RIP Alan Thicke

Every generation has their TV dads. The ones we only see once a week for thirty minutes. They aren’t our fathers, but they still have an impact on us.

For the generation coming of age in the mid 1980’s and early 1990’s, Alan Thicke was one of those dads. He was felled today by a heart attack. He was 69.

For 7 years, Thicke played Dr. Jason Seaver on Growing Pains. The Seavers have a busy household. Jason and his journalist wife, Maggie (Joanna Kerns) have four rambunctious children and a very busy life. But something kept them together, despite the whirlwind that was going on around them.

Growing Pains, in one sense, was a typical situation comedy revolving around a family. But on the other hand, it reflected the changing times in America. Jason was a hands on dad who, like many good fathers, was only trying to do what was best for his family.

RIP Alan Thicke.

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We HAVE To Talk About Syria

Dear world,

We HAVE to talk about Syria and specifically what is going in Aleppo. We cannot no longer bury our heads in the sand and pretend like everything is hunky dory. Everything is not hunky dory. Aleppo is one of the oldest cities in the world, humans have lived there for thousands of years.

What was once a thriving metropolis has been reduced to a metropolis of ash and rubble. Innocent lives have been lost. Whatever the futures held for those murdered, we will never know. Those lucky enough to still be alive have either left with only the clothes on their back and not much else, or if they have not left yet, are hoping and praying that they will be allowed to leave alive.

Where is the UN? Why have they allowed this war to go on for nearly five years, knowing that lives were lost and those lucky enough to get out are now refugees?

We should all be ashamed of ourselves. Our fellow humans are suffering and we have done nothing to help them. We let them suffer and die because we refused to take a stand.

At the end of World War II, the citizens of Europe who were not subject to the Nazi atrocities were forced to admit their complicity in the mass slaughter of their fellow citizens. They were marched into the concentration camps and see the destruction that they were part of. We are those citizens.

One of Albert Einstein’s most famous quotes as follows:

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

May G-d have mercy on those who have suffered. They deserve that much.