August 8 • 2019 5
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A
ccording to poet Robert Frost,
there are, “Miles to go before
I sleep.”
Those who are runners are familiar
with many different mile-runs that
can be found as challenges. Those of
us not as athletically
inclined will use the
term “mile” often in
our speech. There is
something about that
distance that makes
it useful for exagger-
ation or just to help
someone envision a
great distance.
Two actual mile measures are 1)
the nautical mile, which is 2,025
yards measured at sea; and 2) the
Royal Mile, which is found in
Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the road
that has Edinburgh Castle at one end
and Holyrood Palace, the Queen’
s res-
idence, at the other.
But let’
s start talking common uses.
If you are a dedicated worker, you
may be described as willing to go that
extra mile to accomplish something.
When presenting your findings,
however, do not talk a mile a minute;
you’
ll lose your audience.
You say the mistake was only a lit-
tle one? Remember that a miss is as
good as a mile. If you are way off the
track, you may be said to have missed
by a mile (Often it is said to be by a
country mile.). You and an adversary
may be miles apart in your thinking.
Do you want to really understand
someone? You are then advised to
walk a mile in their shoes. (You lit-
eralists may keep your comments to
yourselves.)
If you want to encourage someone
to begin something, but on a small
scale, remind that person that, “
A
journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step.” Do not let anyone
take advantage of you; be cautioned
that if you give an inch, they’
ll take a
mile.
In traveling, have you ever felt you
were miles from anywhere? Yet you
may spot your destination a mile off.
Get there before someone else and
you have won by a mile.
Here is a riddle in closing: What is
the longest word in English? Answer:
“smiles” because there is a mile
between each “s.” ■
for openers
Exaggerate Much?
Sy Manello
Editorial Assistant
A
s a liberal Manhattan writ-
er and teacher, I applauded
the House vote to condemn
President Donald Trump’
s comments
that Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and
Ilhan Omar should “go
back” to where they
came from.
I was outraged by
the nasty language
Trump used to encour-
age a mostly white
Republican crowd at a
North Carolina cam-
paign rally to chant
“Send her back!” It seemed ignorant
because three of the congresswomen
were born in this country; Omar was a
Somali refugee who became a U.S. citi-
zen in 2000. The racist words sickened
me, and Omar had my solidarity and
sympathy. Until she reacted to the rare
show of Democratic unity in repudia-
tion of Trump by ramping up her own
racism.
A day after supporters cheered her
at her hometown airport in Minnesota,
Omar told CBS’
Gayle King she had no
regrets for her past anti-Semitic slurs.
She’
d tweeted that Israel “has hypno-
tized the world. May Allah awaken
the People and help them see the evil
doings of Israel,
” and that congressional
support for Israel being “all about the
Benjamins, baby,
” perpetuating stereo-
types about Jews, money and influence.
She stepped up her position, pushing a
pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
bill against Israel.
A left-wing Jew, I know it’
s possible
to be pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, for
peace and a two-state solution, as I am.
You can criticize Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’
s settlement pol-
icies and not hate everything Hebrew.
I’
ve denounced Trump’
s slander against
black, Latino, gay and trans people,
immigrants and Islamic countries, and
co-authored a book on the horrific
Muslim genocide in Bosnia. Yet I’
m
stunned that blatant bigotry against
Jewish people somehow gets a pass.
“The BDS movement is, at its heart,
intent on the destruction of Israel,
”
said Deborah E. Lipstadt in her book,
Antisemitism: Here and Now. Indeed,
BDS co-founder Palestinian Omar
Barghouti is opposed to recognizing
Israel as a Jewish state. You can’
t get
more racist than saying an entire peo-
ple should cease to exist. After I pub-
lished an op-ed against NYU’
s involve-
ment with BDS, I received a threat-
ening postcard in the mail at home.
Someone had cut a picture of my head
and pasted it onto a pro-Palestinian
protester. The Anti-Defamation League
was not surprised by the intimidation
tactics, common for BDS. The United
States and Europe have shut down
30 BDS accounts with links to terror
groups.
While I understand college students
taken in by the underdog myth, older
leftists seem indifferent to BDS propa-
ganda that pretends to be about Israeli
government. BDS masks the kind of
commentary
Don’t Counter Racism with Racism
Susan Shapiro
continued on page 6