incredibly moving and heartbreaking.
Thank you, @garland . I’ve been thinking about the profound cowardice of an armed attacker whose victims are unarmed - in a church, in a school, at a performance or other public place. When I can think at all. Are there even any words after so many of these tragedies?
Cowardice is epidemic, isn’t it.
Thank you for starting this thread.
It is a challenging time for us all but even more for our kids and young adults. :-&
Looking for and supporting helpers is important so they can grow and spread.
I was sad that the other post got closed so am glad you opened this one.
I’m very sad. It was during a baby naming. Heart breaking
Feeling the need to do something, no matter how small. Have tried looking into HIAS and the 501c3’s profiles are positive (four stars/90%+ ratings.) Does anyone know a reason why a donation to HIAS wouldn’t be a good idea?
I donated to them today. Tree of Life’s involvement and four stars from Charity Navigator, were enough for me.
This one seemed to hit me more. Probably because I know people who live in Squirrel Hill. My son and dil live in Pittsburgh albeit no where near Squirrel Hill. We were visiting him on Monday.
My D’s friend is going to be a rabbi. We were so lucky to be invited to her brothers bar mitzvah. All of my friends that were there said it was the best bar mitzvah they had been at because of the family’s faith and enthusiasm for the ceremony.
The family I know is ok. But a family just like them isn’t as lucky.
Thanks for letting me ramble on.
So horrifyingly sad. Can’t wait until the election is over. Counting the days.
Last year in one of the proudest moments in my career as an attorney I had the opportunity to work with HIAS on an amicus brief to challenge Trump’s first travel ban. That HIAS’ valiant work with immigrants and refugees was cited as a reason for the synagogue attack today just further breaks my heart. HIAS has assisted refugees and immigrants for more than 100 years. Their mission statement is “Welcome the Stranger, Protect the Refugee”
I’m having trouble with the Pittsburgh shooting because I haven’t even processed the mail bombs yet. I saw Sayac’s name in a headline and couldn’t remember who he was. It’s all too much.
As an adult who has seen and lived through so many community and country wide tragedies, my head is reeling from the events of the past week. My heart hurts and I am angry. I have also lived long enough to see communities pull together and uplift each other in amazing ways.
Talking with my teens at home and DD at college has been eye opening. When I look at their timeline of understanding and the only world that they know, things look really bleak. The Columbine shooting took place when my oldest was a newborn and these tragedies have become all to common since. School shootings (from Amish one room schoolhouse, SandyHook, Parkland, Virginia Tech, and the hundreds others – no age level seems immune), concert/night club shootings, house of worship shootings, lock down drills since they’ve been in elementary school, bombings (at sport events, community events, mail bombs), poisoned water, dozens of 100 year storms, devastating forest fires, extreme flooding. The world seems angry to them - the physical world and the human world. Tragedy after tragedy in communities all over the country. It is hard for them to see the rally and all the love that helps to heal because the next horrible thing happens. They don’t see the adults stepping up and keeping them safe or making the changes necessary to prevent these tragedies.
@bamamom2021 I worry about the younger folks a lot. My D is giving birth next month: what kind of world will this little one grow up into? It rallies me to do what I can to oppose the bad and support good, but as you say, with the environmental stuff, our efforts feel so futile.
However, at eight months pregnant, D still continues her canvassing job, knocking on doors and talking one on one with people about important issues. She is indomitable, so I need to be, too.
The slaughtering of innocent people simply because of their faith has shaken me to the core. I am scheduled today to attend a luncheon honoring a friend who is active in our Temple sisterhood, and I am a bit afraid. It is beyond upsetting to have to feel this way, even if the risk is low.
“Talking with my teens at home and DD at college has been eye opening. When I look at their timeline of understanding and the only world that they know, things look really bleak.”
@garland What’s interesting is that my mother said that’s how a lot of people felt in the late 1960’s. She had children later than her friends and was happy that her children ( me and my siblings) were too young to be affected the way their teenagers were. The list of horrible things included a string of almost unremitting pointless wars…Korea, Vietnam…when young men were being drafted, the assassinations of John F Kennedy Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the constant threat of nuclear war, so many young people protesting and getting involved with drugs, the Kent State massacre, the Manson family murders etc…
By the time that we were the age of her friends children things felt “ calmed down” she said which was something she was greatful for.
I try to remember that when I’m thinking like you do.
Not only is this difficult to process because it comes on the heels of the mailed bombs, but locally we had an 8 car crash in front of the high school at dismissal on Friday. A 62 year old woman sped into the cars so fast, that she flipped her car. The car most significantly impacted had three students in it. One is dead and another is fighting for her life. It’s too much.
Both daughters went to Pitt, and we enjoyed eating at many restaurants in the squirrel Hill community. It’s a very peaceful, upscale community to drive through.
I’m numb.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
This comment (which I deleted) is an example of why these threads end up getting closed. Avoidance of such phrases will help keep the thread open. If compliance with the forum rules is an issue, then perhaps save your writings to draft instead of hitting “Post Comment.” Please refer to the OP’s original message: