Flower Power

Dedicated to the memory of Esther Safer, a regular Table Talk reader for several years, who passed away suddenly in San Francisco at age 25. She will be missed by all who knew her.

I would also like to wish our son Avrami happy 12th birthday today (on the Hebrew calendar)– 1 more year to what my grandmother used to call “the big B.M.”

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Speaking of birthdays, with cousin Jerry’s birthday coming up next week, I find myself wondering, “What do you get for the man who has, well, everything?”

And it’s a big milestone, too, 55. You know, that’s still the speed limit on many highways to this day.

Then I was thinking, Does he really have everything? How much is ol’ Jer worth these days?

Forbes thinks he’s netting about 500 mil from the franchise.

That’s a lot of bananas.

Whenever I hear about so many bananas, I start to think, Wow, that’s a lot of bananas! Just imagine what you could do with so many bananas! You could buy anything you want! Tired of your computer? Toss it in the trash and get a new one. Tired of typing? Hire someone to type for you at 100 wpm – shoot, you could hire 10 people, each one to type with one finger.

But you know, we all know that there is no correlation between wealth and happiness. The more stuff, the more worries. We know this yet we still pursue it. We want the security. We want the top health care. We want the private midtown Manhattan parking garage for our Porsche collection.

You know what is real pleasure for almost everyone I know? Doing or creating something with your hands.

A few days ago, I was un-flowering our back lawn. I must have pulled hundreds of dandelions until the lawn was a solid beautiful sea of green.

Dandelions are a challenge because you don’t want to pull out any grass, and that root is deep. If you don’t get it just right, it breaks off and the dandelion wins.

So you have to hunt carefully for the exact center. I pulled so many dandelions that whenever I shut my eyes for the next few hours, I kept seeing dandelions in my head.

Then it rained.

The next day, I couldn’t believe it. There were so many dandelions in the yard it looked like I hadn’t done anything at all.

It's like trying to uproot a negative personality trait, like a penchant for anger or frustration, or a gossip habit. You've got to get it out at the root, or it just comes back.

But it still felt good, and I’d do it again.

Question for your table - quick survey: What are your top 4 life priorities?

Shabbat Shalom



PS – did I mention our spring newsletter? Download it here – http://jsli.org