Happy Valentine's Day

 Today is a day filled with chocolate covered strawberries, red roses and perfume for loved ones. And while I enjoy the goodies, I've felt putting aside a day to celebrate love is like putting aside a day to enjoy a good meal. Every day deserves celebrating our loved ones, telling them we love them, and putting aside old wounds so they can heal.

As some of you know, I am writing a novel. Although it is a work of fiction, it also contains the love I feel for grandparents I barely knew, for their courage and love for a granddaughter they would never know. They saved me from a life of constant persecution because we are a Jewish family. Not that anti-semitism isn't alive and well in the United States because it is and always has been.

I attended a program recently on the current politics our country is enduring. There were excellent charts presented with percentages of the numbers of people who support Trump's agenda and those who are against it. 35% for 59% against. Someone in the audience asked how we can get that number who support Trump lower, to say 15%. Sadly, we can't for the simple reason that 30% of this country have always been racist, anti-semitic, hateful. None of that can change until leadership shoves it back into the bottle where it has been living since 1945. Trump popped that cork so it will take time to force it back. 

Here's a funny thought to keep in mind. If the Blacks and the Hispanics are responsible for causing all of our problems, why haven't they done a better job of protecting themselves from harm? If Jews control the media and the banks, why haven't they put an end to anti-semitic tropes? 

Today is a good day to eat chocolate, tell your family and friends you love them, and think positive thoughts about the future. The pendulum always swings back and goes a little further each time towards peace and love.