Movie Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

As the fourth installment of this somewhat incredulous but successful movie franchise, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is one of the better of the lot. Now, “better” is all relative in this wacky world created from the Ross Bagdasarian characters that once annoyingly shrieked a famous Christmas song that kids loved and parents loved to hate.

Jason Lee is back as the long-suffering Dave Seville, who somehow has formed a family unit with these talking and singing chipmunks that are like rodent Three Stooges creating havoc everywhere they go, prompting Dave to scream the oft-expected “Alvin!!!” in desperation. Of course, the chipmunks give the kiddies what they want, and as long as that is the case these movies will keep coming, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

My child didn’t have to drag me to see this; I have always found some sort of entertainment in the franchise; however, this one is probably the most palatable entry from the parents’ perspective since the first film. There are enough in-jokes to give adults a chuckle while the kids will be screeching with laughter throughout (which was the case for my son and his peer group of 4-10 year olds who were present at our viewing).

The story concerns the titular chippies worrying that their “Dad” dear old Dave is now in love with the beautiful Samantha (Kimberly Williams –Paisley). The problem or conflict extends to Samantha’s teenage son Miles (Josh Green), who abuses the boys when no one is looking and enjoys doing it. Alvin and company fear that Dave is about to be engaged (a huge diamond ring in the safe seems to confirm it for them) making Miles their brother and condemning them to a life of torture.

When Dave takes Samantha to Miami for what they believe will be the big romantic moment, Alvin and company form an unholy alliance with their tormentor Miles (who has daddy issues because of the father who left him as a young child) to go there and stop it from happening. The bulk of the film concentrates on this odd quartet getting from L.A. to Miami.

An incident on the plane out of L.A. may be the funniest sequence, when animals from below are inadvertently released by Theodore and invade the cabin. This sets Air Marshall Suggs (Tony Hale as another hapless chipmunk nemesis) who grounds the plane in Texas, puts them on the no-fly list, and then futilely chases them cross country in hopes to throw them in “chipmunk jail.”

There are some musical sequences, a few heart-string moments, and the issue of fatherhood comes up and its importance to both Miles and the chipmunks. A particularly rousing musical number in the streets of New Orleans will delight old and young alike, and director Walt Becker (with road trip experience from Wild Hogs) plays it exceedingly safe by staying close to formula – throw the boys into situations, have them stir the pot, and let the mayhem ensue.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is a nice way to spend 92 minutes with your children, and there is nothing in this PG-rated film to offend anyone (except perhaps air marshalls or overworked TSA workers). As my son and I walked away from the theater, he had a smile on his face and I did too. In the end that’s what this kind of movie is really all about.

Photo credits: 20th Century Fox

Favorite Toys Christmas 2015

Some of you may remember the ones – ghosts of hot toys from Christmases past – such as Tickle Me Elmo, Furbys, or Cabbage Patch dolls. Now perhaps relegated to shelves or closets or even boxes in attics, these toys once set kids’ hearts afire and blazed a trail across the retail world like a comet. Alas, being a hot toy is like having fifteen minutes of fame, and there are always new ones ready to take center stage.

Each year there always seems to be the hot toys that my kid wants, and this year is nothing different. I gauge potential toy hotness in two ways – what he writes on his Santa list and what is being advertised on the TV stations he watches. Many times these are divergent because it has more to do with what he likes than what is advertised.

For example, my son’s year was dominated by watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and wanting the associated toys. Having graduated from Octonauts and Jake and the Neverland Pirates last Christmas, he embraced this as his favorite show to watch. This in itself was showing signs of him moving from six to seven years old this year. However, the impending premiere of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens rocked his world with so many TV commercials for the various toys associated with it. Since he expressed such excitement, I decided to watch Star Wars: A New Hope with him for the first time to see if he would have any interest, and the result was mind boggling – the force is strong with this one now.

So Santa’s list was composed with a slew of Star Wars requests among other things. As always Santa was very, very good to us this year; judging from my son’s interest and enthusiasm and playing time over the last 24+ hours, here are this year’s top-five favorite toys.

5. Flying Millenium Falcon

This was one of the first toys opened, and boy did Santa hit a homer with it. The remote control is a little hard to get used to at first, and this speedy Millenium Falcon was crashing into lamps, walls, and even the Christmas tree. Once he got the hang of it, my son had the thing buzzing all around the house and taking off and landing smoothly and seemed ready for his own Kessell Run.

4. Snoopy Dog House

Another remote-controlled toy, this one is earthbound but very fast. My son can relive Snoopy’s adventures going after the Red Baron, and this thing really zips around the floors at a fast clip. The remote control seems easy to operate, and there is nothing better than hearing my son laugh as this toy spins in circles and then crashes into and topples the poinsettia plants by the fireplace. Good grief!

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Playset

This rather large item is a recreation of the Turtles’ lair underneath the streets of New York City. It comes with Splinter and Mikey, and boasts a spacious playing area that includes a slide, water tower, collapsing NYC manhole cover, and various sounds. Luckily, Santa brought the other Turtles to complete the Fab Tortoise Four along with assorted villains to provide endless possibilities for action. Cowabunga!

2. Star Wars Lightsabers

Okay, I’ll admit it, I love these things. They are fun for active – and I mean very active – role playing. Santa was wise to bring a red and blue one for our enjoyment, and my son and I have had numerous battles that invariably do not end very well for me. Believe it or not, I am thrust into the role of Luke while my son plays Darth Vader (he thinks bad guys are more fun). In an odd moment near the end of each round, my son likes to say, “Luke, I am your father” before he “cuts off” my hand and asks me to join him in ruling the galaxy. Oh, and I always say, “No!!!!” before I fall of an imaginary precipice and then we can start the game over again.

1. Millenium Falcon (Nerf)

The absolutely hands-down favorite of all toys received is this large rendition of the Millenium Falcon – just perfect for those 3 and ¾ figures that we all grew up with and loved years ago. This one comes with Chewbacca, BB-8, and Finn (all from the new film), and boasts an elaborate interior where there is even a Hallo-chess board. It also has a Nerf cannon that shoots two included torpedoes that are perfect for blowing Kylo Ren and his minions out of the sky.*

Honorable Mentions:  Teen Titans figures, Mickey and gang as Star Wars characters, and Peanuts electronic skating pond.

Dad’s Favorite Gift:

To be honest here, I love toys as much as my son, so much so that occasionally Santa brings me something “collectible” to, of course, not play with but to just place on a shelf and display. This year my favorite is the Batcave from the classic TV series. Batman comes with two heads – masked and Adam West – and there are a slew of accessories including the bust of Shakespeare, red hotline phone, and the Bat Computer. I am sure to be playing with admiring this on my shelf quite often.

So there are the favorite toys my son received this year. Please feel free to let me know what ones were your kids’ (or your) favorites. I especially love to hear about unique toys that people receive that I am not aware existed.

*I must admit to really exploring this toy after my son has gone to bed, purely in the interest of understanding how it operates in order to facilitate a better playtime the following day.

Feeling the Christmas Card Blues

There was a time I recall not that long ago when Christmas cards were sent through regular mail as a way of connecting with friends and family at the end of the year. Besides the obligatory greetings and closings written respectively above and below the printed text on the cards, they usually contained messages apprising the reader about events and happenings during the year gone by, which seemed especially important coming from people who lived far away.

There were those more verbose card senders who would include a folded piece of paper inside the card with a long message covering the year gone by. I remember Mom waiting for these, especially from some of our more colorful relatives, who would describe their annual “adventures” playing bingo, visits to the doctor, trips to exotic locations, disputes with neighbors, and other matters in great and many times humorous detail.

This was, of course, long ago in a galaxy far away without text messages, email, and Facebook. Now it is almost a given that people stay in touch easily, and tidbits like “Sally had a baby” or “Uncle Ralph retired” would not wait to come in a year-end card but in some electronic form of communication throughout the year.

These days I am still receiving physical cards, some sent from those far and wide, but sadly for the most part they contain just greetings and closings. I wonder about the year the senders have spent, and would like to know more. Unfortunately, these are people I do not encounter online. I have no idea what has happened since they sent a similar card the year before, and that will continue to be the case in the year ahead.

Maybe these people just choose to live their lives day-in-day-out and prefer for people not to know their business. Of course, they have no obligation to inform me of their ups and downs throughout the year, but I wonder why they even bother sending the card in the first place.

My father passed away a few years ago, but he used to shake his head upon receiving these “no message” Christmas cards. I asked him why he thought people did that, and he said, “They’re checking to see if I still have a pulse.” Dad may have been on to something there, since he would never send a card to someone who hadn’t sent him one first (or had sent one the year before).

I still send out cards every year, but since I have children that means I am in the picture card zone. My wife and I debate about the pictures to select – ones that will attempt to convey a year in our children’s lives – and then we choose three shots, make up the cards at a local CVS, and send them off in an envelope with a printed message and nothing else. A couple of years ago I tried writing messages on the back, but that ruined the images on the front of the card, so I suspended that practice. So obviously I am not part of the solution but part of the problem too.

When I think about the cards we used to receive when I was a child, there must have been at least a hundred of them each year. Dad would take some of his old fishing line and tack it across the dining room wall in rows to hang all the cards to make an enormous and unique decoration. I remember happily thinking that we had so many relatives and friends.

Thus far this season I have received about ten cards – a far cry from days gone by. Most of my older relatives have passed away now, and some have moved away and lost touch. After the older generation was gone, their children didn’t keep up the practice. It saddens me to have lost connections with relatives who, even if they lived far away, had remained part of our lives albeit through the written word.

This year I have received numerous Christmas greetings through email and texts, and the usual warm wishes have been posted on Facebook. These forms of conveying greetings and good wishes are fine, and I have grown used to this as the order of things in the world we live in today.

Still, as I wrap presents and prepare for gatherings with family this Christmas, I listen to songs on the radio, and invariably old Bing Crosby comes on singing “White Christmas” and is dreaming of one with every Christmas card he writes. It inevitably makes me feel sorrow about the long lost practice that, no matter what the distance, seemed to bring people closer together.

With all the instant gratification and immediacy of the technology we have now, something tangible seems to be missing, something I doubt we will ever get back. I feel sad for my children; I feel sad for us all.

Movie Review: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' – More Than Worth the Wait

Okay, here goes my first spoiler – the very first thing you will see is like pure gold: the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. ” My second spoiler is that there is an opening scrawl to explain that Luke Skywalker has gone missing and other assorted information. Cue the goosebumps, pins and needles, and tingling spine as you wait for what comes next!

So that’s it for spoilers in case you want more they won’t be revealed here. In many ways the whole movie is a spoiler, so in essence writing a review is a bit tricky, but I am game if you are.

It goes without saying what you already know – the gang is back in Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess now turned General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). It may not be as big as getting the Beatles back together, but it feels pretty damn close.

Director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Alias, Lost) has been super respectful to the source material, even more so than George Lucas, the creator of Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and company, who was responsible for the three generally disparaged prequels (by the way, I for one enjoyed Revenge of the Sith) and the notion of The Force – an energy that runs through the universe and has good and bad elements – that is a beloved Star Wars religion. The Jedi upheld all the lightness associated with it and the Sith embraced the dark side – creating evil characters like Darths Maul, Vader, and Sidious, and in this film the Darth wannabee Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

The good news is that Han Solo and his trusty sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) have a prominent role in the film, as does Han’s beloved Millenium Falcon (apparently still causing awe amongst characters who know about the famous Kessell Run). It’s good to see Ford playing the role with gusto, and the comic interaction between him and Chewie is the stuff of fond memories.

Newcomers Daisy Ridley (Rey, a scavenger on the planet Jakku)) and John Boyega as Finn (a Stormtrooper turned reluctant at first resistance fighter) both fully embrace their roles which should make them this generation’s next iconic stars. Ridley portrays her character with subtle mannerisms and movements which reveal much about her in a gutsy performance; Ridley stakes her claim to the tradition of a strong female begun by Fisher and then trampled upon by Natalie Portman in the prequels, and it is about time we get to see a woman who knows how to handle a lightsaber. Boyega is full of gung-ho enthusiasm as the former Stormtrooper who wants out after seeing his fellow white armor-clad brethren slaughter a village of innocents.

Rey and Finn soon find themselves on that famous ship that Solo and Chewie used to bounce around the galaxy trying to make some money all the while hoping to escape those to whom even more loot is owed. When Solo answers their questions about Luke Skywalker, the Jedi, and the Force with “It’s all true,” I felt a real shiver up my spine.

There are all the assorted new oddball alien and human characters and exotic locales ranging from parched desert landscapes to lush forested shorelines and snow-covered worlds. Combine that with John Williams’s swelling musical score and the feeling of a return to something primordial and essential filled me with excitement and wonder – almost as much as when I saw the original film as a teenager in my own galaxy of long ago and far away.

The new droid is revealed as BB-8, belonging to Resistance fighter pilot Poe Dameron (a charismatic Oscar Issac). In a move reminiscent of Princess Leia in the first (or fourth depending on your point of view) film, Poe puts secret plans about Luke’s whereabouts inside BB-8 before his imminent capture by Ren and his men. The first scenes are about bringing BB-8 together with first Rey and then Finn, and they make it their mission to get the plans to Leia.

There are the requisite soap opera-ish elements that we came to love in the original trilogy but none of the more grating issues that arose in the prequel trilogies (such as annoying Jar Jar Binks or the puckish little Anakin). There is also Abrams’s firm but loving hand, guiding the ship with a script he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt. It feels right even if some will say that all the right buttons may have been pushed a little too often. Nevertheless, it is like a wave of nostalgia hitting you while riding a roller coaster.

So even though more than a few elements seem familiar, there is plenty of new here that shakes the dust off the force and indeed awakens it in a new and resounding light. As always the battle between good and evil is front and center, with the strength of the Force wavering as each side tries to get ahead in an effort to be victorious. Even chief villain Ren stumbles in his embrace of the dark side, feeling the inexplicable pull of the light side on his soul (when you see the film you will understand why he is so conflicted).

The darkly clad (ominously reminiscent of Darth Vader) villain answers to his master, the truly evil Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), and their supposedly mutual purpose is to vanquish the last Jedi (Skywalker) and dominate the galaxy in a warped way to honor the legacy of Vader while assuming total power and complete victory for the dark side.

The ending leaves more than enough hanging in the balance for the two inevitable sequels to follow, and we have two engaging and likeable leads in Ridley and Boyega; they are going to be big stars after their work in this film. They have what they used to call “chemistry” and it works very well to enhance the storyline.

Most of all we have the continuing saga that all started with the story of a young farm boy named Luke Skywalker, for whom we have been pulling ever since he stared longingly at those double setting suns on Tatooine wanting to follow in the footsteps of his Jedi father. After all this time Star Wars: The Force Awakens remains true to that spirit – a story about family, how evil can tear it apart, and how the Force can either be with or against you in the eternal struggle between good and evil.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is better than the original film and as good as The Empire Strikes Back; the Force is definitely and overwhelmingly with this movie and will be with you when you see it.

Photo credits: starwars.com 

Common Core Wars: Parents and Teachers Force Awakening

First appeared on Blogcritics.

The major educational news of the day in New York State should set a precedent and be good news for people across America – the Common Core Panel (established by Governor Andrew Cuomo) recommended to delay teacher evaluations linked to standardized test scores until the 2019-2020 academic year. This is a tremendous victory for the parents and teachers of the state who became “the force” for good against the dark side of standardized testing and Common Core.


The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been under fire here in New York since implementation started in 2010, most notably for complicating the education process and fomenting the standardized testing monster and making it get bigger and more ugly as it became linked to the standards.


Parents and teachers (always the most important elements in the education equation) here in New York State mobilized an extended protest of the CCSS and the over-testing it spawned. More importantly, the despicable plan to link testing to teacher evaluations was exposed for what it was – the true agenda of the formerly pro-Common Core Cuomo and his partner in crime, former New York City Mayor Michael (No Big Drink Cups) Bloomberg.


Back in September Cuomo saw the light or at least the groundswell of popular opinion against the CCSS and testing linked to it and established the Common Core Panel to study the situation in New York. This recommendation by the panel clearly indicates that Cuomo and Bloomberg’s punitive plot to tie evaluations to test scores was exposed for what it really has always been – a way for the state and city to rid itself of long-time teachers, close so called low performing schools (ludicrously based on said test scores), and pave the way for more charter schools.


The roll-out of CCSS, mishandled from the very beginning, asked teachers to take a whole new set of standards that they had not been well prepared to understand, use a new curriculum that they were unprepared to teach, and prepare students to be tested on assessments linked to the CCSS that the students couldn’t possibly be ready to take. The result was a complete disaster that included low test scores, frazzled teachers, confused students, and furious parents.

That is why it is not surprising that in April 2015 frustrated parents reached a breaking point and more than 200,000 students statewide opted-out of standardized testing in Math and English. This sent a powerful message to Cuomo and showed that parents appreciated their children’s teachers as much as they wanted to prevent their kids from suffering through the absurdly long testing schedule.

Now Cuomo has embraced the recommendations of the panel he established, which means the ongoing turmoil (which I have called Common Core Wars) might be coming to an end here in New York. Reacting to the panel’s findings Cuomo said:

The Common Core was supposed to ensure all of our children had the education they needed to be college and career-ready — but it actually caused confusion and anxiety. That ends now.

While it is encouraging that Cuomo has come around, it took him long enough. As an educator I saw the writing on the wall as soon as the boggled roll-out of CCSS began. I can attest to the ridiculous amount of time, energy, and cost involved in the gorging test monster that grew bigger and bigger – a behemoth so hideous that it kept consuming teaching time, upsetting teachers with the gravity of linkage to evaluations, and worrying students about what the implications were for their grades.

There is one irrefutable and detestable fact about CCSS being linked to standardized testing – these testing periods in schools are simply nothing to do with education and waste an inordinate amount of time preparing students to take them, on administering them, and later on teachers grading the tests (which takes teachers out of the classrooms). This has nothing to do with best educational practices and everything to do with furthering the agendas of those far removed from the classroom. 

Most teachers and students will not forget the aberrations and errors on the tests over the years – most notably the infamous pineapple questions on the 2012 ELA exam that stumped and mortified everyone including this writer. We can all look at this and incredulously ask, “And you were going to base teachers’ evaluations and thus their careers on something like that?”

There was additional good news from the panel – fewer and shorter standardized exams. The members also recommended a new set of state standards be adopted with input from teachers and parents (meaning bye-bye CCSS). This is extremely good news for anyone in New York State who has children either in school or preparing to attend school. In this case “the force” of parents, teachers, and students – all of whom made an effort to have their voices heard – fought the good fight and defeated the “dark side” of the state education department and districts who aligned themselves in a pernicious agreement with testing companies in lucrative long-term deals with complete disregard for what is good for students.

We must continue to watch the process as this winning team of parents and educators moves forward and gives input in the months ahead into creating a new set of standards and a curriculum that should (if done as promised) create a new model that will be the best way to teach our children the things they need to know and hopefully will not be anything about teaching to and taking tests. May “the force” be with them.

  Photo credits: News 12 Long Island, CBSlocal.com

35th Anniversary of Lennon’s Death – We’re Still Not Giving Peace a Chance

First appeared on Blogcritics.

If you are of a certain age you remember December 8, 1980. You remember where you were, what you were doing, and how you heard the horrific news – John Lennon had been shot outside his apartment building in Manhattan. As this December 8 is the 35th anniversary of that event, I don’t know if I still can process it or make sense of it let alone believe it even happened. Unfortunately, we all know that it did occur and the loss for many people still causes tears – I know that it does for me.

 The man who gave us “All You Need Is Love” and some of the greatest anthems for peace and understanding – the songs “Imagine,” “War Is Over,” and “Give Peace a Chance,” died a most violent death. In the grand scheme of things it was not poetic or ironic or tragic – it simply was the matter of a deranged nutcase who snuffed out a precious life.

In keeping with my practice of never mentioning the names of killers and terrorists, I won’t do so here because in essence it really doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter. The man he killed did matter – and as with all great people who die too soon, especially from violence (John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy), it really is never about the despicable scum who took them from us. It is always about those extraordinary individuals and how they lived and the things for which they stood.

I recall watching Monday Night Football with friends in a local NYC bar, enjoying the fact that I had no classes the following morning. The teams that were playing are long forgotten now, but I recall the news flash coming across the screen. Once what was happening registered with everyone in the bar the place fell silent – you could hear a pin drop as they say. Afterwards we viewed the news incredulously and even doubted the reporting – it must have been some mistake. Of course, I went home and continued watching Nightline and realized the worst and reality sunk in: John was gone!

The headlines the next day confirmed things for me as I awoke and hoped it all was just a horrific dream. As the days passed, people expressed their love for John in ways that overwhelmed the city and the world. The gatherings of people in New York City (and all across the planet) who lit candles, sang John’s songs, carried posters, signs, and effigies honoring John were emotional and cathartic. We all had to do something – anything – and it seemed the more communal the better. Nothing was going to bring John back, but damn if we were going to let him go gently but rather with bursts of light, music, and love.

All these years later the world is a bigger mess than ever. John’s words, so eloquent and meaningful, have fallen on deaf ears. When he sang “War is Over” there was, of course, a caveat – “if you want it.” This was like slapping the leaders of the world in the face and saying, “We can make this happen but you have to want to do it.”

Sadly, 35 years later the world is in worse shape than when John left us. In “Give Peace a Chance” John mocks all the talk about the news of the day – he should see what “news” has become in 2015. However, these words still resonate: “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Again they have been largely ignored by everyone at the expense of our daily machinations to out build one another’s weapons and technologies for mass destruction. We create scenarios that foment fear, anger, and the rise of forces that are so pernicious that they attack places like restaurants and theaters where innocents are slaughtered. “Peace” isn’t being given any consideration at all let alone a chance.

In the incredibly beautiful song “Imagine” John pulls no punches as he lets us know the source of most of the world’s problems:

Imagine there’s no countries/It isn’t hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion too/Imagine all the people living life in peace.

Yes, John was a dreamer and certainly not the only one as he writes, but the problems we have today are definitely connected to the warping of religion for the sake of war, and how are we ever going to reach a place of peace as long as boundaries and faith matter more than the lives of the people living and breathing on the planet?

John died 35 years ago this December 8, but it feels like yesterday in my mind. I remember the pain of his initial loss, and all these years later, there is no closure for any of us. His widow Yoko still fights the good fight and goes about her quest to strive for peace, and yet things continue to spiral out of control. The sense that we are always “at war” is overwhelming and frightening – our children born since 9/11 have never known a world without war, and there seems to be no end in sight.

Still, John’s message of peace and love will never go away as long as there are those of us who believe that the world can be a better place and can be more than what it is now – a place of tumult and fear. John wanted peace for all and we must embrace that too, and we must realize that we are all in the same boat on this planet, and we are stuck in the middle of a deep ocean with it springing too many leaks. If we don’t stop, bail out the water, and repair the damage, we are all doomed to sink and take everything down with us. If that isn’t incentive to give peace a chance, I don’t know what is.


  Photo credits: Gene Kappook,Morsch,-NY Daily News

Shooting Stars – The Media Promotes Terrorism and Obama Stokes Gun Sales

First appeared on Blogcritics.

I wish I did not have to write this – again – but after yet another mass shooting, this time in San Bernardino, California, the media and President Barack Obama continue to get it wrong. It saddens me to have to point out this salient yet alarming fact – they have learned nothing from what has gone before.

For example, while CNN will give us a story focusing on the 14 shooting victims (as it most definitely should), more widespread coverage is given to the perpetrators of the attack, going in depth to describe who they were and to analyze why they did what they did. Quite frankly that information should be left to investigators – we don’t need to see pictures of killers on front pages or on TV and certainly don’t need to know their life stories. 


All this media attention on killers and terrorists is merely giving food to the monster that doth mock the hand that feeds it. Killers and terrorists know two things: one is that they can plan to inflict massive casualties and probably end up dead themselves, but two is the carrot on the stick – the media will make certain that whatever abhorrent acts they did will live on and they will be in the spotlight. This only encourages them and others like them – to strike again and again.

As for Mr. Obama, I understand he is in a no-win situation. Something like the attack in Paris or this shooting in California happens and he is expected to react; unfortunately, it is how he reacts that not only shapes the ensuing conversation but also stokes the fires of passion in those who want to do us harm. Every terrorist knows that if he or she does engage in an act to cause mass casualties, the POTUS will have to talk about it – where else but in the media. Talk about your instant fifteen minutes of fame!

I was clicking around the stations the other night, and some pro-gun guy was talking and said that Obama is the best salesman for guns. I sort of thought he was joking, but a little research proves this guy right – every time there is a mass shooting and Mr. Obama speaks, people go out and buy more guns. While I would imagine Mr. Obama recognizes this sad correlation between his reactions to gun violence and the sales of guns, that does not seem to affect the responses he gives.


The truth is that there are more guns in the U.S. than there are people, and the the record sale of guns on this past Black Friday shows there is no possibility of reversing this unless something changes, but will that ever happen?

If you are thinking “gun control” and Congress, you had better tuck yourself in for a long winter’s nap and forget about it. Just yesterday the Senate (ostensibly the GOP senators) blocked a proposal to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. What Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who proposed the amendment, called a “no brainer” obviously was anything but. You would think that even if senators on both sides of the aisle never agree on anything they would agree on that – wrong!


So here we are standing at what would seem to be the most dangerous time in recent history. The world is poised for war in the Middle East, and on the homefront we are aware that another attack could be coming. With the recent shooters in California having a connection with the terrorist group ISIS, it is not perhaps it will happen here because it has already occurred.

I don’t expect that the media is going to change its pattern of publicizing terrorists and killers – this is inherent in their drive to not just report the so-called news but more to gain ratings. The truth is that I have long suspected that journalistic integrity has dissipated, but watching what is called a “News Alert” or “Breaking News” is so disingenuous at this point that I quickly change stations only to find more of the same. ‘Tis a muddle indeed – and a despicable one at that.

As for Mr. Obama, all signs are that he is going to continue on the same path, saying the same things about guns. The Republicans in Congress will continue doing what they do about the matter, and any true discourse on guns and violence in America will never be possible. If we cannot trust the media and the people we elect to higher office, then our country is in the most dismal state in its history. 

There are two things we can all count on – another terrorist act and another mass shooting is only a matter of time. The media and Mr. Obama know this yet continue doing what they do, and the Congress is ineffectual, so the American public is basically on its own. Isn’t that a warm and fuzzy feeling for us all as we move into the holiday season?

  Photo credits: Seth Weingap (NY Daily News), CNN, FOXnews.com  

Movie Review: The Good Dinosaur – What If The Lion King and Jurassic Park Had a Child?

First appeared on Blogcritics.

The latest manifestation of Disney/Pixar computer generated characters can be found in The Good Dinosaur. It is a lavish, beautiful, visually awesome film that captures a time and place that is sometimes volatile yet other times peaceful in truly stunning detail.

The landscapes are so visually arresting, it seems as if you are watching one of those old westerns with the high blue skies and the aesthetically pleasing but unforgiving terrain. But instead of a cowboy riding through the valleys and across mountains on his horse, we have a dinosaur named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) being ridden by a scrappy human child (Jack Bright) whom Arlo decides to call Spot.

In an alternate reality, the exposition establishes the fact that 65 million years ago an asteroid just misses earth. We then flash forward millions of years to what can ostensibly be thought of as an undetermined time where dinosaurs still rule the earth. Arlo lives on a farm with his siblings and parents, and they are intelligent creatures that have evolved to speak, till the soil, and harvest crops. 

Director and writer Peter Sohn (who wrote the screenplay with 5 other writers) has obviously stayed close to the Disney formula that works, and I couldn’t help but to keep thinking of The Lion King as I watched the sweeping vistas and the wise, powerful father Apatosaurus Henry (Jeffrey Wright) teaching his son Arlo the ways of life.

One day Spot – who looks like a little caveman – gets into a trap and Arlo’s hesitation allows the child to escape. Henry brings Arlo along to track the child – in this world a boy is considered a “critter” trying to steal crops and must be dealt with.

During one of those volatile days – the weather seems to change very rapidly in The Good Dinosaur world – Henry is forced to save his son from a disaster (reminiscent of how Mufasa must save Simba from the stampede) at the cost of his own life. Seeing Henry futilely trying to scramble up a mountainside, I thought the only thing missing was the nefarious Scar.

Henry dies and visions of Bambi dancing in my head notwithstanding, I checked in on my son who, along with many of the other kids in the theater, were upset by Henry’s death – Disney knows how to pull the little heartstrings.

Arlo valiantly goes back to working the farm to help get the harvest ready before the first snow, but when he sees Spot raiding the silo, he chases the boy and then they both fall into the river and are washed far away from the farm.

The rest of the story involves Arlo’s coming of age with Spot’s help – as Simba had a warthog and a meerkat as his guides. After at first blaming Spot for Henry’s death, Arlo comes to understand that it is not the boy’s fault and they slowly become friends.

  Along the way home as the unlikely pair follow the river back to the farm, they encounter danger in the form of pterodactyls and velociraptors, who see Spot as nothing more than a tasty treat. Arlo and Spot fight back against these pernicious foes, and get some help from a Tyrannosaurus Rex family led by father Butch (Sam Elliot).


Butch is actually keeping a herd of cattle that “the rustlers” – the velociraptors – tried to steal. Extending the western motif, Arlo and Spot assist Butch and company in riding the herd until they can find a way for Arlo to get home.

There are also subtle social implications here – in an almost Planet of the Apes way – with humans being seen as animals and inferior. While this is a children’s movie and the complexity of the implications are never deeply explored, there are those moments when Spot is howling at the moon that may get your kids asking a few questions as mine did on the way home, but I found a few quick answers helped my son understand what was going on.

While some adults may find the story more than a little familiar, it entertained my son and the other kids in attendance. This is not a film that reaches for the narrative heights of The Lion King, but it is charming enough to keep the target audience satisfied as it is dazzled by the array of visual delights and scary characters chasing after our rather dynamic duo.

After the parade, the Thanksgiving turkey, and the football games are over, why not take the kids to see The Good Dinosaur? They will enjoy the film while you are blown away by the majestically conceived alternate reality that Sohn and company have created. It is a beautiful film that can be appreciated as a work of visual art that should not be missed.

  Photo credits: movies.Disney.com 

The Day America Cried - A Short Story by Victor Lana

First appeared on Blogcritics.

I awoke from a dream about being a cowboy riding a horse. I looked around my room – my stuffed toy sentinels Bugs Bunny, Pinocchio, and Mickey Mouse stared down at me from the shelf next to the bed.

The smell of pancakes drifted up to my room from the kitchen. I got out of bed, grabbed Bugs, and went across the hall to piddle. When I was done, I didn’t flush the toilet because I could see my baby sister still sleeping in her room, and Mom always told me not to flush when Karen was sleeping unless I made poop.

When I went downstairs I saw Mom standing next to the stove in a halo of sunshine coming through the window looking like my own pancake angel.

“Are you hungry, Vinny?”

 Nana walked into the room carrying her teacup on a saucer. “When is a three-year old not hungry?” 

“Three and a half, Nana,” I said proudly.

She touched my cheek with her cold hand. “Yes, dear.” She looked up at Mom. “I’m going into the living room to watch the president.”

“Ok, Mom,” my mother said.

“The president?” I asked.

Mom put some pancakes on a plate, dropped a lump of butter on top, and placed them on the table. As she poured syrup over the stack she said, “Yes, he is in Texas and making a speech.” 

"Will John-John be there?” My only interest in the president was that his son was around my age. 

“Oh, I highly doubt it.”

“Shucks!” I said before devouring my pancakes.

 *

Mom hummed “Blue Velvet” as she changed Karen’s diaper. I sat on the floor next to the crib playing with my Tonka trucks. Right after I arranged a pretty nifty crash, I heard Nana scream up the stairs, “They shot the president!”

Mom looked at me. “What did Nana say?”

“They shot the president,” I said.

“Oh my God!” She quickly fastened the pin on Karen’s diaper, lifted her into her arms, and started downstairs with me following.

Nana sat in front of the TV dabbing her eyes with the little flowery hanky she always kept in her pocket. The man on the TV looked really sad as he spoke about what had happened. Mom started crying, and I leaned against her and rubbed her arm like she did for me when I was crying.

After a while I left the room and went up to my Dad’s office. I usually never went in there when he wasn’t home, but I crept in and walked behind the big wooden desk. I stared up at the picture of the president that my father had on the wall. I always noticed it there when I came in to talk to Dad when he was busy. I liked the president’s face. I couldn’t help but wonder about John-John. My Dad was a cop, and sometimes I worried about him getting shot too because I had heard Mom and Nana talking about it.

The phone rang and I ran back downstairs because sometimes when Dad called from work I could talk to him. “Yes, of course I understand, Vince. Be careful!” Mom said and then hung up the phone. She looked at me. “Daddy has to stay late at work today because of what is happening.”

I didn’t like when Dad was late, so I hung my head and walked into the hallway, grabbed Bugs Bunny from the table, and went upstairs.

 *

A few days later as Dad was getting ready for work I asked, “Can we throw the football, Dad?”

He put on his jacket, stuck the snub-nosed revolver into the holster on his belt, and picked up his gold badge from the table. “I have to go to work today, Vinny.”

“Yeah, I know. You’ve been working a lot lately.”

Dad took my Jets cap off and kissed the top of my head. As he put the cap back on me he said, “Look, I’m on a big case right now. I promise we’ll throw the football around on Thanksgiving before dinner. Okay?”

“Okay, Dad.”

After Dad left I went to the window and watched him walking down the street. I knew he would take the subway into the city, and I wished I could go with him one day and see everything that he saw on the way. I kind of wanted to watch over him the way Bugs, Pinocchio, and Mickey watched over me. 

As I walked downstairs I heard Mom and Nana crying in the living room. They were watching TV, and I looked at the screen and saw John-John. He was standing there next to his mother and sister. His mommy was dressed all in black and it was scary.

Mom touched my arm. “This is the president’s funeral.”

“Oh, you mean like grandpa’s?”

Nana nodded. “Yes, like grandpa’s, except today the whole country is crying.”

I watched as John-John’s mommy leaned down and said something to him. Suddenly he was saluting like a soldier, and so I went up to the TV and saluted as well.

“Oh, Vinny, get out of the way,” Mom said.

Nana sniffled. “Leave him alone, dear.”

I sat on the floor and felt really sad for John-John. He lost his daddy and I know I was always scared about that too. I watched the rest of the funeral quietly, and then I saw the horse pulling the coffin with a flag draped over it. “Why isn't someone on that horse?”

“It’s a tradition,” Nana said.

Later in the kitchen as Mom made lunch I sat at the table drawing a picture. “What’re you doing, Honey?”

“Making a picture for Daddy.”

“Oh, how nice.”

“He can keep it in his wallet to keep him safe.” Mom put my peanut butter and jelly sandwich down in front of me. “I wish John-John had done that for his daddy.”

Mom sniffled as she turned to the sink and said, “Don’t we all.”

  Photo credits: jfklibrary.org, NY Daily News

The Reaction to Terrorist Attacks – Are We Giving Them Exactly What They Want?

First appeared on Blogcritics.

Now we have a terrorist attack in Mali – 27 dead including one American. That African nation has a connection to the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015. As a former French colony, French troops have been there helping that government in the fight against Islamic rebels. As they say, here is where the plot thickens.

Or perhaps, we should say, this is where the characters start showing their true colors. First we have the antagonists. Make no mistake – ISIS and other terrorist groups are the worst bullies imaginable. Bullies work to foment fear and to provoke knee-jerk reactions, and they are doing their job and then some right now. Chalk one up for ISIS.

The Mali attack – attributed to Al Qaeda and not ISIS – proves that terrorism can rear its ugly head anywhere in the world. This attack in Mali in a fancy hotel guaranteed headlines – something the ISIS attack in Beirut initially failed to do (at least here in the U.S.). Each attack is gauged to hurt as many innocents as possible in places they normally would be able to go and enjoy themselves. That is what terrorism is all about. The fear part is another aspect of the terrorism playbook. They hope that people will be so afraid that they will not go about business as usual – that includes air travel, tourism, theatre, dining, and shopping. This is good for terrorists and bad for everyone else.

Here in New York City and other major cities such as Paris, Brussels, Washington D.C., and London, the sight of heavily armed police and soldiers is becoming the new normal. While Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton say everything is under control and tourists and New Yorkers seem to be going about business as usual, there is an undercurrent of fear everywhere you go. No matter what the official line seems to be or what people are telling interviewers, there is a palpable sense of something coming – or more precisely impending doom.

People worldwide are on notice that terrorism can strike anywhere, and the United Nations Security Council did nothing but send that message home by unanimously voting for member states to take “all necessary measures” to defeat ISIS. While this is alarming in and of itself, one look at recent terrorist attacks – Tunisia, Turkey, Beirut, Paris, and now Mali – and the bombing of a Russian airplane over Egypt – and we know that this is a worldwide matter that concerns every nation.

Then we have the presumptive protagonists – U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, and the rest of the leaders of the world who are combating this ever-growing threat. These people are faced with an enormous challenge in dealing with a foe that has no regard for human lives, including their own. As they try to come up with a game plan to defeat a monster, the fear is that they will become as bad as the opponents. If that happens, chalk another one up for ISIS.

On the fringe are the other players like the Syrian refugees and the U.S. presidential candidates. With the refugees we have desperate people who are fleeing an unimaginable horror; with the presidential candidates we have people sometimes reacting horribly. It is a combustible mix that must be delighting the ISIS leadership every time someone like Ben Carson or Donald Trump speaks.

The problem here is that not only are terrorists causing fear and reactions of world leaders, but they are making regular citizens forget their better selves and inspiring the presidential candidates to respond in sometimes absurd ways. The bottom line for Americans is that we need to look in the mirror – do we see the Statue of Liberty staring back at us or jack-booted monster?

I believe that some of us should not like what we see. If you are an American citizen and not a Native American, chances are your ancestors were refugees of some kind escaping something, fleeing oppression, or wanting to live life freely. The whole notion of placing the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor to greet foreigners from all over the world coming into Ellis Island was to welcome them.

There are truly absurd things happening here – with Ben Carson calling for “a database on everybody” and Donald Trump saying American Muslims should be forced to get I.D. cards and that some mosques should be closed. This only encourages anti-Muslim elements in the U.S. and justifiable concern about an ugly backlash against law-abiding Muslims in this country reaching a height unknown since 9/11. Chalk another one up for ISIS.

If our main problem with terrorists is that they threaten our way of life, how can we fray the fabric of that existence in an effort to combat them? If we no longer uphold the values and the freedoms we are fighting for, then are we as bad – or in some cases even worse – than the pernicious foe we are fighting?

If we are honest with ourselves, the answers are going to be upsetting. If we keep lying to ourselves, then we are headed in the direction that ISIS and other terrorist groups hope we take – a downward spiral that will destroy us much more thoroughly than any attack they can spring on us – in essence taking away the way of life we are now trying to defend. In the end for the terrorists that will be the greatest victory of all.


  Photo credits: ABC News, NY Daily News, CNN

Charlie Sheen Reveals He Has HIV With Grace Under Pressure

First appeared on Blogcritics.

There will be the cruel ones – those who will joke about Charlie Sheen now. Of course, Charlie made it all easy for them over the years with his antics, the tiger blood, and the “winning” mystique of the wild bad boy. They can have at him because the Charlie Sheen we saw on Today talking with Matt Lauer has the strength to take it and then some.

I must confess that I have never liked Charlie Sheen because he seemed so cavalier about the good fortune that he had and invested so much energy into his wild ways that were detrimental to himself, those who loved him, and his career. He went through women faster than the L train going through the tunnel under the East River, and yet there were flashes of sheer brilliance in films, especially Platoon and Major League.

I never watched Two and a Half Men or the series Anger Management, but that was not because of not liking Charlie but more that I am not too fond of TV sitcoms. The last one I watched regularly was Seinfeld and, since that went off the air in 1998, you can understand that I have been out of the loop for some time.

Still Charlie made his presence known in the tabloids and online. When he had the falling out with the producers of Two and a Half Men, I must admit that I enjoyed watching him run amok in interviews. He could be hilarious as Donald Trump is right now – always keeping you watching to see the next crazy thing that he would say.

Looking back on the possibilities for Charlie, they seemed limitless at the start of his career. The son of gifted actor Martin Sheen and brother of actor Emilio Estevez, Charlie came from Hollywood nobility but acted something like Prince Hal in Henry IV, with any willing accomplice becoming his Falstaff.

But Charlie was much less than that character, who would eventually fulfill his potential as Henry V; no, in the end Charlie was much less than Hal and more like Hamlet or Achilles. Charlie was the tragic hero in many ways, with his multiple tragic flaws more debilitating than Hamlet’s procrastination or Achilles’s famous heel.

The problem with tragic heroes is that despite their prowess and nobility and inner goodness, they are unaware of the flaw that will be their undoing. Sadly, Charlie always seemed aware that his behavior was destructive – ruining marriages, relationships with his family, and his career; however, none of that was enough as he kept on going with the candle burning at both ends – a veritable moth attracted to countless flames.

But all this changes now – the Charlie I saw on Today has become a matured, self-aware, and humble man. The arrogance once visible in Hot Shots! or when playing himself everywhere else is gone now. He seems so calm now, almost at peace – with both his diagnosis and his coming to terms with the life he has to lead now.

Lauer asked tough questions and pulled no punches, but Charlie countered relentlessly and honestly. There were no body blows, and Charlie held his head high despite having to admit to doing some despicable things with less than reputable associates. Spending millions of dollars on prostitutes and then even more money on having them and others keep quiet about his HIV seems heartbreakingly more like depriving his children of a brighter future than anything criminal – but perhaps that is the greater offense for which he now must make amends.

Appearing during the interview with Sheen, Dr. Robert Huizenga, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine (UCLA) and Charlie’s physician made it clear – “Charlie has contracted HIV; he does not have AIDS.” Dr. Huizenga is treating Charlie successfully but spoke of the millions out there who have HIV and are not treated. “I anticipate Charlie can save many more lives coming forward with his revelation than I could ever have aspired to as a doctor.”

This is the new Charlie Sheen – one who expects to make a difference instead of causing havoc. He says, “I accept this condition not as a curse or scourge, but rather as an opportunity and a challenge. An opportunity to help others. A challenge to better myself.”

So is Charlie Sheen now a tragic hero? No, his life used to be tragic – the drugs, the people who wished to harm him, his own self-destruction almost bringing him to the point of annihilation – now Charlie has taken a different path and seems a changed man.

In a rather eloquent “open letter” about his HIV diagnosis, Charlie reveals his plans for the road ahead. He says, “My partying days are behind me. My philanthropic days are ahead of me.” It is nice to see that Charlie is handling this like a real man – no excuses and no blaming others. If he can indeed help others – even save other lives – Charlie’s story has a much happier ending than anyone could have imagined for him a few days ago.

In his letter Charlie also quoted Ernest Hemingway’s “Grace under pressure.” It seemed very apropos that he chose Hemingway, a great talent that became destroyed and ultimately vanquished by his own hand. Charlie seems to have learned from that and says he is moving forward “with courage and grace.”

For the first time I can say “I like Charlie Sheen” – the new Charlie Sheen to be specific. May he find peace and happiness on the journey that lies ahead of him.

  Photo credit: Samantha Okazaki / TODAY

Bombings in Beirut A Day Before Paris Attacks Get Minimal Coverage

First appeared on Blogcritics.

I ask the people of Lebanon and Beirut to forgive us – all of us in America, Europe, and around the world. A day before the attacks in Paris, bombs went off in a busy shopping district killing 43 and wounding hundreds more. I would have been outraged upon hearing this story – but it was kept on the back burner or maybe completely off the grid.

I only learned about the Beirut story by default – I saw it on Facebook. I cringed at my lack of knowledge regarding the subject, but noted to myself that I hadn’t heard about it on the radio or during my cruising of the evening news channels. The very fact that I can no longer watch one channel for news perhaps says something about me and, indirectly, about the channels presenting the news. There is so much filler, so much banter (I know, this is meant to have us believe these talking heads like each other), and the stories presented themselves are at times very slow moving, inspiring me to hit the remote and try to find something better.

Even though I do not watch the news properly, I should have been able to run across a story about the Beirut bombings, but I did not. The lack of coverage is appalling, and in article in The New York Times we understand how the world's reaction to the Paris attacks only enhances the pain in Lebanon, where no explanation for such a disparity in coverage can ease the pain.

"When my people died, no country bothered to light up its landmarks in the colors of their flag,” Elie Fares, a Lebanese doctor, wrote on his blog. “When my people died, they did not send the world into mourning. Their death was but an irrelevant fleck along the international news cycle, something that happens in THOSE parts of the world."

One can completely understand Dr. Fares’s reaction, and the curious thing is that no one went with this story. Since ISIS claimed responsibility for the Beirut attack, it would seem that would be a leading news story; instead, I didn’t hear about it until today. There is definitely something wrong with this picture.

It isn’t acceptable to ignore a story because of where it happens. Did U.S. news outlets figure this bombing in Beirut was just more of the same in the Middle East? Perhaps it was a case of something more pernicious – the story about ISIS killing other Muslims didn’t seem as important as when ISIS killed white Christians in a European tourist mecca.

Have we become so inured to violence in that part of the world? It does matter that this story received minimal if any coverage, and the truth is that the problem with ISIS is not a French problem, not a Syrian problem, or a Lebanese one – it is the world’s problem.

President Obama, reacting to the Paris attacks, rightly said, “This is an attack on all humanity and the universal values we share.” This should be then something that refers to all nations – people of all colors, all religions, and all nationalities. This kind of outrage must resonate across the planet and affect change on every continent, in every country, and for all people.

Indian blogger Karuna Ezara Parikh responded to the disparity in coverage of the Beirut and Paris attacks quite eloquently:

It’s not Paris we should pray for, it is the world. It is a world in which Beirut, reeling from bombings … is not covered in the press. A world in which a bomb goes off at a funeral in Baghdad, and not one person’s status update says “Baghdad” because not one white person died in that fire…

This lack of coverage about this terrible incident in Beirut is an injustice to the Lebanese people. There can be no explanation that makes sense or soothes the pain for the inequity is glaring. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his letter from the Birmingham jail, succinctly described the situation then that applies now to the world’s predicament with ISIS and other terrorist groups.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

So we are all in this together. That includes Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, China, Russia, France, the U.S., and every nation on earth. It is up to us – all of us – to proceed in a way that says every life matters. That is the only way we can defeat a group like ISIS that has a philosophy that no lives matter – not even those of its own members. We all must believe that peace is attainable in this world. John Lennon once wrote, “War is over if you want it.” Now it is up to us – all of us – to be serious about wanting it.

The media owes an apology to the people of Beirut and of Lebanon. That will not bring back those lost in the carnage in its streets, but it will help assuage the pain that the lack of coverage of their story caused. All lives matter – ALL lives – and it’s about time the media embraces that fact and proves it by the stories that are covered.  


  Photo credits: AP, NY Times, EPA

Terrorists Attack Paris – New Yorkers and All Americans Should Show Support

First appeared on Blogcritics.

Each morning I wake up to a changed city and a different country. No matter how beautiful the Freedom Tower and other new buildings are at the World Trade Center site in Manhattan, they are part of the new New York, not the one I grew up in and loved. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still love NYC, but it will never be the same for me – ever.

 The people of France – especially those living in Paris – wake up to a different city and country today. No, their skyline is not irrevocably changed, but the detritus of the wave of terrorist attacks across the city that killed 127 people and wounded hundreds more has pierced them to their souls just as 9/11 severely wounded my city and country. There is no turning back for them, no eradicating the blood and loss and destruction and fear. Those things are forever now.

I have a great love for Paris and France having been there many times. My connection goes back to my father who, after serving in the Army in World War II, stayed on after the war and helped with the rebuilding efforts. He spoke fluent French and made friendships that lasted a lifetime. When I first went to school in Paris, I got to meet his French friends who greeted me as if I were next of kin.

I will never forget the love I felt there, and the feeling that it was not just our families that were inextricably linked but our nations. The people I visited had little American flags all over their house right next to French flags – the symbolism reminding me of relationship going back to Generals Lafayette and Washington.

Now many years after my time there I fear for all the French people because I know that this kind of thing will lead to more carnage. While I understand why French President Francois Hollande has reacted the way he has – declaring a national state of emergency, closing the country’s borders, and promising a “merciless fight” against the terrorists – there is always the thought of the never ending war (think Afghanistan for the U.S.) that follows. 

Confucius wrote that when embarking on a journey of revenge that you should first dig two graves. Throughout history there has been so much carnage, so much unnecessary violence, all in the name of tit for tat. What often happens is this cycle of retaliation and retribution goes on so long, the participants sometimes end up forgetting why they are fighting – they are just programmed to keep doing what they have always done.

The terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks and apparently tweeted the message “The State of the caliphate hit the house of the cross.” This kind of incendiary language only fuels the religious insanity on both sides of the fence – murder and destruction in the name of one’s god is perhaps the most insidious violence of all.

At this time saber rattling is usually what leaders do, but then we can only expect more of the same results. If France attacks ISIS in Syria, there will inevitably be more attacks on that country. After two long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans learned hard learned lessons – we lost so much, got very little in return, and the terrorists are still causing mayhem. This vicious cycle of tit for tat will be forever ongoing unless someone makes an effort to get it to stop.

While we ordinary Americans may feel helpless in regard to stopping these kinds of attacks from happening again, we still can offer support to the people of France. There are many ways to show your support financially, but we must also support the people of France with our actions and words (which includes praying if you are so inclined).

On this cold fall day in New York my heart is in Paris. As I look out the window I think of that other city I love being irrevocably changed, and it saddens me and worries me. There has to be a time when all people wake up and think, “We can’t do this anymore.” War only begets more war; we have to find a way to lasting peace and saber rattling is never going to get us there.

When will all involved drop their swords and say, “Enough is enough”? When will all involved say, “No more dead children, no more dead innocent people”? This better be soon because, while each side claims to win these individual battles, ultimately the human race is losing the war and in essence its humanity.

The Paris attacks should remind us that if it can happen there then it can happen here again or anywhere in the world for that matter. If no place is safe, then every human being on the planet has a vested interest in making it that way by finding answers to get the job done – not next year, not next month or week, but right now! For the sake of our children and their children, nothing less is acceptable.


  Photo credits: abcnews.com, ynetnews.com, kyvivpost.com,cnn.com