I've heard people postulate in recent weeks as to the causes of Hurricane Sandy. I've heard fire and brimstone sermons and read numerous articles, chiding Kal Yisroel for a multitude of sins which our self-proclaimed prophets say have precipitated this horror. (I'm not even going to comment on my thoughts regarding the trauma inflicted on people who have sustained significant damage to their homes, who are then forced to hear that it is due to their own evil ways....)
I would like - VERY HUMBLY - to put forth an idea that is quite the opposite.
We live in a world that can easily make us lose faith in humanity and in goodness. Sometimes it takes a tragedy like this to illuminate all that is RIGHT in the world. People are not all bad. Before, during, and after this storm, we have been inundated with stories and images highlighting tremendous acts of chessed and generosity, depicting all that is RIGHT with this world. And did you ever notice that acts of humanity are contagious?
Maybe - just maybe - it's time we stop looking for the worst in people and start noticing the BEST in people.
4 comments:
Beautifully said!
.בשורות טובות
Yes!!
I see what you are saying, but our leaders, and certainly our religious leaders have a duty to spur us on to the right path. Does it need to be fire and brimstone? NO. Do we know G-d's plan? No. But we do know that the individual lesson that we each need to take out of this, is not "hey, we're pretty good," but instead, "what can I do, personally, quietly, for my own ruchniyus to make the world better place, and follow the path of Hashem." We all can be better.
I told my kids, we don't know why, we just know we need to be miskain something. Something small is OK, but when something like this happens, aside from the all the chessed and Tzedaka (in a way that's easy-it's a no-brainer and emotional)we need to make some sort of changes in our lives. Individually.
FBB-
You are correct that whenever there is a tragedy, be it personal, local or universal, we as frum Jews realize that we are being given a message that something is not right. As you point out, it is up to the individual through introspection, to decide what acts of self improvement can be done in order to show that we understand this and that no one can or should publicly claim to understand the exact reason for the what happened.
I think that what G6 is pointing out here is that in this particular incident, we as Jews and even non-Jews, have come together in such a tremendous way to help our fellow men who have experienced so much suffering. It is a much more open and positive reaction than one normally sees in times of tragedy and this reaction in itself can be a positive lesson for all of us. Of course each of us can take a private lesson from this, but as a whole community we should use the reaction to it as source of strength and encouragement of what we are capable of and not just another excuse to be told how terrible we all are.
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