President Biden is rapidly speeding down the cognitive slide. Sharp-eyed observers have noticed this for a while, but were met with scorn by those with vested interests in keeping him in office. I've been speaking about this for three years now, and my colleagues scoffed at me. I wasn't fazed because I knew I was right. I developed an awareness to dementia, because I saw it up close - with my late mother and father.
I saw the small signs, the lost looks, the disorientation, the confusion with times and places, and recognizing people - the whole package, given to a person who has outlived what evolution intended.
Biden's condition is a tragedy, primarily for himself. He's reached the peak of his life, yet he cannot fulfill it. Like a player injured at the start of the second half, stubbornly limping to the final whistle. It's also tragic for his family, who sees their family's beacon quickly turn into a source of embarrassment.
And how sad that instead of saying - Joe, it's time to go home - they insist on dragging it out until the absolute ruin. How selfish. Another thought—how clear it is that the president is controlled by others, manipulated by unseen, Obama-like forces. They find it convenient that he is this way, easy to influence. How lacking in compassion the world of power is.
But the greatest tragedy in my eyes, apart from the free world and all that, is for dementia. A cursed disease with nothing funny about it. But now all the malicious tongues are making jokes about the president's condition and turning the whole issue of cognitive decline into a mockery, until it happens to them, and let's see them then. There are a few diseases that top the list of things a person does not want to happen to them. In first place, by far, ALS. The disease that takes the body but leaves the mind sharp. Just below that is Alzheimer's and dementia, which leave the body intact but hollow it from within of identity and thoughts. Then come all the terminal physical diseases, various cancers, heart and vascular diseases, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and more, down to the common cold at the end of the list.
But the main and unique problem with dementia is the diminishing recognition, loss of self-respect, erasure of previous identity, the slow drowning into the darkness of forgetfulness, and the long years that pass until the light goes out completely.
And I think, if this, God forbid, happens to me, I would want to end it gracefully before I no longer recognize my wife and daughters. I want to take a pill and shorten the process if I remember where I put it. And to Joe, I say -go home. Maintain your dignity. Go before the stage of presidential diapers arrives.
The Sponge
In the current Israeli reality, where no one listens to anyone or anything, where people carry their acute pain, and no one lends an ear and heart, there is one couple that fills the void. They are President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal.
They go out several times a week, every week, from their lovely residence in Jerusalem, get into the state car, and go to meet citizens: bereaved parents, families of captives, evacuated communities, from all kinds of distress. They come and listen. They are the heart of the country in days when there are few ministers in the government who remember they are first human beings, then officials. They are the sponge, that absorbs all the pain.
I was privileged this week to have lunch with the presidential couple. Just me and them, at the official residence in the President's House. Why did they invite me? I have no idea, maybe because they had just reached the letter Gimel. I sat with them, ate delicious bulgur and eggplant, and listened to the listeners.
They told me about various meetings they had recently. Amazing. Both have phenomenal memories and exponential empathy, and they could report on every person who sat with them in large group discussions in various places across the country, remembering names, personal stories, connections to other people, a tapestry of human Israel in their heads. As someone who doesn't remember the names of second-degree relatives, it was an amazing display.
In general, this Bougie, I've known him for many years. It's true that in a somewhat tragic way, he is not cut from the cloth of a prime minister for this era; he is far too preoccupied with others and too little with himself. But I see him as a model of precise public conduct. An open house, an open heart, the ability to encompass any topic he touches, and humility. The same goes for the first lady, Michal. No airs, no pretentiousness. She gets the job done without making a fuss about herself because there are matters to attend to.
And only one thing marred the visit - the water from the faucets in the President's House is brown, more dirty than clean. And I think if you're already imprisoning a person in a gilded cage, the maintenance should be at least as good as a regular citizen's apartment, not a beautiful facade hiding decay. As long as we have a president, and I generally support that, it's worth giving him clean water because he is the sponge of all the pain, and it's best if it's clean.
Allowance
Two short segments I saw this week connected in my strange brain into one. If you read what I write occasionally, you might have noticed I think outside the box, just because I don't remember where I put it at all. Here I go further, but maybe there's logic in what I have to say. Or maybe it's a ridiculous segment.
So here it is: I watched an interview with Elon Musk, saying that soon 90% of the world's jobs will be taken over by artificial intelligence, so there's no escaping a different income model, which is a uniform allowance for all the world's citizens, ensuring a dignified and prosperous existence for everyone when there is no more work for anyone. Interesting. Not sure it solves the sense of purpose that unemployed people will lack, the issue of free time, and more, but there's something to think about here.
I also watched a very disturbing segment of Palestinians climbing ladders over the separation fence to enter Israel and work, to bring bread home. The thought of electrifying the fence crossed my mind, but then I remembered Elon Musk, and it connected.
I thought - we don't want them here forever. We've had enough of their antics. On the other hand, if they have nothing to eat, it's easy to recruit them to Hamas, Iran, the al-Qassam Brigades. We need them fed. And here Musk's model suddenly makes sense. Keep them on a salary, so they don't work here. So I suggest such a mechanism:
Every Palestinian over the age of 21 can apply for a regular salary of 2,000 shekels from the State of Israel if they meet the following conditions: 1. Register at the employment office we set up in Ramallah. 2. Get photographed so they can be identified by the Shin Bet's smart cameras. 3. Provide full details. 4. Sign a commitment not to act against the State of Israel. 5. Attend a ten-session course on the history of the State of Israel and the conflict. That's it.
Once they complete all the tasks, they receive money every month. 2,000 shekels is a lot in the territories; one can live well on that. And it will be clear—if you're caught infiltrating, if you're filmed carrying a weapon, if you're reported as belonging to a hostile entity, the allowance is gone, even for the family.
It will cost quite a bit, but it will be worth it. Most of the desperate will calm down, most of the hostility will diminish. It will bring new energy to the conflict. And if not, we can always electrify the fence. What do you think? The silliest segment you've ever read, or is there something to it?
