Is Our Fear Making Us All Invisible? by Sherri Rosen
I cannot speak for all; I can only speak for myself. I have a bitter taste of being invisible. When I see what’s happening in our country, I ask if our fear is making us all invisible, returning us to darker days? All I ask of you is to ponder these questions!
We see the way things were, what was wrong in our national past, and now, we seem to be returning to the way much of it was. Is this what we want again? Are the billionaires going to control our lives by frightening us into blaming each other with bigotry for the problems those billionaires cause? Please, tell me who can fight the billionaires squeezing the life out of us?
The fear and blame have provoked a cruelty in our society. Yes, in some ways, we’ve experienced good changes. However, there are many of us who still hold onto prejudices, and many of our politicians are paid off or otherwise influenced by the very rich to keep us from being the uplifted America we deserve to be.
1. Before the 1960’s, most women were to be pretty, get married, have children and stay home. Today, despite all the hard-won progress in opportunities and attitudes, many women still find themselves defenseless victims, discriminated against at work, and treated as sexual objects. Do we women want the rights we have fought for to be taken away from us again? I feel like we are going backwards, not forwards.
2. After all the struggle and violence, after slavery and civil war, racism remains. Even voter rights won in the 1960’s are now being challenged. Huge numbers of Black men are imprisoned, often for light or even no crimes. Poverty is rampant. Education is frequently denied; segregation is returning. There have been so many forward movements for Blacks in this country. We have our first Black president! Yet, racism is still embedded in our society. We still hear racial slurs. Do we want to go back?
3. Immigrants — if you speak differently or wear the clothes of your culture, you’re treated as a lesser person. Is this the way we want to be? Shall we not allow rights for immigrants, they who help to make this country grow? Why do we shut them out of our culture
4. Many people still think that if you’re gay, you should go to therapy to get over it, or stay in your ‘closet’ and never come out. Rights for gay men and women have come a long way, but there is strong political activity to restrict them. The very improvement in rights, such as the right to marry, is highly provocative to many people. But we must go forwards.
5. If you are mentally ill, our society severely limits the time and money spent to take care of you. You can see untreated people on the streets. Perhaps talking to themselves, they make the rest of us uneasy. With our easy gun laws. some ill people get a hold of weapons. Not paying attention to people’s needs can, BOOM, lead to terrible tragedy, like the shooting of children in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
6. Overweight – ‘fat’ – people are judged harshly, not considered worth anyone’s time or interest. We honor super-skinny models. We are making headway in our attitudes toward the non-skinny. There is the idea that people of any size are part of our society and have every right to live a decent loving life. But our compassion to folks who are fat is often still limited. We need to realize that for many, over-eating is an addiction, not a choice.
7. Those who have cancer or are otherwise seriously ill, need all of our love and comfort. Instead, they may have the added stress of paying debilitating costs or even being denied treatment. Why are we folks so scared to be with sick people, as if it’ll rub off on us? We may be in their situation someday. We are particularly afraid of death and the dying. Why aren’t we taking the time to honor our people while they are alive, and why are we so frightened to be around the dying.?
8. We also don’t have time for the physically challenged. We’ve made improvements. but we need more accessibility for people in wheelchairs, and people who cannot climb stairs. Again, where is our concern for others?
9. ‘If I’m not getting old, I have no time for you.’ Seniors are such a vibrant part of our society, but we are trying to take social security away from them. Some end up just waiting to die, alone, not being taken care of with grace and dignity. Perhaps shipped off to a low-standards nursing home.
10. As much acceptance as Jews have gained over decades, I see a rise in name-calling and anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, there seems to be widespread ignorance of what’s happening, with enormous U.S. support, in Israel. Do we want the horrors of the past to be repeated? Why can’t we just accept one another?
11. The poor are often mistakenly seen never to be working hard enough. They somehow aren’t deserving of aid. Today, the programs to help them live decent lives are being taken away. It’s said that they aren’t working hard enough, they aren’t deserving. Why are we being so cruel? Where is our compassion?
I want us to fight back rather than to blame. I want us to take charge. I know that we can make this country great! If we accept that our difficulties are “just the way it is,” and don’t take a stand for ourselves, what does that say about us? I ask that we please not regress back further into our past. Instead, if we have faltered, let’s do something about it!
Sherri
Tags: african american, billlionaires, fear, immigrants, invisible, Jewish, NYC, politicians, publicist nyc, publicity nyc, Sherri Rosen Publicity Int'l, sherri rosen publicity nyc
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2014 at 10:19 am and is filed under Friends and Colleagues, jewish, racism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
