A Soulful Journey

Oliver Wendell Holmes, American author and physician, was absent-minded.  Once, when Holmes was asked for his ticket on a train, he could not locate it.  After searching all his pockets and his briefcase, he was unable to produce the ticket.  He became distraught.  The conductor, knowing Mr. Holmes and his reputation, said reassuringly, "Never mind, sir.  I am certain you will mail it in."  Holmes was not comforted.  "Mr. Conductor," he replied, "The question is not "Where is my ticket?" but "Where am I going?"   Thought: The conductor was wiling to give Mr. Holmes leeway.  Instead of berating him, making pay for another ticket or any number of negative responses, he chose to be kind.   Thought: The question Mr. Holmes asked should be one that we regularly ask ourselves, “Where are we headed and is this where we should be going?”  

A student of Theodor Mommsen, the well-known German history and classical scholar, described the first lecture which he heard given by Mommsen at the University of Berlin.  At that lecture, the professor portray ancient then as it was in the time of Socrates in the fifth century BCE. Mommsen was already old, but still blessed with a phenomenal memory.  He walked to the blackboard and, without reference to a single note, he traced the location of the temples of ancient Athens, its public buildings and even its groves and wells. He also marked out the probable location of the houses of famous citizens, the place where Socrates lodged, and the paths walked by the philosopher in his dialogues with eminent disciples. With total conviction, Mommsen sketched in streets and paths of the old greek city. The writer goes on to tell that after the lecture, as he sat completely awe-inspired at the teacher's display of erudition and memory, he saw an elderly valet enter the lecture hall....

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.   -Robert Frost Never bemoan the path that you have taken.  It is yours.

A young boy wrote to his father in New York.   “Can I go to Simhat Torah celebration with Satmar Rebbe?” Came back the reply, “As long as you only look.”   - Rabbi Louis Jacobs We ant our children to follow our path. We hope they we will from our actions and words.   Yet, they will be tempted and move toward their own destiny.   Letting someone you love go is hard but may be critical for their growth.

The Pathless Path There is no answer. There never has been an answer. There never will be an answer. That’s the answer.   ~Gertrude Stein

Two farmers are talking about religion.  They are debating over their respective faiths.  As the discussion turned into an argument one turned to his elder and asks, “Gramps, who is right?  Which religion is the right one?” “Well, there are three ways to get from here to the cotton gin,” he said.  “You can go over the big hill.  That’s shorter but is a powerful climb.  The next way is to go around the east side.  It is not too far but tougher than tarnation.  Or you can go the west side, which is the longest way but the easiest to travel. But, you know, when you finally get there the gin man doesn’t ask how you got there.  He just asks, “How’s your cotton?” –LA Times

It is no easy task to inform the world. It is daunting to even think about trying to change it. Perhaps then the essential message is not "how much" but "how." "You don't have to do great things, but the little things you are doing can be done with great conviction, great wisdom, great beauty and great love." - Ruth Krehbiel Jacobs