There comes a time in everyone's life, at least once, and most probably more than that, when a choice has to be made. Frost spoke of moments such as these when he wrote his famous seminal poem and it has been the topic of discussion in many a literature class and a late nite college session.
Dean Smith, who recently died, said, "There is a point in every contest when sitting on the sidelines is not an option." Yesterday afternoon there was a showing of a movie filmed several years ago along with its epilogue. Many of us here in the Village were privileged to attend and listened and watched on screen and in real life, when two of the bravest people I have ever met, opened their lives and their hearts to all.
In a world where to be different is still extremely difficult, imagine what it was years ago when these two ladies chose the path definitely less traveled and took a step on the path to justice. These ladies, well immersed and proud of their Jewish heritage, followed the precept found in Deuteronomy 16:20 "Justice, justice you shall pursue."
Their lives give encouragement to others who appear to be waging a seemingly uphill and endless battle for justice here in the Village and in the world at large. It is the responsibility of all citizens to know and pay attention to what is going on around them, to take action when things are just wrong, when something just does not seem correct. We are told to take upon ourselves the mitzvah, the commandment, of Tikkun Olam, making the world a better place. Sometimes it is very hard to fulfill that for we can look around and see despair and pain, but we need to know that the pain and despair are not the final words and we are told in Psalms that while in the evening there might be weeping, in the morning there will be joy.
What each of us need to do as individuals is to look deeply into ourselves and decide what is really important to us and where we need to draw the line on how we apportion our energies, what we truly need to do, what we want to do and find a balance between them. There is a story written by Tolstoy about a man who finds out that for a small payment he can have all the land he can walk around in one single day. Wow!!! So he sets out, determined to make the most of this opportunity, getting up early and walking, on and on, and cannot get back home. Exhausted, he collapses and dies of a heart attack. So how much land did he need? The six foot plot he was buried in - answering the question of the story's title, "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
How much power does a person need? How much money does one need? How many clothes? How many athletic trophies? Medals? And on and on? But we can also ask, how many smiles of gratitude should one engender? How many thankful people should one strive to create? How much goodness is enough? How much justice and love and faith and honor and freedom and human rights and this list can go on and on and on as well.
So why do we, do people, keep the flag flying, keep up a struggle when it seems a difficult one and there are so many other things to do? Well, just go back and reread this posting and one should understand why. If you need more, then go talk to two ladies, Ruthie and Connie, who live right here in our Village, watch their film, and read of ordinary people who stood up in life at the moment when they needed to, all throughout history in fact, some known and some unknown, but all their contributions were and are important. So is yours.
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