LET THERE BE LIGHT NOT DARKNESS

  Monday should have been little bit of domestic quiet. My grand-son-in- Law and 16-year-old great grandson have gone back to Ohio after a pleasant weekend. I now can catch up on the world. That is after I finished clearing the mess that is my computer room.

  Once again hatred and bigotry and fanaticism hog the news Politically there was the mail pipe bomber caught in Florida. His target was Democrats; anyone who spoke out publicly against Trump.  Last year it was a fanatic who targeted Republican Congressmen.

  Perhaps even more serious is the 67% increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in the past year climaxed by the Pittsburg Synagogue massacre.  It could be a coincident that Nov. 10 marks the 80^th anniversary of “” Kristallnacht” when the Nazis destroyed over 1500 synagogues in Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia; as well as many Jewish business and homes.  That some 30000 Jews were sent to concentration camps then; the start of the holocaust, which there are now active deniers, should be a warning.

   In the last few years there has been church killings of blacks by a white man; mass shootings of gays in Florida.  America has become a nation of hatred and violence in flamed by rhetoric of political leaders including our President as well as prominent religious leaders both white and black.

  Last year after Charlottesville, Trump stated that there were good men among the torch bearer righters led by a known black/jew hater, as well as those who opposed them. De facto condoning bigotry and violence. He ignored the fact that one had deliberately driven his car into a group of defenseless protesters, killing one.

  The day after the Pittsburg massacre, Vice President Pence was at a campaign rally in Michigan where Loren Jacobs, a Messianic rabbi who is affiliated with the group “Jews for Jesus” offered a prayer for and Pence as an invocation for the event.; at best insensitivity or perhaps an insult.

  Locally we have both anti-black and anti-white factions as well as anti-Semites; a very recent graffiti episode in Fanwood/Scotch Plains is an example.

  Gone are the days when no one in Plainfield locked their doors, and youths of different religions or races played together. 

  Today instead PONTUS would have us have armed security in places of worship and by extension any place where people congregate.  In other words, he advocates a police state as the solution, not correcting the causes.

  Hatred and bigotry are learned, not a genetically natural. Each one should not encourage youngsters by actions or verbally to hate. Instead at home in places of worship and above all in the schools where there should be active attempts to educate and discourage. 

   Our School system could take advantage of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s materials for schools.

 One week left before elections. We will be bombarded by negative propaganda. That should not discourage one from voting. Being a good citizen could reduce the wave of hate.    

 However, vote for the best possible candidate even if he/she is not of your party.