Processing The Holocaust Pain

This is a sensitive topic. But it happened. And it still is a major source of pain. We treat childhood trauma. Can the Holocaust pain also be processed? I almost mean to ask a medical question. The Jewish collective memory goes back thousands of years. They go back far like the Chinese. Something that happened a little over half a century ago must feel like yesterday to the collective Jewish psyche if only because they have a rich history going back thousands of years.

Because New York City means so much to me personally, I have come to visit and revisit this question of the Jewish identity. If I am going to love New York City, I might as well love all of it.

How do you process the pain? Do you process the pain? Is the pain there? I can't imagine the pain not being there. The Holocaust must feel like an emotional cliff. If you are Jewish, and you go down the memory lane a few decades, you fall off the cliff. People who connected you with the deeper past were massively gone. Had they disappeared any other way, the cliff would still have been there. But you know what happened. So there is the cliff, and there is the pain.

If it bothers you in a fundamental way, you got to deal with the pain. How do you process the pain?

What happened, how you felt, what happened, how you felt, what happened, how you felt?

Because it is a collective sort of pain, the therapy also has to be collective. It is not designed to erase the memory of the crime, or to say you will not feel pain. The memory will always be there, the pain at some level will always be there. But that pain does not have to be debilitating. If it is, you got to process the pain.

(1) Learn as many details as you can about the crime. Read, watch.
(2) Express the rage. Talk, shout, yell, cry, hug.

I have to talk about something as graphic as the Holocaust. I have selfish reasons to do so. Because then I have to go on and draw attention to the Global South as is. I would not use the term Holocaust. A deliberate, sophisticated state machinery carried it out. But there is an ongoing "Holocaust" going on in the Global South. Deaths to stupid violence, petty disease are staggering in number. But it is not state, rather the absence of state that has people dying like flies. And the process of curing will be slow. It takes time to bring democracy into a country, to build a state, to create wealth.

We already know what to do. We have to go and do it. The internet makes it possible for people anywhere to collaborate and contribute to people in the far corners of the earth. The internet speeds up the process. If it were not for the internet, I would feel too guilty to stick around in New York City.

You create political space. You create wealth.

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Not Going To Ohio

Going To Ohio

I have not heard anything yet from campaignvol -at- dl21c -dot- org so I guess I am not going. Looks like they are not big on cash. Or the bus filled up. Or whatever.

I guess I might try hard and hop on one of the other buses, there are so many groups going, but I will pass. This was going to be retail politics. The minor logistics were getting at me. Socks? How many?

Somebody needs to stay back and monitor the national situation online for Barack. That would be me.

Obama calls for a cool-down Los Angeles Times, USA Cleveland, where the biggest storm of the winter is forecast to dump 8 inches of snow on the city.

The Real Super Tuesday

Tuesday, March 4
7:00 pm
Super Tuesday II: Ohio/Texas Primary Returns Party
Tonic Bar & Lounge - Times Square
727 Seventh Avenue (at 49th Street)



In The News

Obama and Clinton clash in debate on health care Reuters
Obama Momentum Picks Up With Dodd Endorsement Voice of America
Strike grips south Nepal for 14 days Xinhua
All new railroads lead to Bihar Economic Times
Senate Democrats Focus on Economic Cost of War New York Times
Clinton, Obama Debate in Ohio The Associated Press
Clinton still leads Obama in Ohio, but by smaller margin Los Angeles Times 47% to 39% .... The 2006 photo showed Obama dressed in Somali tribal clothing while visiting the western part of Kenya ..... "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed," Williams said. "Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."
Clinton goes for broke as Obama rises in polls The Observer Blog
Clinton wonders about the debate process Los Angeles Times
Cleveland debate is final chance for Clinton to woo March 4 voters Guardian Unlimited a desperate attempt on Clinton's part to keep her presidential hopes alive. ...... even her prevalence among Democratic women voters has been eroded, with both candidates now standing neck and neck at 45%.

New National Polls: Obama gaining ground Boston Globe 54 percent of Democratic primary voters say they would prefer the party to nominate Barack Obama while 38 percent prefer Hillary Clinton. ...... 50 percent said they would support Obama to 38 percent for McCain, while respondents were split evenly, at 46 percent each, when the choice was between McCain and Clinton. Obama gained ground within nearly every sector
Clinton campaign starts 5-point attack on Obama International Herald Tribune a "kitchen sink" fusillade against Obama, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday ...... sharply worded, attention-grabbing contrasts with Obama. ..... by going negative against Obama at a time when polls in Texas and Ohio show a tightening race, Clinton risked alienating voters ..... her hard-edged instinct for negative politics has usually turned off the public. ...... a photograph of Obama in ceremonial African garb appeared on the Drudge Report, and the item's author, Matt Drudge, claimed that the image was provided by a Clinton staff member. ...... "engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party." .... Clinton drew widespread attention and praise at the debate last week for saying she was "honored" to be on the same stage with him.
Poll Finds a Fluid Religious Life in US New York Times
US is still overwhelmingly Christian, study finds Los Angeles Times
Protestants Verging on Becoming Minorities U.S. News & World Report
Obama Wins Over One Ohio Voter The Associated Press she liked "the atmosphere, the aura, the honesty, the comfort I felt."
Don't Be Quick to Count Out a Clinton The Associated Press Clinton's campaign is looking more and more like the Titanic ...... it never occurs to them to throw in the towel. There's no 'What's my graceful exit strategy?' They don't have that gene ..... Along the way, the Clintons proved themselves to be tough street fighters. ...... In 1990, when Gov. Clinton faced a strong re-election challenge, it was first lady Hillary who crashed a news conference held by the opponent and undercut him with documents showing he had praised Clinton's performance as governor. ........ "They are smart and they're fearless, but they're not reckless." ..... By mid-1995, the Clinton presidency was in free fall. Internal polls found that two-thirds of Americans ruled out voting to re-elect him. Aides cringed when Clinton felt compelled to insist at a news conference, "The president is relevant." ...... "The one thing you can almost always say about whatever situation you're in is that you've seen worse. So they don't get rattled. They have a much better perspective about how to deal with difficult days."