First article I wrote. Warning: It's repetitive - the entire second half of the essay is basically written twice (in different words though. It's still worth reading... )
It received lots of feedback (which you can read by clicking on the link at the end) - mostly good, though some not-so-good.
This article was also recently published in Lubavitch of UK's magazine "The Central". (With some minor changes - to the humor...)
Water, Water Everywhere... So Drink Up!
Face it – you've got problems. Who doesn’t? (Unless you really don’t. Then I apologize.) And it’s ok. Most normal breathing, walking, talking, yoga doing, karaoke singing people type persons constantly find themselves in situations that call for a couple less margaritas than usual.
Much of the time, your woefully woeful woes may not even be within your ability to control; what can you do about the sad fact that your pet moth has contracted severe cortical dysthymia? Not much.
But fortunately for us, not all the issues we face are necessarily all that life-altering.
Just because your iPod decides to only play tracks ending in “Q” isn’t much of a reason for you to start planning which Star-Wars©®™ costume you’re going to wear for your trip to the nearest bridge…
But the reality is that at some point you will inevitably make (one of) the worst mistake(s) of your life.
And maybe you already have (I’m not talking about YOU…).
Maybe you didn’t do something you REALLY should’ve; or maybe you did do something you REALLY shouldn’t have. Omission or commission. You took one too many easy way outs and now you’re just … out. Or you betrayed a trust. Or you lit the neighbors’ cat on fire (PETA people: it was a long time ago – let it go.).
Whatever the case, you messed up. Big time. And now you find yourself in a place you’d really rather not be.
Much of the time, we simply post bail, make amends, and get on with our lives.
But sometimes it’s not that simple. Sometimes the world isn’t so forgiving. Sometimes, we don’t get that second chance. And even if we are lucky enough to get another opportunity, things will almost certainly be very different – tougher, harder. Your once carefree life has (at least to a certain extent) been turned on its head, and now you need to find a way to get back on your feet.
No matter how you decide to go about that, though, you won’t be able to escape from the realities of your past mistakes.
But your life handing you lemons doesn’t mean you have to go ahead and start a lemon collection. It certainly won’t do you very much good. And chances are they’ll eventually rot.
Besides, even if you can’t change your past, you can decide how your past changes you.
Meaning…
To make a very long story very short: You were born, as you, with certain you-isms, into a certain family, with certain them-isms, into a certain environment, etc. etc. And through a combination of nature and nurture, you (for better or for worse) developed into the person you are today.
And naturally, we’re comfortable with who we are. And we develop a certain complacence with the way we run our lives – even though we know it may not always be the best for us.
Perhaps the single-most difficult thing for any person is attempting to change these naturally programmed “settings” he has become so accustomed to.
Unless you happen to be a very different kind of human-being (in a good way), accomplishing anything of the sort simply by setting your mind to it seems about as practical as organizing a Bolivian goat jihad in Times Square to benefit Spanish spinach victims.
And so most of the time, as important as they may be, the much-needed changes in our lives simply don’t happen.
But every once in a while, something wonderful happens – we mess up (no, I’m not sadistic – keep reading, you’ll see). We make that one mistake that takes our comfy little lives and lifestyles and blows it all to pieces. Everything you so naively took for granted until now is swept away in a single instant. Any contentness you may have had up until this point is completely gone; in fact, there’s a good chance that that’s what got you into this mess in the first place.
And now, things aren’t too pretty. To say the least. Happy Shabbat.
You could just turn this all into an excuse to stay home in your PJ’s devouring family-sized packages of mini chocolate-chip cookies while watching reruns of the World Knitting Championships.
Or you can recognize it for what it could (and really should) be – an opportunity. A really really good one.
Huh?
Here it goes:
Up until this point in your life, you were you (hopefully). Bob was Bob, Pierre was Pierre. Everyone’s who they naturally developed to be. Everybody - you included - stuck to the “script”. Sure you changed a couple of lines here and there, but the storyline was still basically the same.
But then you carelessly lit a match (or forgot to put one out) and your script went up in flames. Or your little experiment went very wrong and your house blew up (dramatic, I know – but it makes a point. I think.).
And now you have the chance to do something you previously couldn’t (or didn’t have the guts to) do. You have the ability to write a brilliant new script, to design a beautiful new landscape, and to define, in the most extraordinary way, a magnificent new character.
And of course you’ll be sure to see to it that it doesn’t have the original glitches. But you’ll also add a few new “enhancements”. And even an entirely new dimension – one of transcendence: the ability to rise above and go beyond the obstacles and hindrances that previously prevented you from realizing your true potential.
You won’t just be creating a new path – you’ll be adding a … well, a trampoline. And not just the cheap kiddy kind you find on the dusty clearance-shelf at K-Mart; the really good kind. The kind that’ll enable you to jump so high, the roof of your old house looks very, very small.
And now you can soar high above the clouds that once obstructed your sight, open your eyes and see the radiant colors of your soul.
Or in the (not-so-verbatim) words of the Torah:
When your world has corrupted and the storm comes crashing down and turns life as you know it to devastating ruin, hold on tight with the vision that when the chaos calms and the fog clears - there will be a rainbow.
Make it a pretty one.
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