Normalcy for us. We had lunch downtown at the Grizzly Peak today. It isn’t the first time we’ve been down there since our infamous LSD trip to Floriduh but it’s the first time we had a chance to actually talk to our bartender friend there. The first weekend we were home, we ate down there but it was a home football game so the place was slammed. Last weekend we visited FlaMan in Grand Blanc. Today? There. Was. No. Football game. Anywhere. Michigan did not play. Downtown was pretty busy anyway but the bar we eat lunch at in the Griz was not busy. So we got to talk to our fav-o-rite gal and unload a bit of the crap that we dealt with earlier this month. And laugh. Because that’s about all you can do.

Not so normal a day for my Jewish friends with the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. I have been meeting two women for coffee since our kids were in middle school (20 years ago? Yikes!). They happen to be Jewish. I am not. We are friends anyway. They have been nervous about going to their synagogue since Trump got elected. My beloved former boss, the LSCHP, is also a rabbi. He has been nervous about going to his synagogue since Trump got elected. Yes, I know Trump’s [privileged/entitled] daughter has converted to Judaism. Somehow that does not seem to comfort the Jewish folks that I know.

I am mightily struggling with how anyone can say something like, “I hate Jews, let’s kill them all” or whatever. What? By the way, insert any religion/nationality/gender/whatever into the hate statement I just quoted. I was brought up in a mainstream Protestant religion but I was also brought up to respect those who practice other religions. Or no religion, like I do now, although I would not call myself an atheist. It’s more complicated than that.

We MUST treat other people as individuals and NOT label them by nationality or skin color or religious persuasion or gender or whatever. There may be folks who read this who may push back against this statement but I strongly believe that all human beings need to be treated equally. I will not EVER back down on that.

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