EMBRACING NOSTALGIA ALLOWS US TO DECOMPRESS

A few weeks ago, while erecting our Christmas tree, listening to Christmas carols, and inhaling the scent of cookies baking in the oven, I was overcome by an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. With everything our minds have been preoccupied with this past year, and with all the challenging issues at home and abroad that will confront us in the coming year, this sensation actually felt tremendously comforting, be it somewhat melancholic. It occurred to me that, perhaps, this is exactly what we as a community and as a nation need right now - enjoy the season, take some time off, and reflect on what has always made us feel safe and comfortable.

While processing this experience I recognized intuitively that in my mind "nostalgia" contains characteristics that are largely positive and beneficial.

The dictionary definition of nostalgia is "a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition," sometimes enhanced by a "yearning for the happiness felt in a former place, time or situation." However, for centuries, giving into feelings of nostalgia was considered a sign of weakness.

The word originated from the Greek for "homecoming" and "pain." Throughout most of the 19th Century this sensation was considered a potentially debilitating, and sometimes fatal, medical condition, expressing extreme homesickness. (Melissa Dahl, "The Little-Known Medical History of Homesickness," February, 2016). A Swiss medical student, Johannes Hofer, first defined nostalgia in a dissertation he wrote in 1688. He defined it as a mental illness, an affliction of those who had left their home, and which struck them as they recalled fond memories. In some cases they were crippled by the sense of longing these memories brought. His research focused on Swiss mercenaries fighting abroad. Consequently, early on, nostalgia was often referred to as the "Swiss disease." The characteristics Hofer identified and discussed were recognized well before he published his dissertation.

During the Thirty Years War - which ran from 1618 to 1648, involving much of central and southern Europe, Spanish soldiers were discharged from service because they suffered so strongly from it that they were no longer capable of fighting. During the early 1700s, Russian troops were often buried alive if they succumbed to the so-called nostalgia virus. And during the U.S. Civil War, soldiers who grew nostalgic for their homes and families were publicly shamed and ridiculed until they got over it. (Debra Kelly, "When Nostalgia Was Considered A Crippling Mental Illness," June 29, 2014).

These days nostalgia is viewed as an independent, and even positive, emotion many people tend to experience frequently. Led by University of Southampton psychologist Constantine Sedikides, scientists focus on its potentially therapeutic aspects. Research suggests that nostalgia can promote psychological health, including counteracting the effects of loneliness and providing us with a greater sense of continuity and meaning to our lives. It seems to help us maintain a sense of who we are, and how we are connected to other people through our relationships. Participation in religious traditions or cultural norms, especially during the Holiday season, helps us do that. (Krystine Batcho, "Why We Feel Nostalgic During The Holidays," New York, Le Moyne College, December 20, 2011).

This past year has been stressful for many of us. The daily bombardment of controversial input, emanating from a brutal election campaign, caused many relationships to become severely frayed. A post-election article in the Boston Globe stated that the mental health of Americans of all persuasions had been seriously challenged. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and other hot line services reported huge surges in calls for help.

As a result of all that we have been confronted with this past year, many of us have experienced the feeling of being disconnected from reality, and acknowledged that somehow we have been separated from some of our friends and family members. The feeling of nostalgia that may overpower us during this time of the year, if we allow ourselves to embrace it, could help us regain a margin of separation from all that befuddles us, while bringing us mentally back to a time when political and social distractions did not get in the way of our sanity. It can help make us feel grounded again, and provide continuity and context to our lives. If we feel we need it, it may even help give us the strength to move on. We will realize  that there will be ample time to confront and assess our challenges after the holidays.

Wishing everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanzaa, all of which this year are celebrated around the same time. They provide a fitting spiritual conclusion to a tumultuous year. I am confident that even those of us who don't subscribe to a religious tradition will still be inspired by the spirit of the season, and feel connected to all who surround us.

ANXIETY AND XENOPHOBIA IN POST- ELECTION AMERICA

One of the troublesome aftermaths of a nationalist electoral victory continues to be that the victors, especially those who used to occupy the fringes of society, now feel emancipated and entitled to act on their nativist impulses and begin to attack minorities, immigrants, and basically anyone they don't like. Back in June, when many voters in the U.K., upset over what they believed was an unrestricted inflow of migrants, voted to leave the E.U., racist abuse increased almost 100% overnight. Much of this abuse was directed at Polish immigrants, many of whom had been British citizens for generations. Pamphleteers spread the word that now that the U.K. was leaving the E.U., its citizens no longer needed to tolerate "Polish varmint." Kids in school were told that they would be deported. Casual racism spread unchallenged.

Fast forward to our own post-election period. Two days after the election results were in, USA Today headlined: "Rise in racists acts follow elections." Educators were quoted suggesting that feelings that had festered for years in private were now coming into the open. A swastika was scrawled on a softball field dug-out in Wellsville, N.Y., accompanied by the slogan: "Make America White Again." In Maple Gove, Minn, messages on a high school bathroom wall included: "#gobacktoafrica," and #whitesonly." White students in De Witt, Mich. formed a physical wall of students to block Latino kids from entering school. A Muslin woman had a knife pulled on her in a bus by a Trump supporter. Several California Mosques received threatening letters stating: "Trump will do what Adolph Hitler did to the Jews." And a personal friend, who immigrated many years ago, who built a successful business, and who employs many in our community, has been confronted by people coming into her business telling her in no uncertain terms: "Go home!"

The Southern Poverty Law Center tracked more than 80 reported hate crime and racist incidents in California between Nov. 9 and 16, the most of any state. The pattern is not just disturbing, it is scary.

Whether President-Elect Donald Trump can stem this tide is questionable. After all, candidate Trump provided ample ammunition for these hate groups. In November last year, on the MSNBC "Morning Joe" program, Trump vowed to build a "deportation force" and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants from the country. That same month Trump confirmed that he would "absolutely require Muslims to register in a data-base." One of his surrogates, Carl Higbie, representing the biggest Super-Pac supporting candidate Trump, reiterated this intent, and suggested that the Japanese internment camps could serve as legal precedent for establishing a Muslim registry. During a subsequent interview on "Meet the Press," incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appeared to confirm this when he stated that he "would not rule anything out."

The selection of Stephen Bannon as President Trump's Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor has dampened the hopes of many that Mr. Trump's transition to President-Elect and President would somehow prompt a softening of the populist and nativist positions he ran on when he was still a mere candidate for the office. Only two years ago, in an email to supporters, Bannon wrote: "Let the grassroots turn on the hate, because that's the only thing that will make them do their duty." In his role as (former) Executive Chairman of the Breitbart New, Bannon is known for statements like: 'Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy," calling Bill Kristol - editor of the Weekly Standard - a Republican spoiler  and a renegade Jew," claiming that Huma Abedin, aide to Hillary Clinton, is connected to a terrorist conspiracy, and calling progressive women "a bunch of dykes."

People like Richard Spencer, leader of the so-called "alt-right" movement, a distinctly white supremacist organization, for which, according to Mr. Bannon, the Breitbart News provides a platform, rejoiced at the appointment. During a Nov. 19 meeting in Washington D.C., Mr. Spencer suggested that the "alt-right" could serve as "an intellectual vanguard" that would complete Trump. He hoped that they could be "the ones who are out front, and who are thinking about things that he (Trump) hasn't grasped yet." He ended his speech, appropriately, with the Nazi salute: "Hail Trump!"

Six days after the election, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared that the administration should push Congress to organize a new House Committee on Un-American Activities. According to the former Speaker, who has not been shy about his desire to become part of the new administration: "We passed several laws in 1938 and 1939 to go after Nazis ..... We're going to presently have to take similar steps here in regards to Muslims."

The anxiety, and the fear induced by xenophobia permeating through much of, non white, post-election society is palpable. This was aptly articulated when a member of the cast of "Hamilton," actor Brandon Dixon, asked Vice-President Elect Mike Pence, after he attended  a performance, to listen to this message: "We sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and to work on behalf of all of us - all of us!

Enough said.