Monday 25 March 2013

Reality - Passover and Blog Awards

Two of my blogger friends, Anne from The Busy Teapot and Lizy from lizy-expat-writer, have awarded me a Reality Blog Award. Thanks to both of you, but what an appropriate week to receive a Reality Award!



This evening we begin the eight days of the Jewish Passover. Reality checks don't come much larger than that. The Passover (Pesach) is a time for remembering how the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt. Their escape was a hasty one, without even the time to bake bread. This is why we eat unlevened bread (Matzo) and have different foods for the eight days of Passover. It's a symbol, a mind-prompt.

This evening I will also remember those families who were killed in the Holocaust, whole communities of Jewish people, over 11 million. That's a lot of killing.

I went to visit a Holocaust survivor yesterday. She's 95. She told me that her whole family were killed by the Nazis.
      "There's only me!" she said and she held out her hands and shrugged. I don't want to try and imagine such pain but I will, tonight, when we share a special Seder meal with friends because only by remembering can we hope to stop the slaughter of humans by humans.

And now to accept the Reality Award from Anne and Lizy. I have questions that must be answered:

1.  If you could change one thing what would it be?   I would change our ability to hate and hurt.

2.   If you could repeat an age what would it be?   I'd like to be a kid again, that age when I truly believed that my Mother's kiss would cure everything.

3.  What one thing really scares you?   The unknown.

4.   If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?   This is a toughie but I wonder what kind of world we'd be living in now if I chose to be Eve and I refused to be tempted by that serpent?

Passing on the Award:

It's really, really difficult choosing people to pass awards on to. I don't like missing people out. It feels a bit like choosing your teams at school so I apologise if I've not included you, but on this occasion I'm going to indulge myself and choose the three bloggers/tweeters who keep my spirits up when I'm low, keep me grounded when I'm in a flap and who have become my genuine friends even though we've never yet met in real life. They are:

Anne Mackle at Is Anyone There? and @cassam101

Carol Hedges at Carol Hedges and @carolJhedges

Jo Carroll at gapyearsthebook and @jomcarroll