Comments on: what i’ve been up to http://dithyrambs.net/archives/33 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:01:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Janna Greitzer http://dithyrambs.net/archives/33#comment-36 Janna Greitzer Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:23:19 +0000 http://dithyrambs.net/archives/33#comment-36 Rebecca Dear, You asked for comments on your angst. I'm 58 now and have no clear about the meaning of life. I share your angst as I've never known the answer to THE BIG QUESTION. My counsin Eve, now 49, said as a young child, "The meaning of life is to live". And my younger son, Nathan, now 25, wrote as a child, "If I get married, I get married. If I have children, I have children. [A few other things, I don't remember now]. And then I die". Or something like that. I have been thinking lately, that a few people are able to have a grand purpose, like Al Gore, but most of us seem to muddle along, just getting through our lives. I suspect some of my own desire to search for the answer has to do with a secret sense of feeling more important than I actually am. Maybe I should just do my routine, try and have some love in my life and develop and adhere to some values that make sense to me. Hillel (I think) said (to paraphrase): it's not up to us to finish the job [whatever that is] but just to do a little bit of the work. The work I suspect is making the world a little bit better: treating people with kindness. Kindness is so much more important to me than ever before. I grew up with a lot of cruelty and have had to struggle to learn kindness. I heard something similar recently in a re-broadcast of an interview between Pete Seeger and Amy Goodman. Are you planning a trip to NY any time soon? Giving friends great big hugs gives meaning to life. Chag Sameach! Happy Passover! Fondly, Janna Rebecca Dear,
You asked for comments on your angst. I’m 58 now and have no clear about the meaning of life. I share your angst as I’ve never known the answer to THE BIG QUESTION. My counsin Eve, now 49, said as a young child, “The meaning of life is to live”. And my younger son, Nathan, now 25, wrote as a child, “If I get married, I get married. If I have children, I have children. [A few other things, I don't remember now]. And then I die”. Or something like that. I have been thinking lately, that a few people are able to have a grand purpose, like Al Gore, but most of us seem to muddle along, just getting through our lives. I suspect some of my own desire to search for the answer has to do with a secret sense of feeling more important than I actually am. Maybe I should just do my routine, try and have some love in my life and develop and adhere to some values that make sense to me. Hillel (I think) said (to paraphrase): it’s not up to us to finish the job [whatever that is] but just to do a little bit of the work. The work I suspect is making the world a little bit better: treating people with kindness. Kindness is so much more important to me than ever before. I grew up with a lot of cruelty and have had to struggle to learn kindness. I heard something similar recently in a re-broadcast of an interview between Pete Seeger and Amy Goodman.

Are you planning a trip to NY any time soon? Giving friends great big hugs gives meaning to life.

Chag Sameach! Happy Passover!

Fondly,
Janna

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