TO STAY ALIVE ON A bicycle or in a crosswalk, pretend you’re invisible. (The other drivers won’t see you anyway, so you may as well own it.)
Category: Living
Each moment is different. Here are some of mine.
Sacred Comedy
LAST WEEK AT THE GROCER’S, the guy ahead of me in line is good-naturedly chatting up the sales clerk when he catches sight of my yarmulke. “What happened to the rest of your hat?” he asks. Without missing a beat,…
To be religious means to be honest, kind, and thoughtful. Anyone who lacks these qualities is not religious, no matter how careful one is in ritual observance.”
— Rabbi Marc D. Angel, introducing chapter 6 of Pirkei Avot
Never allow what you cannot do to control what you can do.”
— Rabbi Avi Weiss
I believe life’s a mystery; a sacred one. As for faith, that’s a personal and private thing…”
– John Walton Sr.
Prophylaxis
THE MISSIONARY AT THE DOOR was polite but insistent as she tried to hand me a tract. I bowed my head and pointed to my yarmulke. “No thank you,” I said. Her eyes widened and her mouth made a little…
Birds of a Feather
THE SMALL BOY AT SONOMA Plaza came running up to the ducks. Great, I snarled to myself. Just what we need — another damn kid chasing the local waterfowl. Why can’t they leave the birds in peace? As I considered…
Teachable Moment
WHILE HITCHHIKING BETWEEN PLACERVILLE AND South Lake Tahoe in 1985, my ride — who had just unsuccessfully offered a friendly beer — taught me a valuable lesson on which I still reflect constantly: “When you’re on the road, and someone…
Blaming others is the suicide of [national] liberty.”
— R’ Jonathan Sacks, zt”l (from https://aish.com/302413231/)
5 Thoughts: Toward a Relational Taxonomy
0. THAT’S MY $5-WORDS WAY TO describe a long-held observation regarding how and why people get along together — and sometimes don’t. 1. Here it is: I believe we can interact with each other in one of three ways: Click,…
Be not ashamed to learn truth from any source.”
— Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabirol (1021-1058)
Pithyism #1234
EVERYTHING — EVERYTHING OF ANY VALUE, anyway — is always “worth a shot.”