Welcome Little Miss

The past week's been a bit busy around here. Not only is the kitchen still under "construction," but it's seems like my title Grandbitch...thanks to having a grandpuppy...has been superseded by Savta...Hebrew for grandmother. Last Tuesday afternoon, the first of our own next-gen came into the world weighing 8 lbs 4 oz, 21" long, and sporting a bodacious pair of lungs. 

Holding her for the first time, as my father said when holding the senior son for the first time, is like holding eternity. While my folks are counting the minutes until they get to hold her in their arms, I must admit to being sad that her Saba Ziggy is not here to tell her really bad jokes from the get-go, and that FIL just missed seeing her pretty little face by a couple of weeks. 

Chaya Zissel Braun (z"l)

At the same time we're celebrating, I cannot get out of my mind the image of tiny Chaya Zissel Braun (z"l) being held up in front of the Kotel in Jerusalem just moments away from being mowed down by a terrorist as her family waited for the light rail. Three months old, cradled snugly in her grandfather's arms, and murdered...not in a battle....not in a natural disaster...but in Jerusalem, a holy city for the three Abrahamic faiths. 

In some regard, this was no different from a homicide bomber blowing up a market in Baghdad or a shopping mall in Kabul or a mosque in Mosul. It was a man who believed that his faith required the murder of innocent bystanders and chose to kill in cold blood. What does it say about the world when large chunks of the population who share the same faith as the driver all too often share the same fate as the victims at the rail stop?

I can't help wondering about the world this shayna maideleh is going to inherit from us. Will she enter the kindergarten classroom by passing through metal detectors? Will there be clean water for her to drink and sweet air to breathe? Will she have to worry about carcinogens and pathogens in her food sources? The questions can be overwhelming and I have to admit, I didn't worry so much about them when the guys were born; I was too busy figuring out how to be a mother. But as grandmother? The enormity is stunning.

We are a week away from the midterm elections. I've stopped watching all commercial television because the ads make me want to vomit. All the ads. They are slick, stupid, and demeaning. They adopt the common parameter that Americans are too stupid to see beyond their slick-ass, sleight-o-facts, nose-growing, sound-bitten adverts to the real motivating factor....and I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that that's exactly the condition of We, the People: too stupid to see past the baloney.

How have We, the People, managed to allow a group of oligarchs to hijack our economy to a point were equal pay is not available for equal work, entry level jobs are not enough to keep a roof over one's head AND food on the table, the poorest of the poor are working multiple jobs without benefits or growth to keep body and soul together, and not see that this is an issue? How have We, the People, allowed every other first-world country on this planet to lap us in providing at least basic health care to our citizens? And how have We, the People, managed to put science on the back burner in favor of creationist nonsense and environmental deniers? 

And now, we're going to elect and re-elect these same guys who believe We, the People, are too stupid to live. We are going to send them back to Congress where they will lie, prevaricate, and steal from the American public. We will let them funnel cash from lobbyists while they vote to destroy our nation's water supply through fracking. We will elect them to represent us in those august chambers while they sell our jobs and our futures to the highest bidder to protect their own wealth. We will send them back to Washington where they will beat their chests about Ebola invading our shores while cutting funding to the CDC, trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and other national health initiatives. And We, the People will send back a raft of Congressclowns who refuse to pass sensible gun laws. 

So here's the thing. I'm a grandmother now. I have a vested interest in seeing this nation survive for another few hundred years at least. And I am not stupid....and neither are you.  Arm yourselves with the facts. Know who you are sending to Washington. Demand accountability from your elected representatives. Don't allow them to ignore or dismiss us. WE, the People, elected them, and they owe us. 

This video has been around, and while it's about gun laws, it really speaks to all the issues we face as a nation. Demand a plan. 

I posting this in honor of the birth of my granddaughter. 

I am demanding a plan. 

I am demanding accountability. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I am We, the People. So are you.

Now behave that way.