As Purim approaches I wish that I could defer to writing about total silliness but there is little in the world going on at the moment that I would consider silly. Every time I listen to the news in the car or come home and turn on the television I am terrified about what I might be hearing or seeing next.
We thought that living through the pandemic was unheard of enough, but it seems that the occurrence of the coronavirus perhaps pales in comparison to the atrocities and terror that are going on in the Ukraine and its neighboring countries. Bodies lying on streets, bombs hitting medical facilities where children, adults and expectant mothers (with their newly born babies or about-to-be-born babies) are torn out of the warmth and security of the hospital where they thought they would be safe.
What has come of this world? Obviously there is no way to consider Mr. Putin to be anything but insane. I keep asking myself why someone doesn’t take stronger action. Is there no one in his entourage who doesn’t realize the darkness of his mind?
Suddenly on the TV screen I see a group of violinists playing music underground in a shelter trying to relieve some of the stress that everyone is feeling. In another scenario Ukrainian opera singers were out in force on the streets of a city in the western part of the Ukraine singing the national anthem just a few hours after an attack on a military base that caused 35 deaths—not far from where they stood.
Pictures of an 11-year-old trekking for four days by himself with just a piece of paper in his pocket identifying who he is and the identity of the relatives who were supposed to meet him once he crossed the border. At least he had many that walked the same route with him. It was a reminder of the stories we have all read about young children, in some cases as young as 5 or 6, hiding in the forest at the instructions of their parents who were terrified and tortured by the Nazis and wanted to save their children if they were at all able to.
For the first time I can remember since they would each day report the number of local deaths from COVID on the news, I am once again hesitant to turn it on. I think that one of the reasons is because, as I mentioned in the past, I feel so inadequate sitting in the comfort of my home and not doing anything to help.
After all of the terror and despair going on in the Ukraine and in the many surrounding countries that have been inundated with those coming across the border, I did find some comic relief in a news story last week. Mayor Eric Adams feels vehemently that NYC school children should not be offered chocolate milk in the public school system. This report followed immediately after the horrors of the world were reported. Aren’t we lucky to be faced with such issues? I am not advocating for or against the health benefits of chocolate milk. In my role as a Bubbie I am known to be the “candy Bubbie,” so the mayor would for sure not want to have me as a part of his family. I just thought of the injustice in the world. In one part of the world, men, women and children are dying from war and in our part of the world chocolate milk makes one of the top news items. If it were not so profoundly sad it would almost sound like a Purim shpiel.
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
