Jeff, I do not
often agree with your political point of view but this story entitled
above and linked below touched my heart and I found myself crying at the
end. Knowing how rancid Russia has historically been to its Jews it
would be unthinkable that they would have allowed what our military did
for Elihu Schimmel that is for all its Jewish soldiers stationed in the
arctic that year to pray on this holiest of days of the Jewish
calendar.
No
matter how divided we are politically I believe the heart of our nation beats
strong and for that I am grateful. I had the occasion last evening to
watch the CNN special "Inside North Korea" to see the remarkable
difference between life in western style nations and the tyranny that is
North Korea. North Korea is an Orwellian authoritarian's dream. Its
populous, strictly controlled, never dare to voice opposition to a
leader whose sanity is in question ready to take his nation in a split
second to war that would kill hundreds of thousands if not millions. He
is wide-eyed smiling at each rocket launch and especially proud of his
nuclear weaponry. The people say in rote manner that the enemy is the
United States and they are taught this nearly from birth.
An
accident of birth placed me here and I thought at a very young age how
wonderful it was that I could say anything to anyone, question
everything
without a knock at the door in the wee hours of the morning to take me
away to a destination unknown. Those who dare in North Korea to
challenge their government it is said by experts among the few who have
seen that nation up close end up in special prisons starved or beaten to
death because they dared question their "divine" leader Kim Jong-Un.
Kim Jong-Un smiles with glee at the thought that a nuclear weapon could
take
out Guam, Japan, South Korea and even go as far as Chicago to unleash
the atomic bomb's horror on innocent people.
I think on Robert Oppenheimer's serious quote when the first nuclear bomb was dropped. He said:
“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few
people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the
Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the
Prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his
multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of
worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”
It
is in serious contemplation of our nuclear world's scientific
information that has been unleashed into the hands of democracies and
despots alike trying to get hold of its payload that could eliminate
life on earth as we know it that I wish for you, all of our nation and
its allies during this serious time of year a safe and sweet new year as
well.
