A list of that I think that all of us need to consider this 5782 (The New Moon was sighted last night, per comments on Yo’el HaLevi’s recent post. Also cf. Shemot 12:2). I will admit that I am imperfect. That said:
Shift our focus away from celebrity worship, and focus on worshipping God.
Let kids be kids—politics, sex and sexuality, and other adult issues are complicated enough for adults—and this also means that parents need to be parents.
Depend more on God, ourselves, and our communities and less on the government.
Whether they like or hate it, the shallow celebrities who insisted on holding the Oscars during this time insisted on making themselves ambassadors of at least a segment of American culture. They now have to deal with the fallout of giving everybody else in the world a bad impression of Americans – i.e.:
that we don’t punish the rich for committing crimes, whereas we would put a poor man in prison for a few years; and
that we don’t care enough about people in Ukraine and other places with suffering.
I myself neither watched nor cared to watch the Oscars; and I myself want to see Will Smith held accountable for assault, battery, and criminal breach of the peace.
I also want to see Chris Rock held accountable for incitement of hatred against Jada Pinkett Smith per the ADA (as the ADA stipulates that one can be held accountable for a hate crime if he or she deliberately or extremely-recklessly incited hatred against somebody based on his or her disability—and that includes a medical condition such as alopecia¹). I don’t buy that he didn’t know about her alopecia, given that she’s been very open about it and most people especially in Hollywood know about the happenings of their fellow celebrities.
¹Depending on the jurisdiction, a hate crime per the ADA can be either a misdemeanor or a felony.
What can I say except for that Momma at least gave me treats; and I got a bath, brushing, and haircut as well as a paw trimming in time for my birthday? At least I also look good. - Reilly
PS I did not consent to this picture of Camille. I don’t like when Momma takes pictures of Camille because I am supposed to be getting all of the attention, even if that means that Momma takes pictures of me. - Reilly
PS The post to which I alluded— as it had originally been on Twitter, and then I posted it on Facebook and LinkedIn:
Something that I wrote on Facebook:
If I may so kindly could ask a huge favor, if you’re not going to buy someone literal food for Purim (as, remember, we’re supposed to give each other food on Purim), please consider buying him or her food for thought in the form of one of my books. Besides, I’m working on becoming a full-time author partly so that I can get off of food stamps and, God willing, be able to fulfill the mitzvot of feeding the hungry year round and sending misloach manot on Purim (and sending food for Purim is actually a mitzvah l’Purim).
PS If you don’t think that being a burden because of my disabilities is part of what keeps me up at night, you couldn’t be more wrong in what you think about me. Having to depend on the government in any way, let alone when (for example) fellow Jews (including relatives of mine) in Ukraine are suffering, sucks.