A Soulful Journey

 "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last. "  Winston Churchill. Sometimes we need to take a  position, choose a side.

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”  - Elie Wiesel

“Days are scrolls; write on them what you want to be remembered.” Bahya Ibn Pakuda

The room was hushed as Louis Brandeis came forward. It was an electric moment, the first time that this exclusive Harvard Honor Society had ever accepted a Jew. For Brandeis it had not been an easy road. For the past three years,   the students -uninvited - had sat next to him as he had his lunch each day, saying things to him like, “Brandeis, you’re brilliant, could end up on the Supreme Court - except that you are a Jew.   Why don’t you convert? Then all your problems will be solved.” Brandeis had listened but had not responded. Finally, in his senior year of law school, his preeminence could not be denied. Jewish or not, he was invited to join the exclusive Honor Society. On the evening of the official induction, the atmosphere was thick. All eyes were on him as he walked to the lectern. Slowly, he looked around the room.   “I’m sorry I was born a Jew,” he said. The room erupted in applause, an explosion of shouting and cheers. They had prevailed upon him at last....

“You can afford to starve in a garret as an artist but not as a judge.”   - Rabbi Louis Jacobs There is an saying, "You lie in the bed you have made."  We decide the path which we want to tread.   Alternative explanation:  A judge who is in constant need of food or money will not judge poor and rich equally.  Justice is supposed to be blind.

A Dutch missionary came back to Holland as the Second World War was beginning.  His friends said to him, "Tell us what we should do about the Jews.  Should we help and harbor them?  Should we turn them in?  Should we do nothing?" He said to them, "I cannot tell you what to do.  I can only tell you who you are.  Once you know who you are, you will know what to do." We must always know the right thing.

An aged tribal leader was facing a rebellion.   Youthful upstarts wanted to embarrass her publicly and take over the leadership of the tribe.   They decided that one of them would hold a bird in his hands and ask the chieftain if the bird was dead or alive.   If she answered, “alive,” he would squeeze the bird’s head, break its neck, and show everyone how wrong she was.   If she said it was dead, he would let the bird go free and prove that she had erred.   There the group stood, their leader holding the bird and asking the old chieftain, “Is the bird alive or dead?” She answered wisely, “The choice is in your hands.”

In the face of all life’s questions, what do we need in order to choose wisely? We need the sensitivity of a stethoscope, the stability of a gyroscope, and the vision of a telescope. -anonymous

An aged tribal leader was facing a rebellion.   Youthful warriors wanted to take over and embarrass the leadership.   They decided to hold a bird before the leader and ask him to say whether it was alive or dead. If he answered “alive” they would squeeze the bid’s neck and show how wrong he was.   If the leader said it was dead they would release the bird to the air and prove he erred. The group came before the leader holding the helpless bird and asked the chief, “Is the bird alive or dead?” He wisely answered, ”The choice is in your hands.” Stories are told to express morals.   Some lessons are clear and universal while others are specific.   This tale is one of the latter.   So, the question comes to the heart to the reader: What does this mean?

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s own way.”   -Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning So long as we breathe we have a choice.  No one can force us to act of feel anything unless we agree.