Crazes

It's part of the natural rhythm of life. The world loves crazes. Think about the different dances that our parents and grandparents boogied to - the Charlston, the The Twist, The Mashed Potato or The Locomotion. More recently, we saw the Disco, The Lambada and the Salsa taking over our dance floors. We all loved that craze didn't we?

What about the craze for clothes, haircuts (OK, I'm thinking Beatles now, but you get the drift.) Remember the Atkins Diet craze a while back?

We all love the latest craze. After all, isn't that what makes life that little bit more interesting and palatable? It becomes the "thing" that everyone talks about for a little while and then it dies away, usually to make room for it's successor.

Then, there is the other type of craze - the kind that we don't enjoy. Anyone remember the craze for hijacking aeroplanes? What about the one for suicide bombings? I'm afraid that one is still with us.

And now the latest craze - taking a bulldozer onto a busy main road, crushing cars and overturning buses with the sole intention of killing and maiming at an optimum level. In other words, a craze for the taste of blood, usually Jewish blood.

For people like me, a rational, thinking, caring inhabitant of the plaent, the crazes that I celebrate are the ones that enhance life. I know that right now, many like me would rather be moving their feet to the rhythm of a beat - as opposed to walking in two step behind yet another coffin.

Thank G-d, yesterday, we didn't witness any violent deaths in Jerusalem - but why do I fear that our cousins are in the stages of planning a more "successful" attack?

Remember that the word "craze" is a derivative of "crazy" and some people would do everything to give the beloved term a very bad repuation.