Today, or perhaps yesterday, I had a revelation. Isn't it funny that the only people who have time to philosophize about life don't earn an honest living? The only people with enough free time on their hands to tell the world how it really is are those people without real jobs. The professors, the Rebbeim, the bums, and the extremely unmotivated wealthy are the people found to be doing the most philosophizing.
Take me for example, the more I have real work to do the less I find myself thinking about "the meaning of life." It's people without jobs to go to that find themselves always thinking about "deep" things like the color of a sound-wave or the smell of God. People with places to go and people to see don't usually have enough time to think about "reality." They are all too busy living.
I recently started a new career as an agent for an insurance company. I spend all my day doing things. I have to make appointments, meet new people, learn product knowledge, follow up on cases, and develop a longterm marketing plan. I don't have time to think about why God decided to create the world, the existence of demons, or the reason for being. All I know is that I have to do what I have to do. There is no dichotomy between faith and work; if I don't work I don't get paid. It really is that simple.
In school I had lots of free time on my hands. I was able to sit around and ponder all the most nonsensical things. Now I find myself looking at my brother who is in the same situation I was in with a sense of sorrow. He has just finished school and now looking for work, and he has lots of free time on his hands while he goes about his search. With that free time comes the "interesting thoughts" about the meaning of life, political nonsense, and the smell of God. Doesn't he realize the futility of it all? Eventually he will realize as I did that you do what you got to do and everything else is fluff.
Every so often though I fall into a dark state, a state of boredom where I can't think of anything to do, or to put it another way, a state where everything I could possibly be doing doesn't seem appealing. When this happens I philosophize and laugh away the boredom. Because what better way to get rid of melancholy than transering that melancholy onto the sorry state of the world? But doing so doesn't really solve anything. The only cure for boredom is a strong will to get back to doing something, anything, to take your mind off the fact that you didn't want to be doing anything in the first place.
The end of all things is just to get back to doing something productive, anything but philosophy. There are no happy philosophers. There are happy blue collar workers.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sexism in the workplace- The Tie
Why is it that men have to wear ties as part of formal business attire but women can get away with the most outrageous things and still be considered "formal"?
Why do men have to walk around with a noose around their necks?
Why do men have to walk around with a noose around their necks?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A Call to Action- A New School
Many people with young kids are worrying about where they will have to send their children when it comes time for Yeshiva. All the schools seem very expensive and over priced, especially with the free option of public school peeking out from behind the evil curtain winking out at you. There must be some sort of solution to this outrageous problem.
After eating at Moshe's on Friday night, hearing what he has to say, and reading Jacob's post on the subject I decided it was time for me to do some serious thinking on the subject. I might be in their shoes in a few years. There is no reason for me to wait till then to thing of a solution to "The Tuition Crisis."
The truth of the matter is that there is not a tuition crisis. The real problem is tuition, period. Why should I, a Jewish person, be forced to pay for something that the rest of the world is getting for free? It's not like we are talking about an Esrog here, something that is essentially optional that people go crazy over anyway. We are talking about something that the rest of the United States has termed a "right" for every individual. Everyone is entitled to education. If everyone is entitled to education, why should I have to pay for it just because I happen to be an orthodox Jew?
Public schooling in America is provided for by the tax-dollars of the American tax payers. The collective mind of the American people decided that schooling was something that needed to be provided for uniformly for every child, no matter what the parent's financial circumstances happen to be.
In the Jewish community there is a similar sentiment. Everyone wants their children to get a Yeshiva education, and everyone wants their neighbor's kids to likewise get a Yeshiva education. All Jews are responsible for one another, is not just a chant that has no meaning. In the Jewish community there is truly a sentiment of comrade that exists between each Jew, no matter what socioeconomic situation the person happens to be in.
There is only one problem, no Jew can agree on a uniform system of education. Every Jew wants all Jewish children to get a Jewish education, but not every Jew can agree on what that education entails. Some would like no secular education at all, others would like all secular with only a little Hebrew thrown in for cultural reasons, and then there is the whole spectrum of people in between.
What ends up happening is that people with different ideologies end up opening different types of schools. These schools then end up being funded based not on how well a job they do in educating the students, but based on how well off the people with that specific ideology happen to be doing financially.
The people with the Kollel mindset will end up with schools that are underfunded, teachers who are underpaid, and student being taught at a sub-par level. The people in Kollel are unable to pay and are charged very little; the people who earn a living are forced to pay a much higher tuition to make up the shortfall for all the parents who are not working.
The people with the working mindset will open up a school that caters to their ideals. They will have an secular department that is above-par, students will be prepared to go to college, however the traditional Jewish part of the education will leave much to be desired. Kollel people who sit and learn will not want to send their children to these places, even if they wanted to they would not be able to afford it. The cost of the education would be very high as well since all the parents have the ability to pay.
The solution to the cost problem is to have a Jewish public school system. Funded on a progressive taxbracket basis where the most rich pay the most and the poorest pay the least. There will not be arbitrary tuitions based on selective circumstances. Everyone will pay on an ability to pay basis. Parents will get the choice to send their children to any school of their choice based on their ideology. The schools will be funded based on size, standardized test scores, parent/student satisfaction measured by survey and frequency of student transfers. All teachers must be certified and have their background checked.
Obviously this is a preliminary idea, but an idea that solves many problems never the less. What do you all think? Will it work?
After eating at Moshe's on Friday night, hearing what he has to say, and reading Jacob's post on the subject I decided it was time for me to do some serious thinking on the subject. I might be in their shoes in a few years. There is no reason for me to wait till then to thing of a solution to "The Tuition Crisis."
The truth of the matter is that there is not a tuition crisis. The real problem is tuition, period. Why should I, a Jewish person, be forced to pay for something that the rest of the world is getting for free? It's not like we are talking about an Esrog here, something that is essentially optional that people go crazy over anyway. We are talking about something that the rest of the United States has termed a "right" for every individual. Everyone is entitled to education. If everyone is entitled to education, why should I have to pay for it just because I happen to be an orthodox Jew?
Public schooling in America is provided for by the tax-dollars of the American tax payers. The collective mind of the American people decided that schooling was something that needed to be provided for uniformly for every child, no matter what the parent's financial circumstances happen to be.
In the Jewish community there is a similar sentiment. Everyone wants their children to get a Yeshiva education, and everyone wants their neighbor's kids to likewise get a Yeshiva education. All Jews are responsible for one another, is not just a chant that has no meaning. In the Jewish community there is truly a sentiment of comrade that exists between each Jew, no matter what socioeconomic situation the person happens to be in.
There is only one problem, no Jew can agree on a uniform system of education. Every Jew wants all Jewish children to get a Jewish education, but not every Jew can agree on what that education entails. Some would like no secular education at all, others would like all secular with only a little Hebrew thrown in for cultural reasons, and then there is the whole spectrum of people in between.
What ends up happening is that people with different ideologies end up opening different types of schools. These schools then end up being funded based not on how well a job they do in educating the students, but based on how well off the people with that specific ideology happen to be doing financially.
The people with the Kollel mindset will end up with schools that are underfunded, teachers who are underpaid, and student being taught at a sub-par level. The people in Kollel are unable to pay and are charged very little; the people who earn a living are forced to pay a much higher tuition to make up the shortfall for all the parents who are not working.
The people with the working mindset will open up a school that caters to their ideals. They will have an secular department that is above-par, students will be prepared to go to college, however the traditional Jewish part of the education will leave much to be desired. Kollel people who sit and learn will not want to send their children to these places, even if they wanted to they would not be able to afford it. The cost of the education would be very high as well since all the parents have the ability to pay.
The solution to the cost problem is to have a Jewish public school system. Funded on a progressive taxbracket basis where the most rich pay the most and the poorest pay the least. There will not be arbitrary tuitions based on selective circumstances. Everyone will pay on an ability to pay basis. Parents will get the choice to send their children to any school of their choice based on their ideology. The schools will be funded based on size, standardized test scores, parent/student satisfaction measured by survey and frequency of student transfers. All teachers must be certified and have their background checked.
Obviously this is a preliminary idea, but an idea that solves many problems never the less. What do you all think? Will it work?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The Yeshiva Dinner
I have a stomach ache.
I don't just have any type of stomach ache. I have the stomach ache that comes from eating so much food that the body imagines there should be two stomachs for all of it. I have the stomach ache that can only come from a massive all-you-can-eat shmorg.
For those of you who have never had the privilege of going to a yeshiva dinner I have one thing to tell you. So long as the yeshiva dinner has class, and is willing to pay for a decent smorgasbord, you had better not miss it. It is worth the stomach ache, the long speeches, and every other inconvenience imaginable just to experience the food stations that seem to go on forever.
Tougue, sweetbreads, duck, steak, chicken, and any other food imaginable was available for your hearts desire. The only thing missing from the shmorg was booze and knives. I suppose they wanted people to have room for the main course and not get too full and tired for the speeches. When it came to me though, I think they failed in this goal. I left early right after the second speech.
Most of you who send your children to Yeshiva know that part of the yeshiva tuition is that you pay for a seat at the Yeshiva dinner. So many parents just don't show up even though they have already paid for a seat. Some imagine that they have something so much better to do, some just don't want to be bothered with the speeches, and still some want to figure out a way to save money by somehow getting the money reimbursed. To all three of you, I say, "think of the good stomach ache."
This year my father could not attend the Yeshiva dinner for my brother. For none of the reasons listed above, my father just couldn't go. Instead, he sent me in his place. Besides for the aforementioned "Good Stomach Ache", I really enjoyed the whole experience.
One of my goals for the next year is to get more sociable. I want to experience being one of those sociable people who can keep a conversation going on any subject. Going to a Yeshiva dinner and shmoozing with people who for all intents and purposes were not my peers was a step in the right direction in terms of that goal. The only difficulty I found was that when the plate of food ran out invariably one of us would go running to get more food, ending the conversation. Food always comes first.
The one speech that I did stay for, before my stomach called me away, was a very interesting one. It was interesting not so much for the content as for the way it was given. Instead of a Rosh Yeshiva giving a speech for the students with the goal for them to better themselves, the speech was given to the Bal Habatim with the goal to make people happy for doing what they already chose to do. It was an interesting reversal from what I, a buchur just having recently left Yeshiva, was used to. The speech was filled with commitment to Torah, not in terms of the actual learning, but in terms of appreciation for your commitment to spending money to have your children taught Torah. Amazingly though, the theme of the whole speech was one that I had written about a while back. It was all about the fact that the meaning of the mitzvos have to be inexplicable to us for them to have religious meaning; that if the mitzvos had true rational basis in our mind they would lose all religious significance. I suppose the more I move away from the realm of Yeshiva Buchur and the more I move into the realm if Bal Habus the more things will start to make sense for me.
In case you missed the point of the post; Go to the Yeshiva dinner, and go on time for the reception.
I don't just have any type of stomach ache. I have the stomach ache that comes from eating so much food that the body imagines there should be two stomachs for all of it. I have the stomach ache that can only come from a massive all-you-can-eat shmorg.
For those of you who have never had the privilege of going to a yeshiva dinner I have one thing to tell you. So long as the yeshiva dinner has class, and is willing to pay for a decent smorgasbord, you had better not miss it. It is worth the stomach ache, the long speeches, and every other inconvenience imaginable just to experience the food stations that seem to go on forever.
Tougue, sweetbreads, duck, steak, chicken, and any other food imaginable was available for your hearts desire. The only thing missing from the shmorg was booze and knives. I suppose they wanted people to have room for the main course and not get too full and tired for the speeches. When it came to me though, I think they failed in this goal. I left early right after the second speech.
Most of you who send your children to Yeshiva know that part of the yeshiva tuition is that you pay for a seat at the Yeshiva dinner. So many parents just don't show up even though they have already paid for a seat. Some imagine that they have something so much better to do, some just don't want to be bothered with the speeches, and still some want to figure out a way to save money by somehow getting the money reimbursed. To all three of you, I say, "think of the good stomach ache."
This year my father could not attend the Yeshiva dinner for my brother. For none of the reasons listed above, my father just couldn't go. Instead, he sent me in his place. Besides for the aforementioned "Good Stomach Ache", I really enjoyed the whole experience.
One of my goals for the next year is to get more sociable. I want to experience being one of those sociable people who can keep a conversation going on any subject. Going to a Yeshiva dinner and shmoozing with people who for all intents and purposes were not my peers was a step in the right direction in terms of that goal. The only difficulty I found was that when the plate of food ran out invariably one of us would go running to get more food, ending the conversation. Food always comes first.
The one speech that I did stay for, before my stomach called me away, was a very interesting one. It was interesting not so much for the content as for the way it was given. Instead of a Rosh Yeshiva giving a speech for the students with the goal for them to better themselves, the speech was given to the Bal Habatim with the goal to make people happy for doing what they already chose to do. It was an interesting reversal from what I, a buchur just having recently left Yeshiva, was used to. The speech was filled with commitment to Torah, not in terms of the actual learning, but in terms of appreciation for your commitment to spending money to have your children taught Torah. Amazingly though, the theme of the whole speech was one that I had written about a while back. It was all about the fact that the meaning of the mitzvos have to be inexplicable to us for them to have religious meaning; that if the mitzvos had true rational basis in our mind they would lose all religious significance. I suppose the more I move away from the realm of Yeshiva Buchur and the more I move into the realm if Bal Habus the more things will start to make sense for me.
In case you missed the point of the post; Go to the Yeshiva dinner, and go on time for the reception.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Advertisement: Go to Williamsburg
Most people look at Williamsburg and think about all the people wearing the funny clothing. From the Hassidim to the hipsters, everyone is wearing something out of the ordinary. What people forget about is the great danishes that can be found in the bakeries of Lee Ave, and the great dinners that can be had at Gottlieb's on Roebling. For the food alone it is worth braving the stares of the people who look at you as if you don't belong.
The truth of the matter is that we do belong. We live in a free country. That means the freedom to walk into whatever establishment you want and get great service, no matter who you happen to be. I feel comfortable walking through the streets of Williamsburg the same way I feel comfortable walking into Porta Bella on Flatbush Ave to buy a pair of pants and a red hat. It doesn't matter that the people who they are expecting to buy at the store doesn't fit into the demographic I happen to be a part of, I still feel comfortable going there. Money is green no matter who it comes from.
Williamsburg used to be a very Jewish neighborhood, not just for the Chassidim. There were all types of Jews that used to live there. Then all the non-chassidim moved to warmer climes, to southern Brooklyn, leaving the Chassidim to keep making such delicious food without the rest of us to enjoy it. My advice to all of you out there is to move back to Williamsburg. The food's good and the drivers are just as good as the one's in Boro Park. I think you will all fit right in.
The truth of the matter is that we do belong. We live in a free country. That means the freedom to walk into whatever establishment you want and get great service, no matter who you happen to be. I feel comfortable walking through the streets of Williamsburg the same way I feel comfortable walking into Porta Bella on Flatbush Ave to buy a pair of pants and a red hat. It doesn't matter that the people who they are expecting to buy at the store doesn't fit into the demographic I happen to be a part of, I still feel comfortable going there. Money is green no matter who it comes from.
Williamsburg used to be a very Jewish neighborhood, not just for the Chassidim. There were all types of Jews that used to live there. Then all the non-chassidim moved to warmer climes, to southern Brooklyn, leaving the Chassidim to keep making such delicious food without the rest of us to enjoy it. My advice to all of you out there is to move back to Williamsburg. The food's good and the drivers are just as good as the one's in Boro Park. I think you will all fit right in.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I Hate Department Stores and other remarks
Can you believe what's going on now? Macy's won't accept my credit card without me giving them some ID.
I mean, I don't have no ID. I don't even drive. What do I need an ID for? But you know, Christmas is coming up and I want to get gifts for my Grandkids.
Target and Sears? Na, those stores aren't good for the disabled. There's no chairs or anything to sit down on. At least Macy's has places to sit down. And you know what, they don't need me anyway, they got so many customers buyin stuff from them.
It's not true. They need you. Don't you know that the costumer is always right. If they don't serve you right, you can go to another store. There are other stores.
You see this walker. I had another one that was really low. This one is good. Not like the other one that was hurting my back. You see all those old women walkin around with their backs bent over, that's because they all have bad walkers. The place I got this one at is out of business, but it works great. I got it custom made for me.
I work for the city. You won't believe what they caught this guy doin. He took two bereavement days. His mother died, he took four days off for bereavement. Then he got his friend at a funeral home to write another death certificate for his mother again. He didn't realize that people can't die twice.
(A conversation with a random stranger.)
I mean, I don't have no ID. I don't even drive. What do I need an ID for? But you know, Christmas is coming up and I want to get gifts for my Grandkids.
Target and Sears? Na, those stores aren't good for the disabled. There's no chairs or anything to sit down on. At least Macy's has places to sit down. And you know what, they don't need me anyway, they got so many customers buyin stuff from them.
It's not true. They need you. Don't you know that the costumer is always right. If they don't serve you right, you can go to another store. There are other stores.
You see this walker. I had another one that was really low. This one is good. Not like the other one that was hurting my back. You see all those old women walkin around with their backs bent over, that's because they all have bad walkers. The place I got this one at is out of business, but it works great. I got it custom made for me.
I work for the city. You won't believe what they caught this guy doin. He took two bereavement days. His mother died, he took four days off for bereavement. Then he got his friend at a funeral home to write another death certificate for his mother again. He didn't realize that people can't die twice.
(A conversation with a random stranger.)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Things were so much better in the oldern days
In the olden days people would make tons of money. They would be able to buy pens worth 300 dollars and not have to think twice. They would purchase all the latest Jordan's in cash and buy a car with cash no questions asked. The money ran like water in the gutter, there was so much you didn't even want to spend time counting it.
In the olden days people would get high and low during the work day. They would go to Battery Park and score some dope, only coming back to work good and stoned. They would invite people over to their offices for the chance to get high, and not just to sign a business deal. The dope was so potent one sniff would send you to the moon and back, no questions asked.
Those were the good old days.
I tell ya, now a days we have to contend with all sorts of regulations on life. The police don't even have an affordable price. Still though...
Man, I could tell you stories that would blow your mind....
(A conversation with a random stranger.)
In the olden days people would get high and low during the work day. They would go to Battery Park and score some dope, only coming back to work good and stoned. They would invite people over to their offices for the chance to get high, and not just to sign a business deal. The dope was so potent one sniff would send you to the moon and back, no questions asked.
Those were the good old days.
I tell ya, now a days we have to contend with all sorts of regulations on life. The police don't even have an affordable price. Still though...
Man, I could tell you stories that would blow your mind....
(A conversation with a random stranger.)
In conversation
I am in conversation with the world. As I walk through life, I am in a dialogue with the world around me. I walk into a store and I am told to buy some merchandise, not by the possibly pushy salesperson, but by whatever it is itself that calls out my name demanding my attention. Walking down the street I encounter many different things calling my name, all demanding an equal part of my time, all waiting to be heard, to converse.
To converse with everything in the world is to invite madness into your heart. A person can not give his attentions to everything around them and still remain sane. Not to mention, if a person allows everything that caught his eye his full attention he would be broke pretty fast from having bought everything in the world. There can only be one going on at a time for any conversation to be meaningful.
Some people see a dog on the street and run up to pet it. Some see something shiny in a store and have to buy it. Some look an old looking thing in a shop window and have to purchase it for their living room. Still other people see God and call out to him in longing.
How many of you think I'm stoned?
To converse with everything in the world is to invite madness into your heart. A person can not give his attentions to everything around them and still remain sane. Not to mention, if a person allows everything that caught his eye his full attention he would be broke pretty fast from having bought everything in the world. There can only be one going on at a time for any conversation to be meaningful.
Some people see a dog on the street and run up to pet it. Some see something shiny in a store and have to buy it. Some look an old looking thing in a shop window and have to purchase it for their living room. Still other people see God and call out to him in longing.
How many of you think I'm stoned?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Evil Inclination; The Good intention; The no inclination
Every so often the evil inclination says "Hello" to me, and every so often I answer "What's Up?" back. It's a game I play with my better half; me trying to do good, him trying to set me back. Like a schizophrenic trapped in his own head, a war all day and night, good and evil shout it out. One on one shoulder, the other on the other shoulder, each demand my attention.
One day I said to myself, "Self, what are you doing this for? Why are you letting a war go on in your own head?" So first I killed the evil, then I did away with the good. I went to sleep a happy man with the knowledge that at least I would sleep well tonight, uninterrupted by a Talmudic argument going on in my head.
One day I said to myself, "Self, what are you doing this for? Why are you letting a war go on in your own head?" So first I killed the evil, then I did away with the good. I went to sleep a happy man with the knowledge that at least I would sleep well tonight, uninterrupted by a Talmudic argument going on in my head.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
My political canvessing experience
(Insert Response here.)
Thanks that's great. Just remember to get out and vote.
(Insert Response here.)
That is truly ......, I will bring this back to the office and see what they can do for you. This is a real concern that deserves being addressed. Thank you for your time.
In the past few months I have been working on an election campaign as a paid canvasser. I have gone door to door and talked to voters about their concerns, their issues, and their problems with the political system.
The experience has been very rewarding. I have gotten to meet so many new people who I will probably never see again. I have gotten to bother people when they are in middle of eating dinner. I have talked with people in all walks of life, and watched their facial expressions change from polite expectation to brow furrowing consternation in the blink of an eye. I knocked on more doors than I can count in one day. It was just so much fun all the way through.
If you were one of the lucky few who had me knocking on your door, I thank you for the great conversation and polite greetings. If you were one of the two people who slammed the door in my face, I know of a special place made just for you. If you were one of the unlucky few who happened to miss me because you had to work so late, and by the time you got home it was illegal for people to come knocking at your door, I'm sorry; you should get a more laid back job. Perhaps you would like to be a political canvasser?
Just say NO... To coffee
After sleeping all Shabbos and drinking one nice tall cup of coffee at around 11 last night, I successfully, albeit unwittingly, stayed up all night. This is even with the extra hour tacked on for the removal of daylight savings time.
Moral of the story....
Eat a smaller meal Friday night so that you don't sleep so much that you get to shul so late that by the time you eat the meal Shabbos morning it is already afternoon and you are so tired afterward that you need to sleep the whole Shabbos afternoon just to get the full feeling out of your system and when you finally get up Shabbos is almost over and you need to get that Motzoai Shabbos Pizza in but you don't have the money so you borrow money from someone to get Pizza and you figure why not get a cup of coffee while your at it too and before you know it you wake up on the side of the road with a police flashlight in your eyes wondering where you were and why you couldn't move
Chas Vishalom, God Forbid, Gazuntite, Amen ViAmen, We should never know from such troubles, and May Moshiach come speedily in our days (but not so fast he needs to take a cup of coffee to get here)
Moral of the story....
Eat a smaller meal Friday night so that you don't sleep so much that you get to shul so late that by the time you eat the meal Shabbos morning it is already afternoon and you are so tired afterward that you need to sleep the whole Shabbos afternoon just to get the full feeling out of your system and when you finally get up Shabbos is almost over and you need to get that Motzoai Shabbos Pizza in but you don't have the money so you borrow money from someone to get Pizza and you figure why not get a cup of coffee while your at it too and before you know it you wake up on the side of the road with a police flashlight in your eyes wondering where you were and why you couldn't move
Chas Vishalom, God Forbid, Gazuntite, Amen ViAmen, We should never know from such troubles, and May Moshiach come speedily in our days (but not so fast he needs to take a cup of coffee to get here)
It's all good, as long as it's all good
Many people have all sorts of things that are important to them when it comes to how they want to live their lives. It has to be a certain way or it's not good at all. Everyone in the world who doesn't live the way they feel is the optimal way is committing some sort of sin in their eyes and is deserving of a special place in hell. In my mind this is not the case.
I take the opposite view. In my mind the objective way people choose to live there lives are unimportant and arbitrary. A person can choose to live on the street, a person can choose to take a job working every hour of the week, and a person can make all the choices in between. Each choice is viable, each choice is worthy. So long as the choice is made...
Personally my choice has been to live the life as a Jew, keeping the 613 mitzvos of Hashem. I choose to get a job to earn a living, and eventually support a family. I choose to get up every morning and thank Hashem for another day of life. However, there are many things in life that I have not made choices about. There are many things in life which shall forever remain arbitrary in my mind. So many things can go either way and I'd still be a happy man.
I read many people's writing and I listen to many people who criticize the choices that others choose to make. (Kollel, Israel, job choice, living choice, food choice....)
They give wonderful reasons why the people doing what they are doing are wrong.
The people who they complain against go home and continue doing exactly what they were doing before.
What was accomplished by the criticism?
The measure of a critique is how well it changes the situation for the better in the eyes of the person giving the critique. It is not how eloquently the argument is given over, nor is it the pure logic of the argument. It's the effect the words have on changing the situation in the right direction. In my mind though, to fight over something that I personally consider arbitrary and a personal choice and make it some sort of objective thing seems quite silly. Not only won't people change what they were doing, it really isn't even worth arguing over in the first place. The only right path is the direction that the person living the action decides upon.
Thats all for now....
I take the opposite view. In my mind the objective way people choose to live there lives are unimportant and arbitrary. A person can choose to live on the street, a person can choose to take a job working every hour of the week, and a person can make all the choices in between. Each choice is viable, each choice is worthy. So long as the choice is made...
Personally my choice has been to live the life as a Jew, keeping the 613 mitzvos of Hashem. I choose to get a job to earn a living, and eventually support a family. I choose to get up every morning and thank Hashem for another day of life. However, there are many things in life that I have not made choices about. There are many things in life which shall forever remain arbitrary in my mind. So many things can go either way and I'd still be a happy man.
I read many people's writing and I listen to many people who criticize the choices that others choose to make. (Kollel, Israel, job choice, living choice, food choice....)
They give wonderful reasons why the people doing what they are doing are wrong.
The people who they complain against go home and continue doing exactly what they were doing before.
What was accomplished by the criticism?
The measure of a critique is how well it changes the situation for the better in the eyes of the person giving the critique. It is not how eloquently the argument is given over, nor is it the pure logic of the argument. It's the effect the words have on changing the situation in the right direction. In my mind though, to fight over something that I personally consider arbitrary and a personal choice and make it some sort of objective thing seems quite silly. Not only won't people change what they were doing, it really isn't even worth arguing over in the first place. The only right path is the direction that the person living the action decides upon.
Thats all for now....
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