A Soulful Journey

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm,  you'll be fired with enthusiasm." -Vince Lombardi We can all use a large dose of greater effort at everything from love, effort and zeal.

At the Boulder Dam, eighty-nine men died building that structure.  There, an inscription reads: "For those who died that the desert might bloom."   May it be said of us when we have passed from the world that it is a brighter place because we worked to make it so.

A prominent magazine featured a story about Ben Brafman, the noted Orthodox criminal-defense attorney who takes on the toughest cases. The article described him as “an overnight success.” Mr. Brafman responded to the piece by stating, “It took me forty years to be an overnight success.” Do not give up.

The story is told of Lawrence of Arabia who travelled to Britain to represent the Bedouins. Returning from the foreign office and ready to return to the Arab lands he noticed that in every room of the hotel the faucets were missing. Confronting the Bedouins they admitted their crime.  “If these faucets can produce such water here imagine the benefit it would bring to our arid land!” Most of us have wishful or magical thinking.  We hope we will win the lottery, inherit a fortune, be the most compelling person in the room…. Yet water does not magically appear without hard work and an infrastructure.  Everything worthwhile takes much effort.  And only then grants rich rewards.

For Tzaddikim it [manna] feel to the doorsteps of their homes. For the average person, they need to out and collect it, For the wicked they needed to search for it before collecting it.  -Yoma 75 For the  righteous, life is not a war to be fought and won, each day trudging out to do battle. For the average person life is arduous. For the wicked is painful.

The late critic Anatole Broyard once surveyed several books on the subject of love.  His conclusions: Most of what we “know” about love derives from works of fiction.  Moreover, he claimed, one theme dominates all discussions of the subject. Love requires an element of “difficulty” if it is to be sustained. The Mishna parses this as, "According to the effort is the reward." - Avot 6

When he went to bat for the first time Pete Rose remarked: ”If I ever get to the big leagues and I draw a walk, I’m going to run to first hard as I’ve ever run in my life- they’re going to know I’m there.” Everybody needs attention.

The teakettle puffed its chest and boasted, “All pots have such pungent odors!  They reek of that which they cook.  Only we teakettles have the good fortune to be odorless.” An old pot standing nearby spurt a sizzling drop on the kettle’s head and scornfully retorted, “See how he tilts his crooked nose.  What else can you do, my great hero, but spout with steam? That is indeed funny!  What do you amount to?  Yes, you have no door because your contents are tasteless and odorless; you boil nothing but plain water.” Moral: To be faultless signifies nothing.  Life is about what you accomplish.

“Men must reap the things they sow, Force from force must ever flow. ” –Shelly Nothing meaningful comes without effort.

"The world is full of willing people; some willing to work-  the rest willing to let them work." - Robert Frost Which am I?  Am I content to let others sweat while sitting back? Or am I one who seeks to expend effort?

A rabbi was painting his fence on day.   He was meditating on the fact that life is so brief.   It’s just a vapor, he was thinking.   About that time, a man came along the road pulling a horse. “Where are you going with that horse?’ “I’m going to town to sell it.” The rabbi said, “You ought to have said that you are going to sell it, if it is the Lord’s will.” The man said, “The Lord got nothing to do with it.   I raised the horse to sell.   I am going to sell it.” The rabbi said, “I’m telling you, life is short. You ought to say, ‘if it is God’s will’.” The man responded, “Look, I raised this horse. I have an appointment with potential buyer.   The Lord does not have anything to do with it.” H walked off, dragging the horse. The rabbi kept painting his fence.   About an hour and one half later he looked up and saw the man walking toward him.   His pants were down, his shoes were gone, he was trying cover himself up with his shirt...

Rush Limbaugh learned his most memorable lessons in high school football field, where the future football broadcaster toiled as a defensive tackle. Limbaugh recalls one of his favorites: Every day after practice, we had to run wind sprints, which I hated. At some point, a coach would yell, “First three tackles through for the day!” That meant the first finishers in the next sprint quick showers. The others would continue running. It didn’t take me long to realize that if I pace myself during the early sprints, I would have some gas left to finish in the top three. After three days of this, the assistant coach called me over. ”Mr. Limbaugh, I noticed you’re usually in the middle of the pack until we call our first three tackles,” he observed. “Why is that?” ”I’m pacing myself, coach,” I said. ”In football we don’t pace ourselves,” the coach explained.   “We go all out all the time. You’d be wise to do that your whole life. If I see you doing that again, you’re going...

"Strive for a little and you will obtain much." - Hagiga 17a

The teakettle puffed out its chest and boasted: "All pots have such pungent odors.  They reek of things that have been cooked in them.  Only we teakettles are odorless, pure." An old pot sent flying a sizzling droplet of the kettle's head and retorted, "See how he tilts his crooked nose.  What else can he do, this hero, but spout empty steam?  Yes, you have no odor because you are tasteless  - you boil nothing but plain water." Moral: To be faultless signifies little.

William Spooner, inventor of 'Spoonerisms,' was once asked whether there was much Christian Socialism at Oxford University.  He replied, " No...I think there are only two Christian Socialists in Oxford, Dr. Rashadall and myself... I'm not very much of a Socialist and Dr. Rashdall isn't very much of a Christian."   from Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes T o not believe takes little effort.  To believe is the hard route.  It takes real and continued effort.