and yadda yadda, an aliyah blog
by Jen Maidenberg
If time were to
stand still,
I would kiss your lips
leaving no trace of me behind.
You’d awaken
when time moved again
and know your life had changed forever
but the only evidence
of the crime
would be a hazy cornered memory
hidden in the land of dreams.
= = =
(This vignette was prompted by The Daily Prompt: Standstill)
I grabbed the nearest book: Tolstoy Lied by Rachel Kadish. I’m about ten pages from the end, but I picked up the book and opened to a random page in order to complete today’s Daily Prompt.
Grab the nearest book. Open it and go to the tenth word. Do a Google Image Search of the word. Write about what the image brings to mind.
The tenth word on the random page i opened was “key.”
I was disappointed.
But also determined to complete the prompt. Google images produced a somewhat ordinary, but dirty old brass key at the top of the results page. I studied it.
Nothing.
I zoomed in. Stared at the grooves and tried to feel inspired.
Nothing.
I closed my eyes and meditated on the key.
Still nothing.
What did the key open? What was behind the locked door? Inside the sealed box?
Zzzzzzz…
Finally, I stopped trying to feel inspired — it’s the end of a long day after all,and my kids are begging me to read them bedtime stories already.
I decided to just follow the directions:
“Write about what the image brings to mind.”
So here goes:
A key. Another
mystery awakening
my humility.
What does it open?
Perhaps it doesn’t matter.
This time, just a key.
Today’s Daily Prompt:
You have the power to enact a single law. What would it be?
Wait for it.
Wait for it.
Wait for it.
I would make a law that allowed me to make three more laws.
Ha!
Don’t ever try to limit me to just one anything!
I will beat you
at your own game
every time.
But, in all seriousness, as much as I love laws — and I do, I’m one of those irritating rule followers — I have a hard time coming up with the laws I would enact first if given the opportunity.
I would certainly enact one law that would benefit mothers.
And enact another that would benefit the Earth.
Somehow both of the above laws would trickle down to benefiting children.
Not just today’s children, but tomorrow’s.
Because I think the Earth, mothers, and children are often the ones who suffer with a lack of laws in their favor.
I would enact a law, I think, that would allow one parent to choose to be at home to care for his or her children, if he or she chooses, for at least two years full-time, and then supplementary after that until the children leave home.
My new “Family Leave Law” would not emphasize the LEAVE, but the STAY.
It would make a case for staying.
So staying is something a parent could choose to do, as opposed to making a major financial sacrifice when choosing to leave a full-time job in order to care for children, which is the situation for most people.
My law would reward and support parents for choosing to take on the job of caring for, educating and nurturing their children before and after school, for which we now pay others to do in a daycare system or through paid childcare.
My law would use taxpayer’s money to offer the parent caring for the child financial benefits and significant tax breaks for the time spent caring for the child.
In many countries (not the U.S.) laws like this already exist in some form. The existing law is not as supportive as my proposed law, per say, but it’s better than what exists right now in America under the Family and Medical Leave Act which basically protects no one and supports nothing, but the employer.
Really.
It’s a joke.
If you have ever been pregnant, you know what I mean.
Unless you’re a teacher, a union member, or work for the state government — those guys, from what I hear, have it pretty good.
Of course, there are cases to be made for not doing this.
Israel is one such case.
People here have lots of babies.
For a long time.
I’m talking 6, 7, 10 children.
My new law could potentially create a financial hardship for the government.
Which then may lead to the government putting a cap on how many children they will subsidize.
Which then will lead to anti-government people getting all up in arms about government regulating what we can and cannot do; how many kids we can or cannot have.
Which would lead to a media frenzy.
Which would lead to an outcry. And then a backlash. And then, maybe a reversal of my law.
Which makes me really glad, for once, I’m not the one making laws.
It’s really not as easy as it appears, is it?
What law would you enact?
and yadda yadda, an aliyah blog 