"Because you never know when you have to leave..."

[ScreamingMeemie]

Was anyone else listening to Springer on the Radio this morning when he spoke of his parents as an illustration to the wrongs of theocracy? I literally had to pull my car over because I was sobbing.

In a nutshell, his parents (I never knew this) were the only surviving members of his family. They fled to England. The rest were lost in the Holocaust. They moved to New Jersey and his father was a traveling salesman. As he aged, Mr Springer was loathe to give up his car, even though he rarely drove, and was quite possibly a danger to those around him on the road. When Jerry, at his mother's behest, urged him to give up driving and he refused...."Because you never know when you have to leave..." were his words.

It was incredible. THIS is what religion based government does...it destroys everything in its path. I am grateful for Jerry Springer for the first time in my life.

[JimmyJazz]

1. I had heard him tell that story before. It is very moving.

:hug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. I have a newfound respect for him, even though I was already enjoying

his show. It's an excellent story, and a wonderful illustration of what should be. Now, I hope the average German...er American was listening today. :hi:

[knowbody0]

2. just goes to show ya

i will forever see him in a different light. how was his show?

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. His show is always excellent. He is the only host who consistently can

get repubs to agree with him, on pretty much anything. He is calm, rational, and brings true feeling and emotion to his calls. I am impressed.

[lala_rawraw]

5. As my poor father

Now lives in a world of lost keys and other non essentials in order to keep from going insane, I think. Having lost everything to bring me from the Ukraine (irony) to the US, my father now is unable to fully acknowledge that something is wrong here. He won't talk about anything. He won't do anything. He simply watches T.V. and talks in perpetual triviality. I wrote a heartfelt piece about this... somewhere in Google land, but the ending (in the piece) did not stay that way. So, not only are these people killing bodies, they are killing souls.

[MissWaverly]

6. I remember your post

You said that your father was doing better after the Ukraine referendum, what a shame, that's why we have to fight this for people like your dad, my mother's people were slavic, I don't know how many were exterminated because they looked "balkan" I wonder if you could have find some Ukranian websites he could look at, it might cheer him up. (if he's not a computer person, could the broadcast be downloaded onto MP3 or CDs maybe, I am no techie).

[lala_rawraw]

7. That is the problem...

He has so identified as an American (blast, I wish I know what the hell that op-ed was called so I could google it). My computer was hacked a few months ago and I had to reinstall Windows, so some of my work went missing. Basically, he is uber-American, so now he has no home, as it were. He is too old to emigrate somewhere else and too disillusioned to think it would make a difference. I think in many ways his focus on trivial things is a good thing, as a coping tool. I just hope it does not become a constant state of being.

[MissWaverly]

8. find a way to make him understand you will carry on for him

that you will not forget about freedom and what he taught you to value, you cannot always trust your party but your children will carry on your legacy. Tell him that we people on DU are inspired by his love of freedom.