The Only Fixer

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “The Only Fixer.”

I’m reading the famous book, The Fixer by Bernard Malamud. It’s about the horrible pogroms in Russia and the blood libels where the Jews would be ridiculously accused of sorcery and witchcraft, and the killing of Christian children for their blood to put in Passover matzah!

In short, hate and hurt can’t be excused because you can. Wielding power gives you authority, but also the extra responsibility. There is such a thing as acting justly. And then there isn’t. Usually, when someone is acting justly, they can explain themselves in a balanced, calm, and rationale way. It makes sense! When they are doing wrong, it’s usually extreme, abrupt, and ultimately inexplicable and therefore can’t be articulated. Hence, that’s the way it is, Fixer. Who is The Fixer? Again, I don’t care!

(Credit Photo: Minna Blumenthal)

Don’t Give A Fire Truck

Sometimes, others can get negative at you in life.

People are unhappy. 

 

Complaints are rolling in. 

It seems like you can’t do right.

But you have to have a thick skin or as one colleague told me:

You need to be like Teflon and have it all just roll off you.

And this book title reminded me of this:

“The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck”

Yes, we do have to care about doing good in what we do. 

It’s just that we shouldn’t “give a f*ck” when others are just wanting to tear us down and enjoying it. 

Constructive feedback is good. 

But destructive negativity at every turn is just hurtful.

It’s also a way for others to not take ownership.

We all need to do our part to make things better in this world. 

Sure, no one does everything right and no one is perfect. 

But everyone needs to try their best, and when others just want to beat on you…

That’s a completely appropriate time to not give a firetruck. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Computer Sentiment 1984

So I found this book in an IT colleague’s office. 

It’s called: “The Unofficial I Hate Computer Book”.

It was written in 1984, and like the George Orwell’s book by that name, it is a dystopian view of technology. 

The back cover says:

Computer haters of the world unite: It’s time to recognize and avenge the wonderful advances we’ve made thanks to computers–excessive eyestrain and headaches, irritating beeping noises, a one-ton printout where once there was a six-page report, a “simple” programming language you can’t understand without five handbooks, a dictionary, and a math degree.

The book goes on with illustration after illustration of unadulterated computer hate and associated violence. 

– Dogs dumping on it (see cover)

– Contests to smash it with a hammer

– Hara-kiri (suicide with a knife) into it

– Skeet shooting computers that are flung into the air

– Shotput with a computer

– Tanks rolling over them

– Sinking it in water with a heavy anvil

– Boxer practicing his punches on it

– Setting it ablaze with gasoline

– And on and on, page after hate-filled page.

So in the last 34-years, have we solved all the annoyances and complexity with computers and automation?  

Do the benefits of technology outway the costs and risks across-the-board?

How do security and privacy play in the equation? 

I wonder what the authors and readers back then would think of computers, tablets, smartphones and the Internet and apps nowadays–especially where we can’t live without them at all.  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

How-To Book Craze

I took this photo of a person reading a how to take great photos book.

Sort of ironic, funny, no?

You can read about it or do it. 

I’m one of those people who learn more by actually doing. 

Ok, I’m not the greatest photographer in the world (by a really long shot).

But for me it’s more about the idea I’m trying to convey than the pure artistic value per se. 

Anyway, in the vein of words being cheap, “Reading is fundamental,” but doing is absolutely fundamental. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Everyday, A Catch-22

I took this photo of this guys’ cool Catch-22 bag on the Metro in Washington, D.C. yesterday. 

Catch-22 was made famous in the book of the said name by Joseph Heller.

Essentially a Catch-22 is an unsolvable problem.

In the book for example, military servicemen in WWII can apply for a discharge if they are verifiably crazy, but the sheer act of applying for a discharge shows you are not crazy. 

Other examples of a Catch-22 are locking your keys in the car and you can’t unlock the door to get them or losing your glasses but now you can’t look for them.

In life, it seems like we are constantly facing Catch-22’s, however not solving them is not an option…we must come up with a workable solution.

At work and in school, we compete to get ahead, yet we must team, cooperate, and collaborate with those very same folks that we are competing with. 

At home with children, we need to teach our children often difficult lessons of right and wrong, patience, discipline, and safety, even while we have overflowing feelings of love for them and just want to hug them and give in to them. 

With spouses, as our love and lives build over the years, we grow together and become ever more interdependent on our partners, yet we need to maintain some healthy independence and self at the same time. 

With career, are we advance ourselves so that we can provide well for our families, we must balance work-life, so that we aren’t just bringing home a paycheck, but are actually emotionally there for our loved ones. 

The list of life’s conundrums goes on and on, but rather than throw up our hands in defeat, we have to fight on and come up with solutions that are best fit to the challenges we face…there is no discharge just because you feel crazed or need to confront something hard…you need to solve the dilema and then you can go home. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

A Bunch Of Dummies

Took a photo from this children’s book that someone left in the kosher Chinese restaurant–and it was sort of priceless.

There is a drawing of a ventriloquist with his puppet.

And it says, “All my friends are dummies,”

Often, it’s tempting to think that we’re so smart and “we’re all that”, but everyone else is just a dummy.

But we need to remember that in a way, really we’re all just a bunch of dummies–now you didn’t think I was going to say that, did you?

We are human, frail, mortal…and no one knows everything (hey, not even close).

My father used to joke saying, “I know nothing, and I can prove it!”

The truth is that all we really know is what G-d wants us to know; we say, what G-d permits our tongues to speak, and ultimately, we do, what G-d commands of us–there is no escaping it. 

In the big picture, we are but puppets and dummies in the hands of the omniscient creator.

For those with mega size egos (and usually nasty to match)…what G-d gives, he can easily take away, so don’t be a real dummy. 😉

(Source Photo: The Blumenthals)

What Are You Thinking?

This was a funny painting on the window of this eatery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The woman is thinking romance, but the man is thinking about his delicious sandwich.

This fits in very well with John Gray’s bestseller, Men Are Mars, Women Are From Venus–where one theme is that men tend to retreat to think about or distance themselves from problems (in this case with a sandwich) and women seek to grow emotionally close.

See that happening here?

In a relationship according to Gray, you are either going to have balance in giving and receiving or you will have resentment.

Life’s little lessons…better take heed.

My guess is that if this guy in picture doesn’t start paying better attention to the love and attention needs of the women, he is likely to get a sandwich right over his clueless head! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)