I have made several attempts to explain that utopia cannot be found for it translates as “nowhere”. I cannot resist sharing my reasoning about the different “better worlds” that have been icons in literature. They are either as philosophical exegeses or just plain pictures in the minds of their creators of what a better world might look like.  Futurists used to populate the field of utopiasts (my word for those of us who like to talk about the many utopias that have been published).  Today it seems to be a clash of religions and the different forms of life after death that attracts the most attention.  I am sorry to see this because it is in THIS world, and not the ones pictured and promised as an afterlife in heaven or hell, that we need to pay attention to.

So, I have many years ago created a world of my own which joined two of my interests and created Puppetopia – Where Make-Believe Is Real.  I have created imaginary worlds with puppets and tried to use the arts of making little people (basically on strings) perform the idiocies humans do in order to get you to think.  I have carried this idea over into my synagogue, Temple Sinai of North Dade, where I will bring a life sized image of myself at age 13 to accompany me at my second Bar Mitzvah.

Now, puppetry immediately brings to mind Punch and Judy whaling away at each other while the baby is thrown out of the window and Punch kills everybody around him and defeats the devil – at least that is the version that I have found is most popular in most countries.  It is a wry and ironic depiction of the real world where such individuals as Punch defeats every attempt to control his homicidal tendencies.  We humans, as a species, have a long history of murder which is not to create bodies to munch on as animals do. But we are the only animals that go to war gladly each generation.  Our young people are genuine patriots for we make them so through our education system that preaches Flag and Country as surrogates for Church and Heaven.  And, of course, each contestant claims God is on their side.

What I would like to do at my second Bar Mitzvah is to bring A 1 (which I call my creation) along with me and share my experience and knowledge over the 70 years between my first Bar Mitzvah in 1939 and my second in 2009 in a discussion that takes place on our walk up to the Bimah. There I will demonstrate that I can read Hebrew (although the cantillation might be of my own device) and produce a speech that indicates that I am, indeed, now a man.

Puppetopia is a world that blends with the real world in which we actually live.  It is a place where make-believe can be real and not only children but adults can find their own places in it.  I am looking forward to August 15, 2009.