Day: August 17, 2016

In the year of Trump, I am challenged to re-discover some things I had long ago put aside and have not had to confront much in my good and  life. I was much too busy messing up my life to be a patriot, or consider the very special meaning and idea of liberty.

The Year Of Trump, a surprising and disturbing year in so many ways, has made me think about liberty and what it means to me.  Mr. Trump has also forced me to confront in some ways the Jewish part of me, something I have never much identified with or come to terms with.

Some peoples – African-Americans, the Irish, Jews – have a particular DNA when it comes to certain ideas, words, sub-texts and language, this is almost a physical response to hatred and bigotry.

There have been many holocausts and much suffering by many peoples – no one has a monopoly on persecution –  but Jews have some finely attuned antenna that seems to rest deep inside of their bones. I am finding that this is true of me.

It’s not in the brain so much, it’s in the body. We always know it when we hear it.

We Americans often forget that liberty is a new idea in the civilized word, it was not really even mentioned until the 1600’s, not fully attempted until more than a century later. Until then, the world was ruled by monarchs, the notion of individual freedom was inconceivable. That  is why our Revolution was so special.

Aristotle wrote about liberty much  earlier, he said it was the freedom for a man do live as he wants.  He compared freedom to slavery, prevalent in the world in his time. That idea  of liberty holds up for me.

In 1689, John Locke was one of the first people to argue that the law of nature obliged all human beings not to harm “the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”

I read almost every work Locke has ever written while writing about the New York Carriage Horses and I was stunned to discover that the mayor of New York City, tainted by too much real estate and animal rights money, was trying to take all of these things from the carriage drivers. He failed.

This passage from Locke is considered one of the foundation stones of the classic democratic notion of private property as a natural right which all individuals have, and even more important, the corresponding duty of citizens to respect the equal rights of others.

A century later, the philosopher Edmund Burke wrote to a young Frenchman and offered  his definition of liberty.

“…of all loose terms in the world,” he wrote, “liberty is the most indefinite. It is not solitary, unconnected, individual, selfish liberty… The liberty I mean is social freedom. It is the state of things by which liberty is secured by the equality of restraint. A constitution of things in which no man, and no body of men, and no number of men, can find means to trespass on the liberty of any person, or any description of persons, in the society. This kind of liberty is, indeed, but another name for justice…”

By restraint, Burke explained, he meant treating fellow citizens with dignity and respect. And restraint. We were all, after all, after the same thing: the right to live our lives in peace and freedom.

These two different notions of liberty were debated and embraced by our country’s founders, their ideas are all over our Constitution and government.

Liberty is not mentioned much in the presidential campaigns by either candidate. In  fairness, I define liberty this way for myself: the right to live my live freely, the right make decisions about my body and my health, the right to die as I choose, to work where I want, to worship in peace and privacy,  say what I wish. On Facebook and in politics, that is still a right one often  has to fight for, but it is worth fighting for.

I would not generalize about Jews, I don’t really know that many.

But I do think my people have a special sensitivity to the idea of restraint and the individualist notion of the natural rights of all of us to the unfettered enjoyment of their, liberty, and property.  Jews have a lot of experiencing reading language and discerning meaning and motive.

My grandparents had never encountered the idea of “liberty” until they washed up at Ellis Island, it was nowhere in their history. They simply assumed that one day someone would come for them, and for me.

Is Donald Trump dangerous? Yes, I think so.

I am not one of those people who would blithely compare Donald Trump to Hitler, although it is increasingly whispered by some. No one is comparable to Hitler, there is no one like him, hopefully there will never be anyone like him.

But people who pay attention to their history know the power of language and lies, and know how simple it  really is to stir frightened and angry and ill informed people to do things once unimaginable, to cross boundaries never before crossed, to use language never before used, to utter lies never before believed. Donald Trumps will come and go, the demons they unleash and encourage will live on for a good long while.

Nightmares do come true, even I, so far removed from Jewish ritual and community, know that, it is buried in my genes.

And they are restless in the Year of Trump.

Burke wrote that “liberty” is the natural enemy of evil, and evil is most often practiced by rootless and powerful men, Kings and demagogues.

The moral philosopher Hannah Arendt, who spent much of her life studying the roots of evil, wrote about the idea of “rootless evil,” which she said, is the most dangerous kind. The greatest evil is not radical, she wrote, it has no roots, and because it has no limitations, it can go to unthinkable extremes and sweep over the whole world.

Liberty, she also argued,  is the most powerful barrier against evil, because it requires conscience and restraint and limitations. If we are to guarantee the freedom and liberty of others,  and have it for ourselves, then we must restrain the systems and people with power. We must treat others with dignity, even those who disagree with us.

The mayor of New York City was restrained in his overreaching efforts to destroy the lives and way of life of the carriage drivers, people chose the idea of liberty over the idea of money.

If the mayor does not personally, in my mind, rise to the level of evil, taking away the liberty and property of his subjects comes pretty close.

That’s why I wrote about it for two years.

Threatening the freedom and happiness and natural right to liberty is evil, the idea –  not necessarily the person – whether it applies to people driving carriage horses or refugees fleeing to our homeland for safety and liberty. I don’t know if Donald Trump is evil or not, I don’t know him, but the whiff of evil is all around him now, it is a scent that a lot of noses can detect.

When a political figure encourages supporters to chant “lock her up” when a political opponent is mentioned, he is literally seeking to take her liberty away, it is no longer figurative or metaphor. When political leaders do that, that have crossed a line drenched in horrid history.

Morality, Arendt wrote, moral judgment is about the simple acts of thoughtfulness and memory. The person who  remembers and who thinks will take care to avoid behavior he will regret and knows are wrong.

In granting a pardon for evil behavior, it is the person and not the crime that is forgiven. In rootless evil , there is no person left whom one could forgive, there is no desire to be forgiven.

In the year of Trump, I embrace liberty, still one of the best ideas the world has yet seen. And my protector.

I was touched by the thought and work Scott put into my birthday gift, he bought me two blueberry bushes and insisted in digging the bed and planting them himself. I joked that I would rather have a new camera than some plants, but he just laughed and shrugged.

We are happy to have two new blueberry  bushes and Scott labored in the hot sun for awhile to get them ready for planting, he takes these things very seriously. He dug a wide bed (he didn’t want the plant to compete with grass; he made sure it was neat and straight, he checked the soil and laboriously turned it over,  and lectured me for awhile about their needs and care, and about watering and mulch.) Maria will care for them, I said, and I will water them.

She was at lunch with the Good Witches when he came, she roared into the driveway, got into her boots and started digging.

Afterwards, I invited Scott into the farmhouse for some watermelon and cold water.  We talked for an hour, a rare thing in our busy lives. I thought about how this friendship has endured and grown, when so many in my life has not, and I wondered why that was so.

First, I thought we are honest with one another. We have no fear of speaking the truth, even when we know the other won’t like it, or perhaps, accept it. I can say anything to Scott and he can say anything to me.

Secondly, there is acceptance. Scott accepts me, he told me someone working in a store in town had mentioned that I got his name wrong, and I said I get everybody’s name wrong, the person complaining was probably a jerk. When I saw this person next, I would make sure to mispronounce his name.

Scott, who never says a bad word about anybody laughed, and said, Jon this is why I love you. I smiled at that, because this is perhaps why so many people do not love me.

I think you have to like a friend for it to work. If you don’t, that will always come out.

Then, there is trust. When I came  home from Open Heart Surgery, Scott drove up to the farm every day at lunch – his busy time at the cafe – to bring me food, which he brought and left inside the kitchen. I never asked him to do this, he never mentioned it to, he brought me food every day until I told him I could drive and then he stopped.

No one has ever done a thing like this for me.

There is respect. We both work hard, are creative, obsessive, fanatically committed to our work, which we do just about every day, all day. We have little time for friendship, yet we always managed to find time for one another. I respect the way he lives his life, I believe he respects the way I live mine.

And understanding. Scott and I both began our lives in the same way, in a murky cloud of abuse, neglect and conflict. We both have lived past that, we do not let it define us, we do not define ourselves in that way. But we are also a tribe, and we know and understand one another when we meet. We share a common experience that is binding.

When we are in trouble, we talk to one another, we listen to one another. We do not try to run the other’s life.

And also, perhaps finally, for now (is love.) I love Scott, his unfailingly generous spirit, his passion for creativity, his openness and passion for change and experience.

Scott, like me, wants to do everything right. All the time.

It is not possible, but he never stops trying.

I think those are some of the elements that make our friendship work, I am not sure there is anyone else in the world who would come to my house with a birthday gift he had to spent an hour digging in the hot sun. It is almost as good as a camera. Much love, Scott.

Support for Maria’s planned trip to India in February to teach liberated sex trafficking victims how to make potholders and fiberworks has taken a major leap forward, her Indiegogo.com campaign  to raise $6,000 is now live.

She is offering a number of rewards for contributors.

Other good news today, she has been offering a matching grant by a socially conscious arts foundation to support her trip to India. If she raises $2,000 over the next 48 hours, she will receive an additional $1,000 in matching funds. The organization has asked to remain anonymous.

Maria has been asked to go to Calcutta (now Kolkata), India to teach the victims of sexual trafficking how to make potholders and other art to help them rebuild their lives and earn a sustainable living. She will leave in February.

The trip is expensive, we estimate it will cost in excess of $6,000 to travel to India, for the flights, hotel, food and other expenses, including gifts. We are confident we can raise the money, from ourselves, and with some outside help.

Yesterday, we asked readers of our blog for their support, they  can send checks to Maria/India Trip or Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or contribute via Paypal – [email protected] is her ID – or contribute through Indiegogo.

That site accepts Paypal and major credit cards, and can reach beyond our own very generous communities. We will, of course, keep you posted on the progress we are making. Maria is adamant about keeping the goal to $6,000, I believe she will need and use more than that.

She is committed to making this trip and helping the sex workers of Calcutta, she has been invited by an Episcopal Minister who helps run a socially conscious touring group that helps women in need in Africa and India.

It is especially touching that this trip was sparked by her hardy and popular potholders, which helped her launch her life as an artists and keep her business afloat during some difficult times. Maria loves her potholders and is committed to offering them inexpensively as a way for people to be able to afford some art.

She is overwhelmed to see where they may lead here. We are committed to this cause and this trip, this week she will pay the $500 registration fee, apply for a visa and begin researching the cost of flights to and from India.

Thanks so much for helping, you can see her Indiegogo site here.

My good friend Scott Carrino bought me two blueberry bushes for my birthday, and he insisted on coming over, digging a bed, planting them and supervising the watering. For some reason, Fate was transfixed with the hole after I watered it, I think she wanted to jump in or dig it up.

We planted the bushes along the side of the house, out of donkey and pony range (they ate the bushes in the pasture). Scott is a good friend to think of this, it took him nearly an hour to get the bed dug and prepared, we dumped three bags of mulch onto the bed. I am the waterer. I love all the gardens, trees, vegetables and flowers sprouting all over the house.

Maria cried this morning when she looked at her e-mail and saw that some very good people had sent her more than $500 for her trip to India while she slept overnight. “I don’t deserve this,” she said, “sometimes it frightens me.” And it also inspires and exhilarates her.

I see the light in her eyes when she sees how much people care for her and support her.

(If you want to help Maria get to India today,   you can contribute directly to Maria/India Trip, Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or  you can contribute via Paypal – her ID  is [email protected], or wait until her crowdsourcing page goes up on Indiegogo later this week, and thanks. She needs $6,000 to get there to teach the victims of sex trafficking.)

That is part of Maria’s journey, in the time that I have known her she has grown every single day, from a person who did not believe she deserved anything, or was worth much of anything, to a gifted, loving and increasingly confident artist and human being. I have greatly benefited from this strength and sense of self, and so have many others.

People who are not strong might hesitate to go to Calcutta, one of the poorest cities on the earth, to teach the victims of slavery and persecution how to make art. She has never been outside of the U.S. She never blinked.

Maria has transformed the humble potholder into a powerful symbol of the power of art to transform, she has been invited by a socially responsible tourism group to go to Calcutta, India this coming February to teach potholder-making and other fiber arts to women in Calcutta, victims of the deeply embedded sex trafficking syndicates that thrive there.

Some of these women have been slaves for years, and are eager to learn new ways for them to make a living and take care of themselves and their children. Maria is deeply touched that she was asked to teach them how to make potholders, the launching point of her art, the making beautiful things out of discarded fabrics.

She wants very much to go, of course, and we both believe she must go. This is a lifetime opportunity.

We were sobered by the cost, which will easily exceed $6,000 as we tally  up visa, registration, travel, supplies, vaccinations, gifts for the women there,  food and hotel, fabrics and materials and other expenses. My role is to help talk through the details and implications. She wants to give something back to every person who contributes, and I imagine she will.

She also needs to keep her own art going and deal with the loss of revenue she will experience in terms of preparation, teaching and the aftermath. This week, she is planning to launch a crowdsourcing campaign on Idiegogo.com, details to come.

She decided to ask the readers of our blog and members of our community for help first, there is an intimacy and inspiration to that.  Community means a great deal to us. People seem eager to support this cause, it is perhaps the most moral of any that I have been involved with, I will help in any way that I can.

And I can’t quite think of a better cause. Maria lights up when she thinks about teaching these women how to make a potholder, what a simple yet powerful idea. It could change their lives.

People who wish to contribute before the crowdsourcing, or who would rather contribute to her directly can send checks to Maria/India Trip c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

I told Maria she needs to remind herself every day as this support comes to her that she is deserving of it, she has worked hard for it, she will do good with it in every way. I told her to imagine coming back from India with boxes of exotic fabric that could re-shape her art for years, if not forever.1

I have seen the love and generosity and courage of this wonderful woman for some years now, I could not begin to list her good and loving deeds, her love is a light that warms almost everyone around her. I told her she does not need to be a saint to be worthy, she just needs to be herself. Thanks for your support. Details to come. Maria/India Trip, c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.