Today is TIsha B-Av, or the 9th of Av. its kind of a holiday...i guess. Basically, this is friday the 13th for jews. Both the 2nd and 1st temples were destroyed on this day, not to mention - Jerusalem was leveled and the Bar Kochbah Revolt failed. One is supposed to fast today, which is what i am doing, but also, i'm trying a new thing. The way i see it - if all these people have died and all this bad stuff has happened, the least i can do is deny myself something i'm used to. I'm going to try to be Shomeir Negiah - basically not hug or kiss people (hard for me, and for those around me). I hope people understand, and i hope people disagree, so that i can learn their point of view in contrast to mine - hokey, i know.
Last night, Seth Gordon-Lipkin, one of our RA's put on his angry face. He probaly has one of the best angry faces i've seen - ever. For those of you who don't know, an angry face is when you look and act angry and pissed off, but aren't really, you just do it to scare the shit out of people and set them in line. In the midst of him giving us a 'talkin to', he asked us a question: Why are you here? I had an answer, but i wasn't prompted so i didnt want to ruin his flow.
I'm here to learn and grow. Once again, hokey, but i find that sometimes hokey is true. I want, that by the end of the summer, i will be a different person for the better.
I been thinking about one of my core philosophies of life - everyone has a contribution to make to this world, and we can learn from EVERY single person. Wait, those 2 go in seperate paragraphs, ok - 1st, everyone has a contribution to make to the world: If anyone hasn't ever heard of the butterfly effect, its the idea that a butterfly can land on a leaf in africa, and cause a hurricaine in the united states, basically one chain of events leading to another to another to another until it finally ends up severly effecting the world. Same thing goes with people. One Smile, one word, can end up saving a life. In that sense, every person has an infinite value, and when one person dies, the world loses. This last sentence was prompted by a friend who told me they were contemplating all the different ways to commit suicide, so this was part of my argument against suicide.
My next core philosophy is that we can learn from everyone. Wether it be something someone says say, or do that makes us think, or question our beliefs, its good. I try my best to find that thing in everyone, what they can teach me, and what i can learn from them.
Aight imonna go socialize. Rollin out
2 comments:
Benny, awesome post and I'm really curious why you decided that the thing you would deny yourself on Tisha B'Av (besides food) would be touching someone else. Why not deny yourself something else? I guess I'm curious about the significance of touch for you.
Hope I get to see you when you get back.
1. re Tish B-Av. What did you learn from fasting or denying yourself of the pleasures you described? Did it bring you closer to appreciating the significance of the holiday? If so how, if not why do you think?
2. re your core philosophies. These sound like excellent perspectives to approach the world. In Classic Greek Philosophy there is the concept of hueristics or guiding principles. In modern philosophy the term "heuristic device" refers to a way or method to guide oneself in an inquiry. This seems like a good heuristic device for you.
Keep on writing. You're getting at valuable stuff.
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