Prayer is A Call to Action, Pt 2
November 30, 2012
*Watch an early – November 7th – VIDEO Investigation, Temporary Housing for SANDY victims . by Jim Hoffer
My Dear Ones Out There
It is now November 29.
I intended to resume the previous post, Prayer is a Call to Action, Pt 1, a day later. But it is now three days later.
Something has intervened to delay me. And in retrospect, it is as if angels have soundlessly and invisibly sent me a directive: Change your Approach.
Picking Up NOT Where I Left Off
For some reason, a memory came up for me.
I recalled comments I heard from family elders When I was growing up.
Whenever someone – not themselves – really ‘messed up’, they would not get angry or loud. They would instead just shake their heads, and say ‘what a Chelm thing to do (or say)!
And their eyes would crinkle with amusement. Their lined faces would take on a younger mien as they smiled.
Or – when the stupidity or inefficacy of the action were REALLY Major – as they burst into a loud Belly Laugh.
I soon learned that the village called CHELM was what learned historians of Jewish Humor calls “an entire imaginary city of Chelm populated by dimwits”.
The writer, William P. Lazarus, provides an insightful comment for the origin of this humorously constructed City of Fools:
“There, powerless and impotent to fight back, they used the only weapon readily available – their wit
They created the Polish joke – an entire imaginary city of Chelm populated by dimwits.”
As the name ‘Chelm ‘ popped into my consciousness, I realized that this was a comic inspiration, sent from some place, Up High.
In a flash, I saw the term
‘PREPAREDNESS FOR Hurricane SANDY‘
as a prime example of CHELM-like behavior, a cause for applying irony, satire, and caricature, rather than scathing censure.
Whales are Playful AND Smart
Whales and dolphins remind us that the comic is not always an expression of the Schlemiel – the lovable but inept Comic Hero of Jewish folklore.
But unlike the whales, the inhabitants of CHELM, or ‘Chelmers’, are foolish, foolish to the nth comic degree.
Here is a scholarly comment on what is at the heart of each CHELM anecdote:
“The Chelm story is an example of good intentions, which in the reality of life, become transformed into their opposite.
[…] with laughter over the Chelmer actions, we guard against the routine that transforms our action into the opposite of that which we wanted.”
Yes – it is hilarious when deeds taken with the most benevolent intentions literally bounce back – ricochet – smack into our own nose! Slap Stick comedy thrives on such dramatized ‘surprise’ end results to our benignly intended deeds.
I believe, however, that for you to truly enjoy the Comic Bunglers who inahbit CHELM, I must give you a first-hand taste
“In Chełm, the shammes [caretaker] used to go around waking everyone up for minyan (communal prayer) in the morning.
Every time it snowed, the people would complain that, although the snow was beautiful, they could not see it in its pristine state because by the time they got up in the morning, the shammes had already trekked through the snow.
The townspeople decided that they had to find a way to be woken up for minyan without having the shammes making tracks in the snow.The people of Chełm hit on a solution:
they got four volunteers to carry the shammes around on a table when there was fresh snow in the morning.
That way, the shammes could make his wake up calls, but he would not leave tracks in the snow.”
Can you see how comic it is when people mess up royally ?
Especially, when they are running the Next town, nor ours 🙂
Mayor BLoomberg Chelm-like Statements – Vs the Reality
On October 27, Mayor Bloomberg issues a ‘confident’ Press Release.
President Obama asked Craig Fugate from FEMA to call me earlier in the day and offer any help. I assured him that we had, we think, everything under control but we appreciate the effort. What FEMA really can do is to help those parts of the country that don’t have all of the extensive facilities and agencies and practice that New York City does. But I did want to thank them for their offer.
Oh, Really? 🙂
Compare that Chelm-like assurance to the following VIDEO of reality on the ground. WNYC Radio’s reporter Stephen Nessen captured weekly images of survival, resilience and a community bound for rebirth; AND immense difficulty, pain and suffering, too.
In the same Octobrt 27 Press Release, Mayor Bloomberg went on to say with great ‘satisfaction at a job well done’:
So if things are the way it’s planned and if everybody does what they’re supposed to do, we will get through this very nicely and look back on it and say maybe we can offer some help to other parts of the area upstate or below us, south of us, which might get hit a lot harder.
Oh, Really ? 🙂
This ‘ain’t we great’ speech does not exactly match the the actuality The Wall Street Journal describes in this VIDEO.
In the VIDEO, You again get an Up Close and Personal view of how really ‘effective’, ‘speedy’ and ‘productive’ were the New York City Post-‘SANDY’ recovery efforts.
My Dear Ones Out there, please humor me –
I cannot resist giving you one more juxtaposition – or clash – between Mayor Bloomberg rosy view of the conditions in SANDY-ravaged areas, and the real – and grim – actuality.
On November 9 – ten days after SANDY – NYCHA’S HOUSES in the worst-hit areas, such as Far Rockaway, were still dark, cold, without electricity, hot water, or heat. Sometimes with no cold water, either.
The New York Times, quoting the Mayor’s assurances of a quick relief to the Far Rockaway inhabitants, comments directly on the Mayor’s Chelm-like over-optimism, regarding the speed with which repairs will get done; and what is the real situation ‘on the ground.’
“By tonight or tomorrow, Every One of their buildings will have electricity, and by early next week they will all have heat,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Nov. 9 — a promise that was off by more than a week. “So that’s a group that we did have to worry about but now do not have to worry about.”
Oh, really ? 🙂
The same New York Times investigative report sums things up this way:
An examination by The New York Times has found that while the agency [NYCHA] moved aggressively before the storm to encourage residents to leave, particularly those who were disabled and the needy, both it and the city government at large were woefully unprepared to help its residents deal with Hurricane Sandy’s lingering aftermath
THE NEW YORK TIMES continues to contrast the reality with the Mayor’s ‘wishful thinking’ announcements:
The city, which did not enforce its mandatory evacuation order, could not assess the medical needs of residents stuck atop darkened, freezing towers until nearly two weeks after the storm. It relied on ragtag bands of volunteers who quickly found themselves overwhelmed by the task of reaching, comforting and caring for trapped residents. And the seemingly simplest things, like towing portable lighting towers into the Red Hook public housing complex, took 11 days, all because the housing authority had not properly prepared for a major disaster.
Isn’t life a Hoot ?
The DEEP Structure of the Chelm Story
I hate to be a spoil-sport – or a spoil-joke.
But there is something in the following, very learned, discussion, that lays bare some of the deep roots of the typical Chelm Story.
It underscores what Linguists say: that a DEEP STRUCTURE accounts for why sentences totally dissimilar in their ‘surface’ form, nevertheless mean practically the same.
To use the Linguistics and Structuralist term, a ‘Deep Structure’, which informs the Chelm fable, also lies beneath both the commissions and omissions, which have been so flagrantly present in the so-called ‘Preparedness Planning‘ that preceded SANDY.
THIS paragraph – which analyzes our Chelm Story – seems to fit our own situation Post-Sandy VERY, Very closely.
“When Chelm wants the fallen snow to remain fresh and unwalked upon, this is certainly a good wish. […]
However, the fathers[leaders] who are equal to realizing this wish are unnatural [irrational] and, therefore, comedic.They are unnatural [irrational] because of the chain of logic among them.
The Chelm storyteller asks: Who disturbs the snow? The answer is: The shamas (the synagogue beadle), who is the first to go out into the street, in order to wake the residents for religious services.
The answer is logical and correct. However, this logical truth misleads the Chelmer on a detour to illogic.
Because if the shamas disturbs the snow, we must find a way that he will not do it. […]The solution that four people should carry the shamas is in itself again logical.
However, it becomes illogical in connection with the first impulse for the first action – the wish that the snow should be entirely undisturbed.”
Or, to use our own contemporary terms, the CHELM-ers fail to take into account that actions – and omitted actions – have consequences in the 3-dimensional real world.
They do not ask themselves ‘if we do A, or if B happens, what will the results be’ ?
Or,
‘if we do’nt do C, or if D happens differently than we expect, what will be the results?’
The Chelm-like failures to even imagine some of the actual results or Fall Out for expected events and planned actions – or in-actions – are very comic;
when they are read in a story or even viewed in a film.
In Chelm, as well as in New York City, with all good intentions in place, the outcomes are mayhem and folly… 🙂
Mayhem and folly are very entertaining.
Yet, in actual reality, the truly Comic or Funny element are the Figures of the Decision Makers.
For your pleasure, here is a Visual image for that kind of ‘illogic’.
*****
NEWLY ADDED RELEVANT LINKS
* ERIC LIPTON and MICHAEL MOSS, in New York City Housing Agency – NY Times Investigation, “Housing Agency’s Flaws Revealed by Storm.”
*New York Magazine followed the NYCHA topic in “Public Housing ‘Woefully Unprepared’ for Hurricane Sandy”.
*New York Magazine also published pictures daily, under ‘The Daily Intelligencer’. ”
In their words,”As New York began its recovery from Hurricane Sandy last week, our photographers were out capturing both the shocking destruction and how people were adapting to this strange, new, darkened city.
Click through the slideshow for a look at life inside the powerless capital of the world.”
The Slide Show from that Portfolio, What We Saw When the Lights Went Out: A Portfolio From Hurricane Sandy,
can be found HERE.
*New York Magazine published a Cover Article on November 4, The City and the Storm.
You can find it HERE.
*Associated Press gathered information for “NY Mostly Ignored Reports Warning of Superstorm”, By By MICHAEL GORMLEY | Associated Press.
You will find many pictures here, too.
*The Wall Street Journal dedicates a continuous collection of articles exposing the failures and omissions of FEMA.
*The Wall Street Journal, again, reports of “Paid-for Hotel Rooms Sitting Vacant“,
while hundreds of ailing, elderly, or disabled individuals remained locked for weeks in cold, dark, high-rise apartments,
with no electricity, hot water, heat, or, sometimes, any water at all.
Imprisoned, in effect, in the numerous NYCHA Houses in the worst hit area, like Far Rockaway, Red Hook,+ Lower East Side.
*For more visual reporting, here is “The Weekly Flickr – Hurricane Sandy“.
In it, after Hurricane Sandy devastated Breezy Point in Queens, NYC, WNYC Radio’s Stephen Nessen captured images of survival, resilience and a community bound for rebirth – along with images of suffering, loss and pain.
* * *
In Addition, entertain yourself with some
Fun Videos
Do Not Call Ghost-Busters — Call Team Rubicon
Contrast the CHELM-ish actions of the city departments, responsible for providing emergency services to victims of disaster; with the practical steps taken by the TEAM RUBICON, a 2-year old group of USA military Veterans; who came to the aid of Far Rockaway.
VETERANS DIG THE ROCKAWAYS OUT
In the past, when the civilian commanders were in over their CHELM- ish heads, “call the marines” used to be the slogan.
Now we need to quickly call Team Rubicon.
As WNYC tells us,
“Team Rubicon is a two-year-old group comprised of military veterans whose mission is to get boots on the ground faster than traditional aid organizations.”
You are cordially invited – if the tech goddess is with me today – to watch a video of Team Rubicon in action.
The Video’s very revealing caption reads
“Team Rubicon Leads SANDY Relief in the Rockaways.”
I guess we now know what our official leaders were NOT doing 🙂
You may also enjoy
LOOK HERE FOR MORE VIDEOS FROM WNYC !!!
* * *
=================================
Some Useful Early Information Coverage Links
Finally, I want to give you several links where you can get ‘unfolding-up to the minute updates’ of the events immediately following SANDY. The facts they contain will make scream in rage, or cry in despair at the inability or unwillingness of New york City Mayor and Administrators to fully come to rescue of the weakest and poorest residents, who were most devastated by SANDY.
NICK PINTO, in the Village Voice, was raising the alarm about The Disaster Distric as early as October 31.
He continued to blast the paralysis of the so called ‘NYC disaster relief plans’ on November 7, in “Sandy, Occupy, and the City’s Failures”.
Nick Pinto underscored the continuing impotence of NYC plans and executions in a Front Page article in the VILLAGE VOICE, “Hurricane Sandy is New York’s Katrina – Floods, Fear, and FEMA Failures,” which I have cited before, on November 10.
TELEVISION+ PRINT:
SEE ALSO – WNYC NEWS
TELEVISION NEWS ALSO BROADCAST the information as early as Nov 5.
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I have just been reminded – by a dear online teacher – of several added blessings from all over the world, which I include;
along with celebratory wishes for Christmas, Hannukka, Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Aum Namah Shivaya, Happy and Merry Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmastide, Joyous Christ Mass, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2012 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
Filed in Abraham Joshua Heschel, Br'er Rabbit, CHELM - Comic Versions of Ineptitude, Coexistence, Comic UnPreparedness, COMMUNITY, Disaster Area, Far Rockaway, FEMA, Flickr, Flickr Portfolio, Helping the Helpless, Humor +Laughter Have Power, Hurricane SANDY, Lovable Fool, Mayor Bloomberg as Comic, New York City Housing Authority ., New York Magazine, NYCHA, Prayer, Red Hook - Brooklyn, Schlemiel, Slide Show, Staten Island, Team Rubicon -veterans, the Not so UGLY American, the Rockaways, The Wall Street Journal, WNYC Radio, WNYC TV
Tags: A Comedy of Errors, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Aum Namah Shivaya, BR'ER RABBIT, Celebrate Life; Daily Gifts, CHELM, Chelm Imaginary Town of Dimwits, Chelm-like, Comic Ineptitude, DEEP STRUCTURE, Devotion, Failure to Consider Consequecs of Actions +Inactions, Good Intentions w. Disastrous Results, Hannukka, Humor as an Antidote to Despair, indeed, Inter-Faith, Kwanzaa., Mayhem +Folly due to Chelm-like Choicess, NYCHA'S Failures to Prepare+Respond Efffectively, Patch Work Cuilting; Spiritual Journy, Photographs of SANDY's Effects NYC, Prayer +Thanksgiving, Prepareness - for what ?, Resilience of those Most Hard-Hit by 'Sandy', SCHLEMIEL, The Village Voice, Video(s), Well Intentioned but Useless Acts, What 'Preparedness' ?, What We Saw When the Lights Went Out