recovering2 -7.8.25
seriously, I never knew a flu like this. my fever is now down, and I am beginning to be bored with doing nothing. We’ve been binge watching Clarkson’s Farm (that British reality star) all day and now we’ve got to the part where he’s sold his sheep and his cattle and he’s raising pigs. This may seem like a harmless series to watch when we’re waiting for 3 captives to be returned to us, but it brought me back to my father, who managed to get out of Danzig on the eve of the war, and on agricultural visas he went to raise pigs in England. i don’t know how long the stint lasted but he was somehow comforted by them. the fact that they would come to his window in the morning to ask to be fed must have brought him such comfort after being treated like an animal on the streets of Danzig and before that, Lida.
And it got me to thinking about how one gets to be dehumanized, how the captives could be treated like animals and murdered without a thought. It is not because the Gazans aren’t human beings, but because they were taught that we are not human.
How do you convince someone that you are indeed human when they are convinced you are not?
It sounds like you may have had COVID? I am glad that you are on the mend. I had COVID last August, and by the second day knew it was decidedly different…and quickly drove myself to the nearby hospital. Indeed, without testing…i knew. COVID was diagnosed and the course of Paxlovid followed.
So interesting about your father. I remember Louis, and his compassionate nature. It was a miracle that he survived all you mentioned…and what a remarkable man that he was able to overcome the unkosher presence of pigs, appreciating their morning greetings and needs!
Your comments concerning dehumanization are astute. It also seems to me that it begins with the evil lies taught to their children of a very young age. I heard this from documented and interviewed released hostages. One of the female hostages from last November shared about this from personal experience with the captor’s children. Yet she was able to survive by wittingly listening…and not accepting or mirroring their inhuman treatment of her. I found that rather profound, as she was only 15 (I think.?).
I fear the dehumanization of American citizens with the recent election of Trump and appointments to people like Musk. and Kennedy…allowing greed and grandiose projects for themselves to be primary, to the exclusion of the needs (including educational!) of average Americans, as well as the old, poor, and sickly. I remember how many people died from COVID during Trump’s first 4 yrs. A holocaust that could have been avoided, in my opinion.
Well ~ I’m not taking off my seatbelt just yet….