For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

After I wrote about the demise of my guinea pig, I received a note from the veterinarian. It was addressed to “The Hecht Family.” On the cover of the card was a picture of a guinea pig in a hand surrounded by pictures of other guinea pigs. On the back of the card it had the company’s name and said it was designed in memory of “Pig.” It therefore seems to be the company’s normal procedure to send a condolence card when a pet dies. Whether or not it is their normal procedure, I was very impressed. I only saw the vet one time – a week earlier – and they took the time to send a card.

I was planning to write an article on Sunday night concerning the first part of the Mueller report, including responding to Jared Kushner’s ridiculous comment that the Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election was limited to a few Facebook ads. However, something happened on Sunday night that resulted in my changing the article.

I am writing this column while sitting in my dining room facing a cage that is empty for the first Sunday in over five years. If someone told me six years ago that I would be writing a column about a pet guinea pig, I would have thought that they were crazy. When I was growing up, the only pet I had were fish. I had a fish tank for a few years and stopped because I was not interested. Then when my kids were younger we had three hamsters. There was more interaction than with the fish. However, hamsters are nocturnal, live a short time and are not very sociable.

There are 20 declared candidates vying to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for president. In addition, former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce his candidacy.

In last week’s Queens Jewish Link there must have been a half a dozen columns attacking the Democratic Party and/or specific members of the Democratic Party. Not one Republican was criticized. It is somewhat repetitious reading one article after another with the same theme. My initial reaction is to respond to counterbalance the one-sidedness of the paper. However, this week, as I did the past few weeks, I will not specifically limit my discussion to the president.

In last week’s Queens Jewish Link, Rabbi Schonfeld wanted to see my reaction to the Mueller report. I do not want to leave him disappointed, so I decided to address it this week.