A law graduate attends a job interview at a law firm, but unfortunately, the interviewer is not impressed. Frustrated, the interviewing attorney finally says, “Sir, with all due respect, if you’re not serious about this, why did you come here?”
“It’s not my fault,” answers the graduate, “my professor’s the one who educated me – it’s his fault, he is the one to blame…
We often blame our life circumstances on outside factors or other people who’ve played a role in our lives. It’s unfortunate when we fall into a vicious cycle of blaming our past, because ultimately, we’re the ones who end up losing out.
Indeed, when we let the unpleasant experiences from our past influence our current lives, we effectively perpetuate that negativity. Rather, what we ought to do is generate that energy to a constructive end, and let it propel us to achieve positive things.
I have seen this quality in my grandmother, who is a Holocaust survivor. Though she saw the destruction of her entire family, she didn’t let that pain get her down – instead, she turned her tragic experience around by choosing to have a large family of her own. With every child she bore, she proved to Hitler that the Jewish nation is destined to live on.
I have heard people say statements like, “I don’t respect tradition because the way my parents observed it left a bad taste in my mouth.” That’s no way to reconcile the past; why, that’s letting the hurt continue to hurt you; that’s leaving a psychological problem unresolved.
We’ve all had less-than-perfect experiences — what counts it’s what we do with what we’ve endured. Don’t allow the negative to color your reality. Let’s truly take responsibility for our lives, educate ourselves, and transform the past into a brilliant, promising future.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendy
