 SEPTEMBER 10 • 2020 | 5

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Watch Out!

letters

D

ear Readers, if you 
saw the title and 
immediately thought 
that I was requesting you to 
check your timepieces then 
I have you too 
conditioned 
for puns; I am 
sorry.
Rather, I 
would like 
to draw your 
attention to 
precarious situations that 
have led to colorful expres-
sions in our daily talk.
If you have ever just gotten 
by in a situation, then you 
have done so by the skin 
of your teeth. You had to 
watch your step because you 
realized you were on shaky 
ground.
Dealing with people who 
you know are overly sensitive 
may make you feel that you 
are walking on eggshells to 

interact with them.
Been living dangerously? 
Then you have experienced 
many a close call or close 
shave. You may wonder what 
caused you to stick your neck 
out, but you made it and 
lived to tell the tale.
There are many situations 
in which the outcomes may 
be touch and go. You may 
have found yourself on the 
edge of your seat or worse, 
playing with fire. Was it too 
late to remember to look 
before you leap?
Sometimes you find your-
self walking a thin line or 
skating on thin ice. Do not 
add fuel to the fire by inter-
acting with someone known 
to be armed and dangerous, 

or your life may hang by a 
thread.
This does not mean that 
you must approach life afraid 
of your own shadow. You 
can bite the bullet and try to 
be more adventurous. If you 
come out unscathed, then 
you have dodged the bullet 
and can live to fight another 
day.
In situations where you 
are hanging on for dear life, 
there is little consolation in 
knowing that only fools rush 
in where angels fear to tread.
Take strength from the 
words of Franklin Roosevelt: 
“The only thing we have to 
fear is fear itself.” Just do not 
forget that I warned you to 
watch out! 

Sy Manello
Editorial Assistant

guest column
It’s Time to Show Up
I 

was a sensitive child. 
After I learned about the 
Holocaust as a young 
child growing up in Israel, 
thoughts and images of peo-
ple being tor-
tured and mur-
dered by the 
Nazis because 
of their race, 
religion, sexual 
orientation and 
political beliefs 
kept me up 
at night. I felt deep horror 
at these thoughts and was 

consumed by them to the 
point where it seemed like I 
could almost feel their terror, 
their pain. As I lay awake, my 
father would try to reassure 
me by saying, “These things 
happened a long time ago, in 
a land far away.” 
Today, I lay awake at night 
again. This time, I am hor-
rified by thoughts about the 
Black lives injured and lost 
to racism and police violence 
every day. The words of my 
father, “a long time ago, in a 
land far away,” do not com-

fort me as they no longer 
apply. This is happening here. 
Now. 
The systems of American 
society continue to normalize 
and justify the brutal killing, 
systemic imprisonment, and 
structural disadvantage of 
Black and brown people. And 
up until recently, many of 
us, including myself, chose 
silence. Instead of struggling 
to find the “right” words to 
express my deep sorrow and 
horror about those horrify-
ing, infuriating, senseless kill-

continued on page 6

Yifat Clein

Post Office Feedback
One paragraph stands out 
in Andrew Lapin’
s column 
“The JN and the Post Office” 
(Aug. 27). Lapin noted, “On 
Aug. 12, President Trump 
confirmed in a TV interview 
that he was deliberately seek-
ing to underfund the agency 
in order to sabotage mail-in 
voting this November.” 
 And so I ask our Jewish 
Trump supporters, how can 
they support someone who 
boasts of this egregious act?
No need to list Trump’
s 
many flaws. This ridiculous 
scheme shows he is immor-
al and unethical. What a 
pathetic role model for our 
children and grandchildren. 
Regardless of your allegiance 
to the Republican party, 
please rethink your vote for 
president. 

— Edith Broida

Farmington Hills

Regarding two Aug. 27 
articles: “The JN And the 
Post Office” and “Protecting 
Postal Services Is a Mitzvah,” 

the Post Office is losing bil-
lions of dollars of your tax 
money every year and the 
Postmaster General is look-
ing for ways to stop the hem-
orrhaging of your tax dollars.
Is that how you manage 
your personal finances — 
running a deficit every 
month?
More than 14,000 mail-
boxes were removed by the 
Obama administration to 
save the Post Office money. 
Where was your “gutting” 
and “dismantling” then?
Regarding: “Find out what 
you can do locally to help peo-
ple get their absentee ballots 
to their clerk’
s offices” — I 
suggest every one of us con-
tact JSL and other elder care 

continued on page 8

