Milosevic Chutzpah

The recent news about former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic has given me a new insight to what chutzpah is all about.  My Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary has a word listed as "chutzpah" n. (Yiddish), supreme self-confidence, nerve, gall.

As I read of the war crimes reported to the tribunal at the Hague, Netherlands, I shudder.  Now Milosevic is claiming to be the victim.  I begin to wonder if I'm missing something.  The mass killings of innocent families in cold blood and he is crying victim!

As a child I was told by one of my teachers that chutzpah is unmitigated audacity.  The example given was of a child who is brought to court after killing his parents.  The defense lawyer asks the judge to be compassionate, "After all, the child is an orphan."

 Maybe we should add to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition a new syndrome called the Chutzpah Syndrome. 

This would work well if you had a problem with your boss, school or any authority figure.  You could justify mass killings even terrorist bombings or genocide.

 The Milosevic murder trial has created new problems.  Mental trauma has been interpreted to be a justified reason for violence.  A new defense, "I was forced into doing it," has evolved.  It was NATO's actions that really caused the mass murder.  "I was traumatized" seems to be Milosevic's defense.

Let me illustrate how the Chutzpah Syndrome would work. 

 A son likes to use drugs and watches the wrong kind of shows, destroying the family harmony.  Well, what do you do?  Get a shotgun and BAM, no more problem.  Your wife is neglecting you.  She's interested in her work more than her marriage.  She's causing you too much stress.  NO problem.  Get a shotgun.  BAM.  You have a bad case of Chutzpah Syndrome.  You are the victim.

Another example, your parents tell you to take out the garbage while you are watching your favorite MTV show, to finish your dinner because children are starving in Somalia or Afghanistan.  Be home by 11:00 p.m. and threatens you with, "You can't take the car keys."  What's the solution?  Simple - kill your parents and claim self-defense.  To ensure that your plea is good, you proceed to put the dead parents on trial.  You ask your dead parents, "Why did you make me kill you?"  You cry, saying you're sorry you were born to such parents but you did the right thing, giving a new meaning to, "Killing by kindness."  If mediums were real, the parents would send their message of sincere thanks.

This rather perverse and convoluted thinking is taking place in our justice system.

 Molosevic knows that in no way can his actions be rationalized except through the Chutzpah Syndrome.  He seems to say that if people or, as in his situation, the Kosovo Muslims, end up being the victims maybe they are the cause of their own problem.  If anything we must show true sympathy and apologize to Slobodan Molosevic for putting him on trial.

This kind of reasoning just doesn't work.

I had an elderly grandmother who lived over 100 years.  Once I asked her about my cousins that lived in a large home with many children.  During the day a man in his early twenties broke into the home looking for drugs and money.  When he couldn't find any, he proceeded to burn down the house.  The little children were able to run out but there was one child who hid under the bed while the fire burned and miraculously he was saved.

When speaking about the miracle, I said, "The man who started the fire must be crazy."  My grandmother gave me a puzzled look and said, "The man who started the fire wasn't crazy.  He simply was wicked, a bad person.  Crazy means that after finding neither money nor drugs he would have run his head into the wall in desperation.  Wicked means he decided to be vengeful and just burn the house down."

My grandmother didn't take too many classes in popular psychology.  She was too busy raising a good family in Europe and taking an interest in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  There is a saying, "What life teaches you, no books can," and that is evident by her all-knowing answers to our problems.

Yes, it takes a lot of chutzpah for a cold-blooded murderer to consider himself a victim.  I believe it's time to call a killer a killer.

 Milosevic is on trial for planning and executing the mass murder of innocent ethnic Muslims.  His heinous actions in Bosnia is enough reason for conviction and sentencing.  We must  not allow his trial to become a mockery of justice where the murderer plays clown.

The Milosevic tragedy illustrates man's irrational need to defy the truth that he can be cruel and act inhuman and get away with it.

On Monday evening, February 25^th the Jewish holiday of Purim begins.  This 24 hour celebration commemorates the Persian Jewish community's escape from Haman, an evil minister who planned to exterminate them through mass genocide.

The events are described in the 'Book of Esther' called the Megilla.  The story took place about 450 B.C.E.  'Purim' derives from the word pur, which means lottery, the method used by Haman to select the date on which he intended to massacre the Jews of Persia.  On this day the Jews gather in synagogues and schools, read the Book of Esther, exchange gifts of foods, and extend charity.

 I believe that Purim is a day for all lovers of humanity to recognize the need to preserve democracy.  Whether it's the old Haman, or the modern day Haman - Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, or Slobodan Milosevic - we must continue our crusade to eradicate evil - The Chutzpah Syndrome.

As there is no monopoly on good things why not celebrate the holiday of Purim with your neighbor by exchanging gifts and good cheer and by being charitable.