We Seem Normal Until We Speak

September 14, 2001-Aussie Racism

People are sympathetic and want to know if we’re from New York City. The mood here can only be described as racist. The Aussies haven’t been happy with Muslims, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, etc. who’ve been admitted through their open doors. Now they have a reason on which to base their xenophobia. I’m not in agreement with them. Too many immigrants have enriched too many societies. I’m also not in agreement with those who advocate unbridled hate and violence. I do believe in retribution, but I need to know that the target of that retribution is the guilty party. My patience is at an end. The U.S. has been long suffering and slow to anger. I don’t think this is a time for talking, patience, or negotiations. They’ve had decades. Their time has run out.

We couldn’t bear to turn the TV on this morning. We finally took a look this afternoon. While you all were sleeping, we tried to catch up on what is old news to you. We heard rumors of a declaration of war from Congress, but it wasn’t verified. We learned of leads as to the identities of some of the hijackers. We watched in amazement as they told of the heroic efforts of the passengers on the United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. Australia has asked its people not to take out their anger on the Muslim community in general. We all know Arabs, Christian and Muslim, who are as appalled as we.

Wendy will be flying to Portland at the end of the month. What could we say to her? We would get onto a plane tomorrow ourselves. We will not be held hostage.

Normalcy?

On a lighter note, there’s a campaign at the shopping malls to urge everyone to be sure to lock their cars. Evidently they have patrols that randomly check to see if drivers have complied. Today we got a “polite message from your local police.” It was placed on the windshield and congratulated us on having a “secured” car. We felt so proud.

Our bagel and hot dog quest continues. We may have hit pay dirt at the Gourmet Gallery. They had kosher knockwurst, hot dogs, and salami along with other kosher items. Their bagels are made fresh daily. Mind you, this is a tiny store. Since David likes spicy foods, I fully expected to put in a supply of dry, crushed red chili peppers. They’re not in the spice sections of the groceries, but it was suggested we try an Asian food store. We found a huge one that has all the ingredients you would ever need as well as any Asian cooking implements you could want to open a restaurant. They did have the chilies.

We plan to take another walk on the beach tonight. There’s a gelato stand at a mall down the road. Our walk might be delayed. We’re waiting for a repairman to fix our kitchen faucet. Our front door still sticks and the screws in our vanity door are loose. This isn’t a well-built place, but then I don’t have to buy it. It’s our home for seven months, so we’re trying to take good care of it. In fact, David vacuumed the whole place. It took about twenty minutes. Five of those minutes were trying to get some suction from the vac.

David just got a call from the president of the congregation. There were threatening phone calls against the orthodox congregation. So far, none for us.

You don’t know how much your emails mean to us. We look forward to them daily.

Toby