I remember standing at the Starbucks on Boylston Street. No, I wasn't at the marathon. But just as I remember that, I remember standing, staring out the windows of the World Trade Center on a gloomy morning in August of 2001. Over the past week we have again seen the pain and loss and senselessness that comes from terror amongst our homes and cities.
As the Kingston Trio wrote in their song MTA, "These are the times that try mens souls in the course of our nations history the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened." As I have no doubt Boston and Americans will rise above this loss and pain, I urge many of us to remind ourselves the reasons something such as this is so surprising and disturbing. In our blessed society, in the United States of America, we are privileged to live in a country in which this does not happen frequently due to many reasons. As we repair, let us also take note of something else: the world.
I do not intend to "downplay" this act of terror. But merely mean to share the other atrocities which unfortunately plague the world. Let us instead use this time of reflection and reinvention to work for the larger goal: tikkun olam; repairing the world.
As our sages remind us in Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers:
It is not your duty to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it. - R. Tarfon
On accountability: Each of us are entwined in our own world. All too often do we admit there is a problem plaguing our society and yet we turn off the idea of helping or acting because the "job is too big." Well, for one person, maybe. I always joke with my mom and remind her, it is not her "job" to fix the world." That being said, we do have an individual and collective responsibility to ourselves, our families, communities, cities, countries and ultimately, the Earth.
Rabbi Hillel once described the essence of the Torah as follows: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it."
As Jewish artist Rick Recht reminds us in "Tomorrow, Today": "Every little thing you do makes a huge difference in the world":
"Look how far we've come, look at this community we built together as one // Every action brings us closer to the future we chose, we have vision, we can imagine tomorrow today //
Tomorrow, today: our dreams can come true and every single step is up to me and you // when we give, we will be strong, we can believe: tomorrow today."
Perhaps its that action breeds more action, whether proactive or retroactive. And maybe that can be a good thing. But let us not allow anymore decisions to be made after-the-fact. Let our heads and our hearts turn toward each other, towards justice, towards peace, towards communication and community. Rather than drawing lines in the sand based on our differences. Instead let us celebrate our differences and show how we can come together based on their differences, and on their commonality.
I am always amazed at how much destruction humans can cause to one another. Boston showed that to me once again. But I am also warmed by the compassion I've witnessed others give to friends, family, acquaintances and strangers. Let us work daily, together, to just change our immediate circles.
I am addicted to From the Earth To The Moon: a series of HBO documentaries on the 1960's Space Race and how, in ten short years, a country placed men on the moon. All that process took was a man saying "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." John F. Kennedy made a bold statement then. Let us, now, too make the bold statement to change, to preserve, to continue, to grow: together.
B'ruach v'shalom
-Sean Samitt
The sermons, rants, questions, musings and writings of a college student's journey with Judaism.
