A couple of years ago someone I knew Mother passed away. A lot of friends, family, and community members were really affected by the death and inspired me to write. I feel it is appropriate to share it now after yesterday’s tragedy. Prior to writing this piece I did a lot of research as well as consulted with a Rabbi on the famous Jewish question site, askmoses.com. Here's what I came up with:
The Soul
It's a typical Monday afternoon.
It's 3 o'clock which means time to go home.
I turn my corner and there I see him.
A man is walking down the street,
Head hung low,
Dragging his feet as if they were shackled to the ground.
I take a closer look at his face,
Hot, fresh tears are streaming down.
Silent tears,
Yet they pierce through me in such a deafening way.
He walks by almost knocking me over.
So wrapped up in his pain he sees nothing and no one.
"What to do," I think.
"I can just continue with Monday's routine and go home to my warm apartment...
But look at the man's pain; I think again.
How can I just continue with my life as if everything is okay when clearly someone else's world has just been ripped apart?"
I decide to follow him.
See where he's going.
See what's going on.
Who knows, maybe I could be of some help.
So I follow.
Soon my familiar joyful bounce turns into a sluggish shuffle.
Melancholy is contagious I realize.
We continue walking as the sun begins to set and the sky takes on that breathtaking purple-y pink.
I've seen the sun set millions of times,
It never ceases to amaze me though how no two sunsets are the same.
G-d is feeling inspired I think, what else could make him paint the sky like this.
In between the red swirls and purple stripes were streaks of glitter.
I gaze in wonderment.
Little did I know that it wasn't glitter.
Those were the tears of a thousand cries.
Cries that had started up that morning and still had not stopped.
Finally, man stopped.
I looked around me,
We were in the middle of nowhere.
Or so it seemed.
I had been so absorbed in my thoughts I had not even realized where he had taken me.
We were in what seemed to, in some lifetime or another, been a forest.
Now all that remained were tree stumps and dead branches.
There was no sign of life anywhere.
How appropriate for the conversation that was to follow.
Man took a seat on a rather uncomfortable stump.
I found myself a small alcove where I sat and observed.
He still had no idea I was there.
Or if he did, he showed no signs of it.
I watched.
He sat there and cried.
And cried.
And cried.
And then sobbed until his tear ducts were so swollen he could cry no more.
It was then that I saw it;
Something had appeared in front ofMan.
Sort of like an apparition, its form of something I had never in my life seen.
It reached out and touched Him,
And Man slowly lifted his eyes.
"Why do you shed those tears young man?"
Silence followed.
"What is it that has caused you such pain?"
More silence.
I'm anxiously watching, waiting to hear.
But all that followed was more silence.
"Come my dear friend, let us take a walk," it says and then I could have sworn the apparition looked at me.
I took that as a cue that I too should follow.
And so I did.
"Let me introduce myself," the apparition spoke, its words coming out sort of far-off and distant.
"I am a soul."
"What the...?!" I thought.
This whole trip just took a turn from gloomy and dismal to straight up disturbing.
Man looked up, his face distorted from pain, and stared at the apparition.
Man's voice, barely audible, mustered up the strength to ask, "You're a what?"
"It seems that my mission to many is unfortunately unknown.
Not holding you accountable, for the ways of my Employer are unfathomable to the human mind.
I will try, because I sense you want to know, to explain his ways."
Man stared intently, a confound look displayed across his face and waited for the apparition to continue.
"My master, many refer to him by the title, 'Hashem', has designed individual unique missions for every single soul he creates.
Each mission so intricate and precise down to the very last detail.
The beauty of the mission is we, the souls, get to sign up for the undertaking we'd like to perform.
Take me for example; I've just returned from an extensive, rigid journey.
I have embodied a man for the past 97 years.
97 years where all I tried to do was get him to fully adhere one Shabbos.
The pain I have suffered down below is incomprehensible.
The pleasure I felt upon returning to my Master, having finally fulfilled the mission he sent me to accomplish is colossal.
I remember like it was yesterday, when us souls were signing up for our missions.
The souls that got the privilege to only remain in this harsh, physical world for just a short while,
How envious I was that they would get to embody a person worthy of such honor.
And the pleasure those souls experienced, who only spent a small amount of time below, how I yearned to be one of them."
At this point the apparition stopped and I turned to study the look on Man's face.
What a mix of emotions were displayed there.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Doubt.
And I think there might have been a hint of elation there as well.
Man spoke up, his voice more clear than before,
"If what you say is true, then why the pain?
It's so agonizing.
The Soul
It's a typical Monday afternoon.
It's 3 o'clock which means time to go home.
I turn my corner and there I see him.
A man is walking down the street,
Head hung low,
Dragging his feet as if they were shackled to the ground.
I take a closer look at his face,
Hot, fresh tears are streaming down.
Silent tears,
Yet they pierce through me in such a deafening way.
He walks by almost knocking me over.
So wrapped up in his pain he sees nothing and no one.
"What to do," I think.
"I can just continue with Monday's routine and go home to my warm apartment...
But look at the man's pain; I think again.
How can I just continue with my life as if everything is okay when clearly someone else's world has just been ripped apart?"
I decide to follow him.
See where he's going.
See what's going on.
Who knows, maybe I could be of some help.
So I follow.
Soon my familiar joyful bounce turns into a sluggish shuffle.
Melancholy is contagious I realize.
We continue walking as the sun begins to set and the sky takes on that breathtaking purple-y pink.
I've seen the sun set millions of times,
It never ceases to amaze me though how no two sunsets are the same.
G-d is feeling inspired I think, what else could make him paint the sky like this.
In between the red swirls and purple stripes were streaks of glitter.
I gaze in wonderment.
Little did I know that it wasn't glitter.
Those were the tears of a thousand cries.
Cries that had started up that morning and still had not stopped.
Finally, man stopped.
I looked around me,
We were in the middle of nowhere.
Or so it seemed.
I had been so absorbed in my thoughts I had not even realized where he had taken me.
We were in what seemed to, in some lifetime or another, been a forest.
Now all that remained were tree stumps and dead branches.
There was no sign of life anywhere.
How appropriate for the conversation that was to follow.
Man took a seat on a rather uncomfortable stump.
I found myself a small alcove where I sat and observed.
He still had no idea I was there.
Or if he did, he showed no signs of it.
I watched.
He sat there and cried.
And cried.
And cried.
And then sobbed until his tear ducts were so swollen he could cry no more.
It was then that I saw it;
Something had appeared in front of
Sort of like an apparition, its form of something I had never in my life seen.
It reached out and touched Him,
And Man slowly lifted his eyes.
"Why do you shed those tears young man?"
Silence followed.
"What is it that has caused you such pain?"
More silence.
I'm anxiously watching, waiting to hear.
But all that followed was more silence.
"Come my dear friend, let us take a walk," it says and then I could have sworn the apparition looked at me.
I took that as a cue that I too should follow.
And so I did.
"Let me introduce myself," the apparition spoke, its words coming out sort of far-off and distant.
"I am a soul."
"What the...?!" I thought.
This whole trip just took a turn from gloomy and dismal to straight up disturbing.
Man looked up, his face distorted from pain, and stared at the apparition.
Man's voice, barely audible, mustered up the strength to ask, "You're a what?"
"It seems that my mission to many is unfortunately unknown.
Not holding you accountable, for the ways of my Employer are unfathomable to the human mind.
I will try, because I sense you want to know, to explain his ways."
Man stared intently, a confound look displayed across his face and waited for the apparition to continue.
"My master, many refer to him by the title, 'Hashem', has designed individual unique missions for every single soul he creates.
Each mission so intricate and precise down to the very last detail.
The beauty of the mission is we, the souls, get to sign up for the undertaking we'd like to perform.
Take me for example; I've just returned from an extensive, rigid journey.
I have embodied a man for the past 97 years.
97 years where all I tried to do was get him to fully adhere one Shabbos.
The pain I have suffered down below is incomprehensible.
The pleasure I felt upon returning to my Master, having finally fulfilled the mission he sent me to accomplish is colossal.
I remember like it was yesterday, when us souls were signing up for our missions.
The souls that got the privilege to only remain in this harsh, physical world for just a short while,
How envious I was that they would get to embody a person worthy of such honor.
And the pleasure those souls experienced, who only spent a small amount of time below, how I yearned to be one of them."
At this point the apparition stopped and I turned to study the look on Man's face.
What a mix of emotions were displayed there.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Doubt.
And I think there might have been a hint of elation there as well.
Man spoke up, his voice more clear than before,
"If what you say is true, then why the pain?
It's so agonizing.
So controlling.
It literally washes everything away and completely consumes a person.
Why couldn't your master make us down here feel the pleasure the souls feel upon their return?
Why does it have to hurt this bad?"
A hint of a smile splayed across the apparition's face and it responded,
"Why, you ask?" It paused, the smile spreading over its face and then it finished,
"How else would you experience pleasure?
My friend, these emotions come hand in hand. There is no pleasure, no love, without pain and hate.
The singular purpose of any negativity in your world, my master has solely created for the positive.
There is no other way you humans can experience all the great things in life without the bad."
Man started to reply but before he could even utter a sound the apparition disappeared as suddenly as it had materialized.
I watchedMan.
He sat for a bit and then stood up.
I followed making sure to maintain a safe distance.
Before long I realized I was standing before my apartment.
I hesitated before entering.
Wanted to make sure Man was okay.
I watched him walk;
His pace had definitely picked up, eradicated itself of the lethargic swag and replaced with a significantly happier stride.
His shoulders still hunched over and I knew it would be a long time before Man would heed the words of G-d's messenger.
It would be a long, pain-filled ride.
But Man would pull through.
As Arthur C. Clarke once said, "The only way of finding the limits of the possible, is by going beyond them into the impossible."
I took one last look at Man's fading form and made a silent vow to from that day on value pain as much as pleasure.
To love as passionately as I hate.
Show sympathy as I do apathy.
But most importantly, to appreciate every single day I awake.
Why couldn't your master make us down here feel the pleasure the souls feel upon their return?
Why does it have to hurt this bad?"
A hint of a smile splayed across the apparition's face and it responded,
"Why, you ask?" It paused, the smile spreading over its face and then it finished,
"How else would you experience pleasure?
My friend, these emotions come hand in hand. There is no pleasure, no love, without pain and hate.
The singular purpose of any negativity in your world, my master has solely created for the positive.
There is no other way you humans can experience all the great things in life without the bad."
Man started to reply but before he could even utter a sound the apparition disappeared as suddenly as it had materialized.
I watched
He sat for a bit and then stood up.
I followed making sure to maintain a safe distance.
Before long I realized I was standing before my apartment.
I hesitated before entering.
Wanted to make sure Man was okay.
I watched him walk;
His pace had definitely picked up, eradicated itself of the lethargic swag and replaced with a significantly happier stride.
His shoulders still hunched over and I knew it would be a long time before Man would heed the words of G-d's messenger.
It would be a long, pain-filled ride.
But Man would pull through.
As Arthur C. Clarke once said, "The only way of finding the limits of the possible, is by going beyond them into the impossible."
I took one last look at Man's fading form and made a silent vow to from that day on value pain as much as pleasure.
To love as passionately as I hate.
Show sympathy as I do apathy.
But most importantly, to appreciate every single day I awake.
No comments:
Post a Comment