#BringThemHomeNow

Sep 19, 2010

America: Much to Grok

America: Much to Grok
Rabbi Menachem Creditor

I'm not entirely sure what this short reflection is. On this bizarre
trip to Philadelphia, for my dear friend's father's funeral, having
literally run out from Ne'lah to run pell-mell to catch a flight, here
I sit in a Dunkin Donuts off 95North, somewhere. It probably doesn't
matter which 'where' it is.

Something strange has happened. It is, perhaps, a phenomenon unique
to Berkeley, or perhaps simply the life I've crafted for myself, but I
feel bombarded by meaninglessness. Fox News blaring in a
factory-generated store, with obesity everywhere and (it seems to me)
only recent immigrants working behind the counter. I'm just not used
to this any more. Not the copycat franchise, not the obvious
class-system, not the explicit-yet-subliminal filtering of news being
'offered' at every turn...

This is less my political revulsion to a Murdoch worldview, and more
the confusion of having so much stimulation in what could be, should
be, (and is, for me, usually) an invitation, or at least an
opportunity, for conversation, encounter... something real. Yes,
Peet's (which I frequent) is a franchise, but the 'noise' there is
human voices... A cacophony of response...

For now, I'll have my everything bagel with chive and hazelnut coffee
and pray that something I'm eating is real.

Much to grok.

--
Sent from my mobile device


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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom <http://www.netivotshalom.org> || Bay Area
Masorti <http://www.shefanetwork.org/bayareamasorti> ||
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