A Soulful Journey

Everybody matters.   Everybody counts.   No voice is silent before God.   Should it be any differently with humanity? Sam was a pauper in a well-to-do community.   One evening the President called a meeting to discuss a community problem.   People cited pros and cons and when Sam wanted to express an opinion, he was ignored.   At the end of the evening someone remembered they had a yahrzeit and needed to say Kaddish .   A head count was taken.   There were ten people, including Sam.   Then Sam turned to the President and said bitterly: “You see, to you I am a nobody but to God, I count.”   -Rabbi Hillel Silverman A working community is where every voice is heeded.

"Some of my best friends are fantasies -- my own."  ~ Rabbi David Wolf Silverman Being true with one's self is no easy task.  We face some pretty adamant foes when we attempt to look at ourselves in an objective light. Voices well up from deep inside that object to the harsh self-evaluation.  That is why it is so hard to take criticism: the internal defenses are much too strong...and too vulnerable. Real strength resides in the ability to listen to critics without quickly rejecting them.  At the same time, it takes fierce honesty to acknowledge when we are creating fantasies in our own minds.