My Turn to Kvetch

Kvetch: an ancient Greek term meaning “to complain incessantly, but not to the level of bitching.”

A rainy day in Manhattan's Kips Bay

So, where to start?  Right where I sit is probably as good a place as any: a Manhattan dermatologist’s office on a rainy, windy, miserable day, wondering what that mysterious rash on the back of my legs may be.  The pain is yet to come.  No, not from the rash or paying for the visit—he’s worth every penny—but getting from the sitting to a standing position, for I’m also strapped into a back brace and leaning over like a politician trying to pick a school kid’s pocket. (Warning: Bitching Level Approach Alert (“BLAA”)).

I don’t need a doctor to tell me why that is.  It’s the residual effect of my Sunday night/Monday morning air odyssey into New York City.  The same one I first complained about Monday on Leighton’s blog.  Did you miss it?  Too bad, here are a few choice bits leading up to this kvetch:

“It was a dark and stormy night. Yes, last night surely was. And as I sat into the second hour on an otherwise deserted eastern Pennsylvania runway with 200 pilgrims from Minneapolis diverted by prudent flying (and wind shear) from reaching New York City, all seemed lost. We were in Allentown.  Billy Joel lyrics kept running through my mind.”

But it didn’t end there.  We finally reached NYC’s LaGuardia airport at two in the morning.  So did hundreds from other flights, all of them waiting in the rain in a line for taxis.  Godot would arrive sooner than my cab.  I’d been up since 4 AM Sunday and had to be up again in time for an 8 AM meeting, then another at eleven, and the rest of the day spent among lawyers, my former breed.

By the time I made it home from LaGuardia I had barely enough time to catch a few hours sleep before the meetings.  But I made it through them all without dozing off (too often) and was back in bed by eight…falling off to sleep, perchance to…

I never should have answered the phone.  “Jeffrey, where are you, we’ve been waiting since seven!”

OH, NO.  I’d completely forgotten dinner plans I could not miss.  It was with friends who’d shared extraordinary insights for my just completed novel, and were offering even more for the next.  So, forty minutes later I’m sitting on a barstool, and remained there for three hours talking, eating, and drinking.

Next morning my back said, “And just where do you think you’re going?”  For most of the day we negotiated over the subject of my being able to walk, but finally reached an agreement that allowed me to make my NYC book signing that evening at Greenwich Village’s Partners & Crime, provided I wore a corset-like contraption and popped ibuprofen like jellybeans.

The plan was a simple in and out and back to bed.  But, I should have known better, for no event involving Greeks, food, and wine ever ends predictably.  This one went on until nearly midnight, shifting venues along the way.

Today, I’m paying the price for dissolute ways.  My back’s out, I’m scratching like a dog with fleas, and wondering what in the world to write for my blog.  I feel as if a Kathy Bates Misery moment would be an improvement.  BLAA, BLAA.

Whoops, got to run, time to see the doctor.  I’ll let you know what happens.

Pause.

Ahh, relief.  It’s just poison ivy, contact dermatitis to be precise.  But how, you may ask, did I contract poisoned ivy in the middle of a winter book tour?  Perhaps touching up against some contagious sort of material in a book aisle?  Possibly, but I doubt it.  More likely it’s tied into a two-day break I took clearing brush at my farm.  Maybe I should consider this a warning to stick to writing and leave the chainsaw work to critics?

Office of the world's greatest dermatologist

Bottom line, all is right again with the universe because this super doctor is also a magician.   He made my back feel better and changed the outlook on my day with just a few simple words added to his poison ivy diagnosis: “By the way, Jeffrey, I loved Prey on Patmos and am a big fan.”

How little it takes to cure a writer of kvetching.

Jeff — Saturday

Welcoming the Manhattan Mosque

Word has come down that a City Commission has cleared the way for a Muslim Group to build a mosque in a Manhattan neighborhood close to the former World Trade Center site.  The commission voted 9-0 to deny landmark status to a 152 year old building that has little artistic, architectural, or historical value -- other than it is 152 years old.  Had any other use been proposed it would likely not have been a big deal to tear it down, but since it's near (a couple of blocks away) the WTC site it became a symbolic point of contention for those who seem intent upon defaming Muslims.  The argument stated in support of landmark status was that it had been touched by debris from the 9-11 attacks, but as a member of the commission noted that applies to hundreds of buildings on Manhattan.  The rationale for landmark status was simply a cover for an ongoing anti-Islamic campaign.

In conversations with Muslim friends, they continually express dismay that they have been linked with Osama Bin Laden and with extremists.  They reject categorically the rhetoric and the actions of these extremists, and yet their statements continually get drowned out by those who wish to put all of Islam into one basket. 

As I noted the other day, while I find the statements of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich unfortunate, it's not surprising since it fits their "Christian America" focus.  What I found most disheartening were the statements of ADL head Abe Foxman.  Foxman is quoted as saying in an interview with the New York Times:

“Survivors of the Holocaust are entitled to feelings that are irrational,” he said. Referring to the loved ones of Sept. 11 victims, he said, “Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.”

Here is the head of a group, the Anti-Defamation League, which was founded for the purpose of opposing this very kind of thing, saying that the anguish of loved ones entitles them to positions that are irrational and bigoted.  But its not the families whose bigotry is at issue, but the bigotry that is present in the broader public.  This isn't about the anguish of victims loved ones, this is about politics, and right now being anti-Muslim will, at least in some quarters by you votes.  This is why I am so dismayed that the ADL has chosen to align itself with such a tide.  As Mark Silk points out, in his statements Foxman has allied himself with the very people who connect all Muslims with 9-11, by suggesting that building a mosque, one to be opened by a moderate Islamic group, would cause anguish to families of survivors. 

We will not get beyond hatred and misunderstanding as long as we remain committed to stereotypes (something that I taught as a project coordinator for the ADL's "No Place for Hate" program I was charged with exposing).  If there is no place for stereotypes that lead to hate in our communities -- as I consistently maintained in that role -- this includes stereotyping Muslims and espousing hate against them.   So, as for me, I welcome this mosque, especially since those who are opening it seek to bring dialogue to the community.

They're Going to take over! -- Anti-Muslim Political Rants

Who would have thought that the decision to build a mosque in Manhattan, a block or so from the World Trade Center site, would take on a national political spotlight.  But, as we know, none other than Sarah Palin has twittered her opposition, and created a word of her own in the midst of the tirade.  Now, I really don't care about Palin's use of the word "refudiate."  The accurate word would be "repudiate," but that's the least of our problems.  It's easy to ridicule Palin, but all that seems to do is endear her more to people across the country -- the ones Palin calls "real Americans."  "Real Americans" are, as you know, Christians.  More specifically conservative ones -- the ones that Richard Dawkins has determined are to be considered real Christians as well.  

Newt Gingrich chimes in by saying that there should be no mosques near ground zero as long as there aren't churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia.

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

My question is -- when did a theocratic/autocratic country set standards for the United States.  I thought that this was a free country, where we are free to practice our faith as we please.  Would Sarah and Newt think it okay for a church on that site?  If so, then how can you discriminate against Muslims who wish to have a place to worship in Manhattan?

Now, I'm not naive -- there are terrorists out there who are Muslim.  There are also Muslims who dream of a world empire.  But there are Christians with the same dreams and attitudes.  But, anti-Islamic rants and policies will do little to bring down the tensions or promote peace.  They do little to enhance the American reputation as a place of freedom and opportunity.

Of course, these are politicians and they are appealing to people who have been lead to believe that a Muslim horde is about to descend.  Demagoguery of right and left has always worked well, especially when it has played on religious fears.  Remember 1960 and the fear that Jack Kennedy would get his marching orders from the Pope?  Now, there is a play on the fears that seem to infect a near majority within the Republican Party that the current President is a secret Muslim.   Plant the fears now and you don't have to be overt with attacks later when you're a candidate.

But, according to Newt, the Islamists are bent on taking over, and thus destroying our society.  Consider this:

America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization. Sadly, too many of our elites are the willing apologists for those who would destroy them if they could.

It is unfortunate that we are at this place in time.  But, with the nation at war in two Muslim countries and provocative behavior coming out of several others, you can see how this is problematic politically.  But, I'm not a politician, I'm a pastor and a theologian.  My greatest concern is that we are failing in our call to love our neighbor.  So, can't we stop the rants?!  I say now is the time for Americans to recognize the genius of the nation and embrace the freedoms placed in the Constitution that protect religious expression.