Dear Friends,
Shalom to you and loved ones-
For the past few months we have been experiencing a rollercoaster of moods. The daily news is confusing and down right depressing.
The reports read like this ...
The stock market has a bad case of hick ups. One month up and the next month it’s down. Employments figures are moving ahead and then we are informed that the unemployment figures are reaching dangerous levels. The airline industry is picking up and the next thing we are told that planes are grounded and airports are closing.
Places of worship are open as well as casinos. Hotels, restaurants, parks, museums, beaches and bars opened and closed. Zap - everything is in crisis. The Government issues a lock down and everything comes to a stop. What’s happening we ask?
Let me share a story that might shed a little light on the situation.
There's a story in Jewish folklore of an astrologer who foretold a calamity that would affect his kingdom. All the crops would be tainted with a dangerous bug. It would poison the minds of people causing them to lose their rationality. When the astrologer told the king of this ominous news, the king said, "Since you are the harbinger of this news, you'll have to put away one year's quantity of
untainted crop to sustain yourself. During the year you will run around whispering the words, 'Remember, there was a time when we were all sane.'”
It seems that our generation has eaten from the tainted crop. The tainted crop has created a behavior for making excuses for anything by pointing to political officials blaming them for our failures and unhappiness, forgetting that we are the ones that elected them in the first place. Irrationality is the new form of thinking, sadly our minds are poisoned.
Very few have not eaten from this bewitching crop and they now have the sad mission of whispering the words, “Remember, there was a time when we were all sane,” reminding us of the original plans where Governments were to help us become more productive and give us a better quality of living.
Personally, I am not worried about the riots and virus, I am more concerned with people taking responsibility for their actions. We need to de-bug our brains by being responsible for our thoughts, deeds, and actions. The great Maimonides had it correct when he stated that Man is given free will to choose the proper path of life and is responsible, at all times, for his actions.
I say don’t worry about the great picture, It doesn’t help. If you want to worry, then worry about the things you can change. Care for those that have less then you. Show compassion for your fellow human beings. If you haven't until now, then make amends. Have a positive attitude and ask G-d for forgiveness.
Being positive and happy is the only way to deal with the worries of danger.
