| New England 24, San Diego 21 |
No surprises here.
The Salvation Army Bell Ringer Doesn’t Like Me
Now I know that you are going to be surprised to hear this, but during a recent trip to the store I was accosted by the bell ringer for the Salvation Army.
Army: Sir, could you spare some change?
Me: Not today.
Army: Just a little would help.
Me: A little would help me too.
Army: Perhaps you can give something small.
Me: Perhaps you might like to give me something small.
Army: Sorry, I can’t help you today.
Me: No problem. I can’t help you either.
Army: My refusal shouldn’t stop you.
Me: Stop me from what?
Army: From making a donation.
Me: It is not going to happen.
Army: Just give something.
Me: Ok. How about some advice.
Army: Seriously, just give me something.
Me: I am serious. Give me something first and I’ll consider it.
Army: That is not how it works.
Me: Oh really.
Army: Yes. Jesus asks that you give and when you do you are rewarded.
Me: I don’t think that you want to go there with me.
Army: Why? Don’t you want to learn about how you can be saved.
Me: It would be easier to shoot up with heroin and far less painful.
Army: That is really offensive.
Me: Nah, I haven’t even begun to be offensive. Say something else and let’s see what happens.
Army: Sir, it is not my fault that your heart won’t let you see.
Me: It is not my fault that you have been lied to for your entire life either.
Army: G-d will forgive you.
Me: You don’t know what G-d will or won’t do so stop speaking for him/her or it.
Army: All that energy and what have you accomplished.
Me: I have kept you from bothering the fine folks that shop at this establishment that wishes all of its good patrons happy holidays.
Army: Perhaps you should just leave.
Me: Nah, I like it here. I think that I may set up my own bucket. Instead of a bell I am going to use an air horn. Since the establishment has a big sign saying that they don’t approve of soliciting I should have as much right to hang out here as you do.
Army: Would you just leave?
Me: Give me twenty bucks and I’ll take off.
Army: Twenty. No way.
Me: What about 15.
Army: Uh, no.
Me: Ten?
Army: No
Me: Ok, what about five.
And with that the bell ringer broke down and reached into the bucket. With a stern look on his face he handed me a five dollar bill and pointed towards the parking lot.
I’ll have to try this again at a different store.
Does Blogging Make You Feel Obligated?
The question of the moment is do you feel obligated to produce new content on a regular basis? Some of my blogging pals have said that although they enjoy blogging it has come to a feel like work.
The reason for this is that they now feel that they have an obligation to respond to all of the comments and a responsibility to continue to produce new content for their readers.
What do you think?
Great Names For a Blog
AbbaGav has a good list of them here. Which of course leads into one of my more popular posts called
What Do You Call Your Blog?
You Should Be a Rabbi Continued
This past December I wrote a post I called You Should Be a Rabbi. Read it, you’ll like it. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and then you’ll wonder why you wasted the five minutes it took to get through it.
I have a habit of picking on various bloggers and riffing off of things that they have said. For those of you who have been the subject take it as a compliment you managed to catch my eye. Doesn’t that sound like one of those self important proclamations or some kind of back handed compliment. Have I really that much chutzpah that I think I can make these kind of remarks. Oy.
Anyway here is what caught my eye this week:
“Most of my best friend are rabbis. Recently one of these friends surprised me by sharing that he didn’t want to be considered a rabbi anymore. I’m not sure you can do that. And either is he.
Another friend of mine’s father is a rabbi, and has disowned the title. His son always introduces his father as Rabbi X, but his father always protests.
I have gotten used to the title. I fought it a lot at first. I didn’t want to finish my requirements. But now it’s like part of my name. Of course it’s more than that. Perhaps I’ll write more about this at a later time. Perhaps.”
If you are wondering where I found this it was over at NY’s Funniest Rabbi. It caught my eye for many different reasons. Now it so happens that conservatively speaking I probably know 50 rabbis. If I wasn’t so tired I’d try and turn that into a joke about how many Orthodox and Reform rabbis I know too, or maybe something about how many rabbis it takes to change a lightbulb, but for now I’ll spare you. 😉
Anyway this caught my eye for a variety of reasons.
1) I am someone who is perpetually filled with angst about my jobs. It doesn’t matter what they are I am always concerned with something. Maybe I am that high maintenance guy that I really do not want to be, or maybe not. But it is always interesting to me to see people in the clergy express their own concerns. Although I should add that the advantage of knowing so many members of the “G-d squad” I have seen the moments of doubt and that is something that I like in them. As I mentioned in my Harry Potter post I like to see the humanity in people and I worry about clergy who never show any doubt or concern.
2) There is a part of me that is interested in going down that path and exploring rabbinics. I find much of it to be compelling but have my concerns and questions. If you are really interested you can find some insight with these posts:
Prayer- A Converstion With G-d
A Moment In Time- Perspective For The Coming Shabbos
Uh oh, I was just detained for a moment of monster bashing. Apparently the monster in my son’s closet was trying to eat him and as the resident monster killer I was called upon. In case you are wondering it was a mighty battle. He and I struggled but only because I didn’t want to make him look bad in front of his boss, there are few things more pathetic than kicking the crap out of a scary monster.
And if you are really interested my 4.5 year-old terror joined me. Once he knew that I was winning he punched the monster in the nose and kicked his tuchus really, really hard. In fact it was so hard the monster ran to his mommy and cried. Got to love kids. 🙂
So I am stalling for a moment because I lost my train of thought, I have been derailed and cannot remember exactly where I was going with this. I must be getting old, a senior moment already. Ouch.
Whatever, I’ll just start sharing more thoughts and we will see where it goes. I think that part of the attraction lies in the desire to really dig into learning and finding out more about who I am inside. The more introspection I do the more I learn about me. I am so very different from who I used to be and so very much the same.
Ok, going back to the start I found Rav Fleischmann’s comments about the title rabbi to be interesting. When you work hard to achieve something in theory it seems like you should feel very comfortable wearing the title you earned, but on the other hand I can see how there would be reasons why you might not.
Anyway, I still can’t quite get back to where I was so I’ll just end this particular journey here.