For the People of Mississippi

Vote for values on Tuesday. What really matters to you? Is it the color of someone’s skin? The political affiliation of someone? Where someone lives? How someone worships? The words someone spins to get your vote?

What matters is who you are becoming. The kind of person you are becoming. The kind of person you want to become. The kind of person you want others to remember when you are gone.

Who are you and what matters most to you? Do your actions reflect your values? What values do you want to pass along to your children? Is the world you have known really a dangerous and nasty place? Or, have you witnessed many acts of kindness, understanding and tolerance that testify to the beauty of creation?

Have a listen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0y-vO9QLE 

A Capitalist Manifesto

A Capitalist Manifesto

Those with money, buy things; those without money do not buy things. That is how a capitalist views the divide between haves and have-nots. Alternative views are possible. Those with money eat while those without money eat little. Those with money have medical care; those without get little medical care. Those with money get an education and jobs, while those without get little education and find minimal wage jobs and temporary employment.

But that is not the real story. It is not an arbitrary divide between haves and have-nots. The new capitalist manifesto is more nuanced. Those with money buy things. Those with lots of money buy expensive things. Those will little money buy essentials, while those without money buy nothing. The new capitalist manifesto is aimed at marketing. If you want to make big money, sell to those with lots of money and sell expensive things, such as expensive homes and cars, major real estate properties, and so on. Don’t try to sell to those with little or no money. The profit margins are not favorable. Buy low and sell high is being replaced by buy a lot and sell a lot higher to those who can afford to pay, regardless of where they live or where they are from.

T. S. Eliot had it right in “Chrouses From The Rock:”

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

…

All men are ready to invest their money
But most expect dividends.

…

The desert is not remote in southern tropics
The desert is not only around the corner,
The desert is squeezed in the tube-train next to you,
The desert is in the heart of your brother.

My brother, Dr. Daniel Earl Spector, died a week ago. He understood those words of T. S. Eliot. Danny was a scholar. A staunch defender of members of the armed forces even though he was a principled pacifist, opposed to most wars. He was a Middle East scholar who befriended Muslims and wanted to see peace in the Middle East while preserving the right of Israel to be a homeland for Jews in a still-troubled world of intolerance. He was a Jew who told me before my Bar Mitzvah that people around the world still persecuted Jews, and I should be aware of prejudice that persisted long after Hitler, Goebbels, and Eichmann were long gone. 

As a teenager he participated in the bus boycotts after the famous Rosa Parks event. He supported the civil rights of everyone. He was guided by values rather than by profits or money. He was a career civil servant and historian for the US Department of the Army. He did not accept the capitalist manifesto – not the new one nor the old one. He believed everyone was entitled to an education and basic medical care. He valued and loved family and friends and they valued and loved him in return.

What we need is a new humanist manifesto rather than a new capitalist manifesto.

I think that Danny was like Lawrence Ferlinghetti who said in “I am Waiting” that he was

,,, waiting for the American Eagle to really spread its wings and straighten up and fly right.

Danny was such an Eagle who showed us how to straighten up and fly right.

Thanksgiving 2018

Today is Thanksgiving, and I am home alone. I am thinking of my brother, Dr. Daniel Earl Spector, who passed away Friday night, less than a week ago. I was with my brother during his last days. The evening he died, his Rabbi, Lauren Cohen, came by the house for a visit and she and Danny’s wife, Esta, and I decided to say a kiddush with Danny. The Rabbi had selected several readings as well to read to him that evening, After saying the blessing over the wine, I managed to give my brother a small taste. He was semi-alert and most probably knew and understood what we were doing. A few hours later he was gone. His funeral was Tuesday.

What I have to say today, this Thanksgiving day, is thanks for my brother. What I learned during my visit these previous days was how much Danny affected so many people in so many different walks of life. He loved his wife, Esta, of more than 50 years. His son Warren, stayed close to home, especially after the tragic loss of Danny and Esta’s daughter, Susan, and their only grandchild, baby Connor, in a housefire some years ago. In spite of that tragic loss. Danny, Esta and Warren all managed to maintain a positive outlook on life and performed countless acts of kindness for others after that tragic loss.

Danny was a scholar – a historian. He worked as a historian for the US Army’s Chemical School for a number of years. He was a deeply religious Jew – deep in the sense of understanding the traditions of our father, Rabbi Joseph Spector, and the forefathers and many Talmudic scholars. He knew a great deal about Middle Eastern history and formed a close friendship with the Imam of the local Muslim community. I noticed a copy of the Koran and the Book of Mormon in his extensive library.

The Rabbi who had visited Danny his last night performed the ceremony at Temple Beth El in Anniston, Alabama, along with the Imam who made remarks about his close friendship with Danny as did a Christian Chaplin friend. Danny was revered by leaders of major religious groups. 

He was a talented gardener, an active member of the book club in Jacksonville, Alabama, a frequent contributor to the Anniston Star, a history teacher at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Troy State University, a frequent invited speaker by many different groups, a scholar with expertise in many areas outside the Middle East (his PhD) and China (his Master’s degree), the civil war, and the history of war (with a record number of entries in the Sage Encyclopedia of War); even though he was a committed pacifist he maintained close friendships with many members of the Armed Forces and always held their service in high regard.

He maintained a personal library in his home with close to a thousand books. He loved animals. His many friends from so many different walks of life came by the house and came to the funeral in Anniston and the gravesite ceremony in Jacksonville. It was such a humbling experience to see how much he was loved and to be reminded how much he loved during his 75 short years.

I am so thankful for my brother.