These are certainly very hard times for families in this situation. My own parents both died in 2006 - but it was probably 15 years before I found out my dad had died - last time I'd seen him I was 21. He had dumped his wife/my mother and me and my three sibs when I was 17 - last time I saw him I had dinner with him and my first wife shortly after we got married. Never heard from him again, and never wanted to. But we were raised Republican, and the first time I was old enough to vote, I voted for Tricky-Dick Nixon - AFTER Watergate. Don't think I ever voted Republican again.
But as kids we used to have HUGE Thanksgiving get-togethers with cousins from Pennsylvania and Maryland, traveling hours to wherever the dinner was being held. That stopped after my parents broke up, and I pretty much never saw them again. But around ten years ago I started being on Facebook, and through my younger brother Don - I think you know him, Jeremy - I got re-introduced to a couple of them on FB, one of whom was a female cousin who had been one of my closest friends as a kid. Her posts were pretty banal - mostly those annoying "If you're my friend, you'll copy/paste this on your page. I already know who will do it" type things that make me a little crazy. But when Trump first ran, she came out strongly for him, and after a while I just couldn't deal with her politics and annoying posts, so I unfriended her.
True confessions: I can't guarantee the reading and responding part *every* time. I have a pretty extensive list of subscriptions. But yours has risen to the top in one post, that's for sure. And I'm glad to know where to go when I do have the time to read.
Oh but of course! Reading and/or responding every time would be impossible. Substack is SO FULL OF GREAT STUFF. I just appreciate your response on this one. :) Thanks for the warm words!
This was very insightful, I decided to let a difference of opinion when talking about politics at after dinner be made silently on my behalf, I didn’t wanna argue and I wanted to respect the other persons opinion. Thanks for sharing. ✨
Thank *you* for sharing too, Asa. Trying to respect the other person's opinion, especially when you find it utterly mystifying, is a herculean task for sure.
This is well-said, Jeremy. We all have to set our boundaries, and yours sound wise. Sending you Happy Thanksgiving wishes from up here in Canada where we already had ours a month and a half ago, ha ha.
This is why I remind everyone it's OK to be against Zionism as a Christian, as many Evangelicals through deceptions of Dispensationalism have tried to die political Likud Zionism in with the gospel.
"As a Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity with a fairly wide set of historical books under my belt, it troubles me to see some hierarchs and channels following the world's narrative about "anti-Semitism" and all the things that have been done to "combat anti-Semitism." I'll tell you directly, as a 100% pure blooded Ashkenazi man, how to fix "anti-Semitism:" Anti-Semitism will end when faithless Jews leave other groups of people alone and stop trying to transform their nations and cultures in ways that invariably harm the populations in question. It is really not that complicated.”
I don’t follow how this pertains to my piece. Did I say something about Zionism? It’s been a while but I don’t recall a reference to that. Please clarify.
And I forgot to say - your writing is amazing Jeremy - I LOVE reading your stories.
These are certainly very hard times for families in this situation. My own parents both died in 2006 - but it was probably 15 years before I found out my dad had died - last time I'd seen him I was 21. He had dumped his wife/my mother and me and my three sibs when I was 17 - last time I saw him I had dinner with him and my first wife shortly after we got married. Never heard from him again, and never wanted to. But we were raised Republican, and the first time I was old enough to vote, I voted for Tricky-Dick Nixon - AFTER Watergate. Don't think I ever voted Republican again.
But as kids we used to have HUGE Thanksgiving get-togethers with cousins from Pennsylvania and Maryland, traveling hours to wherever the dinner was being held. That stopped after my parents broke up, and I pretty much never saw them again. But around ten years ago I started being on Facebook, and through my younger brother Don - I think you know him, Jeremy - I got re-introduced to a couple of them on FB, one of whom was a female cousin who had been one of my closest friends as a kid. Her posts were pretty banal - mostly those annoying "If you're my friend, you'll copy/paste this on your page. I already know who will do it" type things that make me a little crazy. But when Trump first ran, she came out strongly for him, and after a while I just couldn't deal with her politics and annoying posts, so I unfriended her.
Amen. I'm glad I subscribed, Jeremy. This is a great post.
Wow, thanks Jenn! For reading and for subscribing and for responding. Means a lot.
True confessions: I can't guarantee the reading and responding part *every* time. I have a pretty extensive list of subscriptions. But yours has risen to the top in one post, that's for sure. And I'm glad to know where to go when I do have the time to read.
Oh but of course! Reading and/or responding every time would be impossible. Substack is SO FULL OF GREAT STUFF. I just appreciate your response on this one. :) Thanks for the warm words!
You’re welcome. 😇
This was very insightful, I decided to let a difference of opinion when talking about politics at after dinner be made silently on my behalf, I didn’t wanna argue and I wanted to respect the other persons opinion. Thanks for sharing. ✨
Thank *you* for sharing too, Asa. Trying to respect the other person's opinion, especially when you find it utterly mystifying, is a herculean task for sure.
This is well-said, Jeremy. We all have to set our boundaries, and yours sound wise. Sending you Happy Thanksgiving wishes from up here in Canada where we already had ours a month and a half ago, ha ha.
Thank you, my dear Canadian friend! I'm always a little jealous when you guys get to Thanksgiving it up before we do. :)
Such wise advice!
Thank you, Amy! It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but I'm glad I finally did.
This is why I remind everyone it's OK to be against Zionism as a Christian, as many Evangelicals through deceptions of Dispensationalism have tried to die political Likud Zionism in with the gospel.
"As a Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity with a fairly wide set of historical books under my belt, it troubles me to see some hierarchs and channels following the world's narrative about "anti-Semitism" and all the things that have been done to "combat anti-Semitism." I'll tell you directly, as a 100% pure blooded Ashkenazi man, how to fix "anti-Semitism:" Anti-Semitism will end when faithless Jews leave other groups of people alone and stop trying to transform their nations and cultures in ways that invariably harm the populations in question. It is really not that complicated.”
– Brother Augustine (Michael Witcoff)
I don’t follow how this pertains to my piece. Did I say something about Zionism? It’s been a while but I don’t recall a reference to that. Please clarify.