Je suis .... fatigue

En l'honneur des meurtres en France il ya deux semaines.

Serenity Prayer

GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,  courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;  

So this is what it has come to. I am citing a non-Jewish prayer written -- probably -- in the 1930s and used by everyone and their dog, including the Federal Council of Churches, the US Armed Forces and yes, Alcoholics Anonymous. Based on what I can see, each one of these groups still has more problems than they can count, so I am not sure it actually works. But frankly, as an Israeli, it is about the most sound piece of advice I can find.

I am tired of jumping out of bed every morning and slowly making my way to my computer and in turn, Google News, just to read that today is worse than yesterday.

I am tired of being of hated by total strangers who -- if they were being honest -- don't even know why they hate "my kind" but do know that whatever the reason, we deserve it.

I am tired of hearing that an international cabal of Jews are running the world and all of the pillars of its foundation. And if so, they are doing a lousy job of protecting their own people.

I am tired of having friends say that maybe they should have stayed in the US because life was better there. Better is such a tricky word. More money? Yes. More culture? Yes. Better shopping? Yes. More of a life with meaning? No way.

I am tired of belonging to a group of people who are apparently responsible for every last thing that is wrong on Earth. Poverty is Africa -- oh that was the Jews. Poor employment opportunities for uneducated immigrants in France -- that was definitely those pesky Jews. Sharks in the Red Sea (I am not kidding here) -- that was the Israelis (read: Jews). Genocide in Dafur -- you guessed it; the Jews. And my personal favourite ... earthquakes in Iran .... Jewish sorcerers! For those who don't know about the Jewish sorcerers, they are the same ones who turned the sea red in the story of Exodus. And despite all the finger pointing, some anti-Semite will then turn around and say that the Jews always want to turn the world narrative back to them. How can you suck and blow at the same time?

I am tired of having to worry about the men in my family wearing their kippot in places where kippot look more like archery targets than religious head coverings. I am sick of having to think about that, particularly in the middle of Canada. I expect it in Europe but Canada???

I am tired of being told by innocent (?) non-Jews that I am actually very nice and "not like other Jews".  I guess they are referring to the Jews who caused unemployment, initiated genocide, and trained sharks to kill Arabs.

I am tired of reading editorials that say Israel is pressuring French Jews to leave France and come to here. How can I say this nicely???? French Jews: stay where you are if you are feeling coerced to leave by Israel. If you cannot see the writing on the walls in your beloved France, asseyez-vous et fermer vos bouches. (How's that for sixth grade French?) But don't call us when the shit hits the fan and expect us to send our beloved soldiers to come and get you. If you didn't learn anything from Hitler, you surely won't learn it from Hyper Cacher.

I am tired of hearing that Jews are not better off in Israel. Granted it is not black and white -- because nothing with Jews is simple -- but it is overwhelming clear: we are.

I am tired of Israel not getting its due acknowledgement for all the decent things it does in this world. From emergency field hospitals in Haiti to under-the-radar life saving surgeries on Syrian casualties of war and family members of Hamas big-wigs.

You know I could go on here for a week, but I won't. Instead I am going to boil some water, make a cup of tea, find a cookie, stream a mindless comedy and recite the Serenity Prayer while I wait for the download to be completed.

That's it! I'm starting my own blacklist

(Spoiler notice: This is political in tone. For anyone who doesn't like when I am political, turn back now or forever hold your tongue and rolling eyeballs.)

I have been following the Anti-Israel thing happening at the Toronto International Film Fest with great interest. For one reason, I came from Toronto and I love to keep up with what is going on there -- particularly when it is pathetic and parochial because then I feel even better about not living there. I also like to think quietly (well, sort of) in my head: "Ah ha! I told you so!" That's for all the Jews in Toronto who like to tell me how tolerant Toronto -- and Canada by extension -- is.

But when I read the Toronto Star today I just decided that I had had enough of this stupid Israel bashing.

I always thought that film was about expressing one's self. I always thought it was an art form. (Don't start me on the "then what the heck are all those cheesy Hollywood movies doing?" I don't know.)

My sister (oh, she is going to luvvv this) has an MA in film from NYU. During the years that she studied film I watched some pretty bizarre little, super-8 film vignettes on my parents' living room walls. When they were over, my parents would just sit there so impressed with my sister's brilliance and I just sat there wondering what the heck I had just seen. How long can you watch a sad looked woman smoke a cigarette in her rundown kitchenette? (Answer: a long time)

Apparently I was not nearly as deep or broadminded as the rest of them. Either way, over the years, I have learned to see film more through my sister's eyes and as a result I have expectations of film and film people.

However, has-beens like Jane Fonda and Danny Glover (well documented friend of super anti-semite Mel Gibson) do not see it this way. Neither does Naomi Klein but we excommunicated her from the tribe years ago and she is just one of those all-around angry-intellectual types who thinks that her mental calisthenics make her better than other people.

I have no comment on film-makers John Greyson and Elle Flanders because I know their type -- lefties with little or no real information who simply "think" the world should be a certain way and without an ounce of on-the-ground facts to back up their thoughts, simply take a position. And of course it's an anti-Israel position -- those are the most popular positions to take. EVERYONE is taking that position. It's de rigeur.

Today Flanders commented in the Star that she wasn't opposed to the film makers but rather to what the Israeli government is doing. That's nice Elle you stupid shit. What has the government got to do with Israeli film makers? That's the most pathetic excuse I have heard to date.

She went on to say that in focusing on Israel, the film festival was ignoring the Palestinians. Okay Elle ... I guess it has to be spelled out for you. Either the spotlight was on Israel or it wasn't. And if it was, then the Palestinian Authority is not Israel -- unless you are in bed with Abu Mazen et al. Your comments would be much more palatable if you actually knew what you were talking about. You can't suck and blow at the same time!!!!

So much for film as expression or art. All bets are off if it comes to Tel Aviv or Israel. The film festival could show films made my Idi Amin, Hitler, Mugabe and the likes for days on end and there would be no outpouring of anger. But show a film made by an Israeli and it must be bad. The biggest joke is that most of the Israeli film makers are more left leaning than the average Israeli. They are more like the people blacklisting them than they are like me!

Therefore, I have decided to make a blacklist of my own. Unfortunately I cannot publish it here because it includes pretty much all the people on earth -- excluding the citizens of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. Brits are on my list. Frenchies are on my list up the ying yang. Mexicans and Venezuelans galore. The so-called neutral Swiss are there. So are all the ever-so-regretful Germans. The Morrocans, the Greeks, the list goes on and on and on. Oh, and of course, the Canucks. Thought I forgot them, didn't you? I didn't. They are the people who started this whole little pointless mess to begin with.

Ah ha! I told you so.