If you could change one thing about the world what would you change?

deer kisses

Following up on my post, What Are Your Fears?, Rabbi Kushner posited,
"If you could change one thing about the world what would you change?"

He told the interviewer, he would like to change the fragile egos his Maker created in humans.

Why are our egos so fragile?

We can scar a child for life with unkind words. Our hearts can be torn out at the suggestion that we are less than we would like to be seen as being.

We need family and good friends to shore us up and reflect our true selves back to us. 

 Go to church or synagogue for community. My blog friend, Travis, did.

Religion is about who you belong to, not what you believe. 

It's a judgement call. It is a matter of belief. Can we depend on nature, on the honesty of others, on the goodness of humanity?

Live bravely in an unfair world, the good Rabbi tells us.

Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, said: 

We cannot control what the world does to us. We can control our response to the bad (or good) things that happen to us. Making lemons into lemonade is trite, but apt. Mr. Frankl survived Auschwitz. He wanted to live to write about the experience. It is a powerful book. I urge you to read it.

Eagle eyes peeled as the hawk flew by

Does pain equal punishment? 

Both come from the same Latin root. We have pain, but we are not being punished. Nature is blind and amoral. Things happen that are out of our control. Dealing with our life lessons teaches us strength and humility. 

Look deeply enough into yourself and around you, you will find the resources.
Investing our energy into making a difference, no matter how small, eases our fears and lets us live in the present. This is why we volunteer.

They look like lost souls when the feeder is empty!

Live bravely. Do not surrender to chance or  misfortune and panic.

Rabbi Bulka suggests we recite the Mourner's Prayer. Not because his religious community's was is the only way, but in community you gain support.

The Mourner's Kaddish serves a purpose: it draws people together in community. It puts those in mourning together. We know the benefits of community, of support groups, and bereavement groups.  

Ollie tries to take down the mouse ornament

Some confuse God with Santa Claus! Those who go on TV and beg for donations for their 'ministry', prey on the faint of heart. If you pray for something hard enough, it will come true, they tell us.

 Whether it be healing or a new car! 

In a world that is fair:
young people do not get sick, young marrieds do not die, the poor do not suffer quakes, tsunamis, everyone has enough to eat.
I believe that the law of nature are immutable. We live by them, we die by them. Bad things happen to good people. We are supposed to feel anger, pain, resentment, how we deal with these issues makes the difference between a whole person, and one who blames others, God, for their misfortune.


I wish the best to you and yours in the future.