Warning: Grumble In Progress and Possible Pedantic Pedagogy

It's not a new revelation, certainly, but I have a hard time trusting people who claim to have spiritual superiority and wish to share that enlightenment or methodology when they also, perhaps coincidentally, possess enormous material wealth. I know that's...classist...I guess would be the term, but I don't even like the word "class" to define financial strata. Some of the classiest people I know have not much money to their name and so many in this country who have so much demonstrate the least class (although I know it's not the same thing). It's a form of prejudice, surely. Perhaps it is the luxury of their wealth that allows them the time to look so deeply inward and be able to take the time to evolve their soul. And I know we can't judge a book by it's cover, or purport to know what anyone is going through or weight of the world they carry on their shoulders. But one who has not a worry for where their next meal comes from, or where they make their bed tonight, or if their dependents are provided for...I would think finding solace of the soul has a shorter path. And I don't or won't deny that they can find peace and enlightenment - I'm sure they do. But I don't think they can necessarily teach most others well. 

 

Find me a person with next to nothing who can still find joy in the blessing of every breath, find the strength to lift up others and give of the only things they may have - their time and their talent...while still being able to be healthy and happy, (and not overcompensating to a point that's hazardous to their or their dependent's well being)that's who I want to take a tip from.  

 

Some of you might immediately leap to Buddha, or to Jesus, or any one of a myriad of other righteous, religious, and spiritual leaders from the past who cast off their earthly possessions to find their bliss.  But their context doesn't work for me.  Nor do I believe that it is necessary to shed all material things to find inner peace.  And none of them lived in our now. 

 

Realizing the potential of every day and acting upon it.  Even if on some days it simply means to take in the beauty of a sunset or the relish the simple grace of the mundane.  Living intentionally.  Acting purposefully.  Acknowledging when enough is enough - whether for better or for worse.  I think the solution is in there somewhere.  I'll keep looking.

 

 

 

 

Is It Really That Hard?

Over the course of my kids' educational careers at public schools, I've had to (more than once, mind you), gently remind staff and faculty at their public schools that those in charge of the calendars oopsied.  I guess this annual tradition will have to continue because it seems, as of late, that no one else is willing to do it.  Perhaps they are, and are just getting the cold shoulder, but I just refuse to believe that.  And I'm not sure that result would make me feel any better - in fact, it would probably make me feel worse.

What's the oopsie?  Scheduling any significant school event on a major Jewish holiday.  Oy.

Is it really that hard to look at a calendar? And if you've taken the time to actually look at the calendar, and maybe aren't reeeeeally sure how it works, because maybe, one time, somewhere in your academic career you vaguely recall something a bit wonky with how Jewish holidays work, and often, regular calendars don't quite get it right, and maybe...just maybe, you should check with more than one of your go-to Jewish employees or friends or neighbors, because maybe, just maybe they might not quite have it right either?

There was a grade-level program on the first night of Passover.  A test on Yom Kippur.  A field trip on Rosh Hashanah, among others.  Each time I've taken the time to point it out, I've been met with profuse apology, an appeal for understanding, and a schedule change.  Which is nice.  But this isn't MY job.

And yes, I know, the Jewish population isn't huge where I live, but it's not non-existent either.  No, we're not New York, or Miami, or Los Angeles...but COME ON ALREADY.

Now I come to find out that our local high school (where one my kids is a freshman) has their prom scheduled for the second night of Passover.  Oy vey.

I'm guessing someone did glance at a flip page calendar, saw Passover typed on Friday and shrugged "we're good".  Or they might have gone a little deeper, maybe used the web, and saw that it starts Friday, the 22nd of April.  They might not even have noticed the end date.  And even if they did, most gentiles only think of Passover as a one-night deal - this isn't Chanukah, for goodness sakes (their thought, not mine).

Oy veyz mir.

My kid isn't going to Prom - he's not old enough yet.  Or at least, if some senior has asked him to go, he hasn't mentioned it to me yet.  I'm going out on a limb assuming, based on his circle of friends, that this isn't happening anyway.  So, one could argue this doesn't affect me, why should I care?

But I do care.  And I know kids who ARE seniors, and who are Jewish, and will now have to make a choice - even if it's for a millisecond - just a fleeting thought in their heads - between Prom and Passover.

And I know, Prom will win.  Of course, Prom will win.  I get it.

It's a big school by population.  And we're a tiny minority comparatively.  I don't think there are any Orthodox kids at the school, but I'm not sure.  I would presume there may be at least a few Conservative kids, and I know of a handful or so of Reform.  But not one of them should even have to have the thought cross their minds.  Not in this day and age.

I'm so miffed and confounded and confuddled I can't even come up with a poignant summary, a salient closing statement - a provacative end point followed by an ellipsis.  And I love my ellipses.

What do you think?