Thought this was an incredibly beautiful photo.
Someone playing ball with an elderly lady in a wheelchair!
Too often, I think we forget or neglect the older, disabled, and disadvantaged population.
These were once the people who cared for us!
As we grow older, life can get so much harder in terms of health, disability, finances, and even loneliness.
It is so important to show compassion, kindness, and care for the people who need us, and not to forget anyone along the journey of life! 😉
So I hurt my back last week.
Incredibly painful.
Difficult getting up from sitting or laying position.
Today, I was trying to walk it off a little.
One of my kids was walking with me taking good care of me.
We ran into a neighbor.
She was nice and asked about what happened.
I told her in brief and said how grateful I was for my daughter taking me for a little walk while I try to heal with G-d’s help.
She smiled and said how lucky I was (which I acknowledged).
I asked if she had any kids, thinking that she did.
But she goes to me:
I have no one!
I was a little surprised that she didn’t have anyone and how she said it.
I sort of repeated it quizzically.
She goes:
Well I did have a cat but she was 19 years old and I had to put her down.
I felt really bad for her, especially since I know she had an operation this last year and is planned for another one coming up.
I said that we’re her neighbors and friends and that she can call on us whenever she needs someone.
This whole thing just made me so upset–no one should be so alone.
I really pray that G-d has mercy on his children and that no one should be alone and that we should all have caring and loving people around us always. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So I heard this interesting saying yesterday, which goes like this:
Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother that is far off.
I looked it up and saw that it is actually from Proverbs 27:10.
Thinking about it a little, I understand that obviously people that are close by can more easily be there and help one another than someone else who is far away.
At the same time, I always learned growing up that:
Blood is thicker than water.
Family is family, and friends are friends. Family is forever, but friends can come and go.
Yet you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.
There are some friends that go back decades to childhood and they are almost like family.
Also, there are sometimes family that are disassociated or even “black sheep” of the family.
I guess in the end what’s most important is how we feel about each other, treat each other, and are there for each other.
Whatever the designation–family or friends–we need each other. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Never Alone or Meaningless.”
- We are never alone, because G-d is always right there with us, and in us!
- And what we do is never meaningless, because everything we do affects the G-dliness of everything else–everything and everyone are wholly intertwined and connected.
Instead of feeling alone, aimless, and sad, we can delight in our oneness with G-d and the cosmos and in knowing the everything we do can have a positive impact on everything else. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Being a heart alone in this world is very lonely, indeed.
Chasing another heart, so that we can pair together makes two less lonely hearts.
Two hearts that beat as one making beautiful music together.
When the hearts are in harmony, we sway and are uplifted flying away into the heavens.
And when the music is discordant, we are forced to retune and to grow wings that we never even knew we had.
Hearts that complement each other, help us face the questions we often fear to ask ourselves.
When these hearts meet, they touch so gently, and like silk they dance a perfect dance.
What is meaningless alone is all of a sudden meaningful with another.
What is too painful to bear by oneself is manageable when shared between two.
And what is joyful is magnified in sweetness when there is someone else to enjoy it with.
One heart chases another until they embrace that long blissful embrace. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
There is a very important article in the Wall Street Journal today on the link of loneliness to death.
Frightening loneliness statistics:
– One in 11 Americans over age 50 “lacks a spouse, partner, or living child.”
– More than 1 in 4 baby boomers is divorced or never married.
– 1 out of every 6 people lives alone.
Research indicates that loneliness leads to early death.
The impact of loneliness is equivalent to:
– Smoking 15 cigarettes a day
– Drinking 6 alcoholic beverages a day
Loneliness is worse for mortality than:
– Obesity
– Physical activity
“The effect of isolation is extraordinarily powerful…we have to address loneliness,” says the former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Whether you are extroverted or introverted, we all need human interaction, sharing, caring, touch, and love.
Truly, no man is an island!
Those that are stranded on loneliness island need to escape it and make their way back to human civilization.
Alone our lives are dull and stunted; but together, we have the inherent social dynamics to be able to experientially learn, grow, change and mature.
Alone we die–together we live.
It’s not just power in numbers, it’s life itself.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Here is a great parable that speaks to the meaning of life:
A man died.
When he realized it, he saw God coming closer with a suitcase in his hand.
Dialog between God and Dead Man:
God: *Alright son, it’s time to go*
Man: So soon? I had a lot of plans.
God: *I am sorry but, it’s time to go*
Man: What do you have in that suitcase?
God: *Your belongings*
Man: My belongings? You mean my things…clothes…money…
God; *Those things were never yours, they belong to the Earth*
Man: Is it my memories?
God: *No. They belong to Time*
Man: Is it my talent?
God: *No. They belong to Divine Providence*
Man: Is it my friends and family?
God: *No son. They belong to the Path you traveled*
Man: Is it my wife and children?
God: *No. they belong to your Heart*
Man: Then it must be my body
God: *No, No… It belongs to Dust*
Man: Then surely it must be my Soul!
God: *You are sadly mistaken son. Your Soul belongs to me.*
Man: I never owned anything?
God: *That’s Right. You never owned anything*.
Man (with tears in his eyes and full of fear took the suitcase from God’s hand and asks God): Then? What was mine?
God: *Your choices.*
Every choice you made was yours.
Create each moment by filling it with meaning.
Do G-d’s will at every moment.
Choose to act kindly to others in every moment.
Life is the choices of every moment.
(Adapted from and with Gratitude to Minna Blumenthal for sharing this with me)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So when I saw this colored rock last evening, it made me think two things:
One, cool idea, looks nice and fun to make.
Two, it reminded me of the Pet Rocks in the 1970s that made millions (this one was hippie even though those back then weren’t actually even colored).
A business guy came up with the idea to sell smooth rocks from Mexico beach and market them as pets.
Yeah, they are so lovable and easy to care for!
It was one of the great branding and marketing events of the 20th century.
Who would think people would actually spend money on a plain dumb rock that you could basically pick up off the street?
But incredibly, putting the rock in a box with holes (so the rock could breath) and sitting it on a little stack of hay with an joke of instruction book for caring for your rock, SOLD.
And in fact, over 1,500,000 rocks were sold at a pop of $4 each.
The guy became a millionaire and got rid of a truckload of worthless rocks.
Yes, “One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure!”
But surely this was getting a little ridiculous.
Hey, I’ll give you a nickle for the shinny painted rock in the photo here. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
In elementary school, the children sing about love and romance.
“The spades go.
Two lips together.
Twilight forever.
Bring back my love to me.”
When 2 people are together, it’s as if the angels in heaven themselves are dancing and singing.
Love seems to make everything in the world right again.
Recently, an old person from my building lost his wife of over 60 years!
I see him around and while he continues to go about doing his everyday things, I can see that he misses his wife so much.
He is broken, and his strength is gone.
I remember my grandfather and father the same way when they lost my grandmother and mother, respectively.
Completely devastating to them–their wives were their lives and what made them complete– afterward, they were never really the same.
Our companions are truly our other halves.
When someone asked the old man from my building how he was doing late last week, he simply responded:
“I’m getting along the best that I can.”
He said it was such sadness and loneliness for his wife who passed that his words literally cut right through me.
People need each other–no one is an island–and especially loving couples who have been together for decades and decades–they are for each other and with each other, even if “together forever” is just a song that children sing…it is what we all ultimately wish for. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Here is a lesson that I learned when it comes to love…
Better a mensch than all the money in the world.
Some people think that money is their Golden Calf.
They literally and practically worship it.
They are so greedy for it, hoard it, protect it, and believe in the power of it.
But what I say is you can choke on all the money!
Those who put the emphasis on money are sick and empty with materialism that means nothing in the end.
Better the love of a good, decent human being and best friend than all the money in China.
For money you can buy lots of meaningless things, but with a mensch you can have a potential for a life of real togetherness and even a chance at some soulful bliss.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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