Spotlight: I Have a Problem by Richard Steinitz

Let me start off first by saying, although it has been no secret, I've been hard at work rehashing my novellas with professional editors. Also, writing my 3rd novella in the Pawned Queen series and just plain determined to enjoy summer dreamin' before the season is over. I hope to bring original blog articles back to the forefront soon, but I've had a great time spotlighting many talented and worthy guest bloggers this summer.

So, this week I have something a little different to present. I decided to spotlight this author again because his new article rings truth (in my humbled opinion) with raw honesty and grit. It's a political piece and those usually don't enter my blog space, but it's so much more. Life and politics affect us all, no matter where we live or who we are. This author has written from the heart, and I felt compelled to share his story.

Richard Steinitz (b.1947) was born in New York to German Jewish immigrant parents. After four years at S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo, he moved to Israel where he
has been a resident of Israel for 40+ years. He lives with his wife, Naomi. They have two children and two grandchildren.


So without further ado, I present Richard Steinitz:


I Have a Problem

I have a problem. No, not a medical problem.

I have a problem with people – with those who are incapable of accepting the fact that different people have different opinions.

I have a problem – I was educated and raised as a democrat. That’s with a small ‘d’ - I’m not promoting any particular political party. I truly believe that a healthy society is composed of people with different attitudes and positions and idea, and that it is permissible and desirable and healthy to live that way.

I have a problem – with people in positions of power, who think that their current job (and it is a job, and they are responsible to the electorate) gives them the right to decide what other people should think and believe. The fact that you currently hold political power does not give you the right to regulate how I live, and what I believe in. The fact that you were given a government position does not give you the right to tell me how to raise my family, how to celebrate my holidays, or what version of what prayer to use – or not use.

I have a problem – I live in a country that loves to promote itself as the ‘only democracy in the middle-east’, yet day after day does its best to prove that it is not a democracy. Where different life styles are repressed, rather than being celebrated. Where different flavors of religion are persecuted simply for being different, and for not conforming to the ‘accepted’ - i.e. state-sponsored religion. Where different orientations are not acceptable to large portions of the population, and their persecution IS acceptable.

I have a problem – I am at peace with my neighbor’s religion, and politics, and attitudes, yet they cannot accept that I am. Accepting the differences as part of the fabric of our so-delicate society is the true meaning of democracy, yet this acceptance is missing in large portions of the population.

I have a problem – I am a democrat, living in a society that calls itself democratic, yet really and truly has no idea what a real democracy is. Apparently it takes more than a generation or two of living in a democracy to become a true democrat.

I have a problem – and the REAL problem is that I don’t have a solution.
© Richard Steinitz 2015



Join Richard on twitter @RichardSteinitz or see him on https://www.facebook.com/RichardStein...



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SK Thomas is a writer, author, book reviewer and the curious creative complex brain behind this blog.


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