Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.
The Scriptures are filled with anecdotes describing acts of one human being toward another to enhance human values and encourage humanity’s call for good.
Hopefully, during our journey, we will encounter individuals who personify the essence of dignified human behavior. These thoughts came to mind while watching a movie titled St. Vincent. The two main characters in the movie attracted me to it: Melissa McCarthy and Bill Murray. I expected to laugh but, instead, finished the movie with a better understanding of the goodness of people and how they are overlooked at times because they do not subscribe to sensationalism.
We find a grumpy old man, dissatisfied with life, unable to cope with everyday living and resentful of people in general. How many times, I wonder, do we feel frustrated and disappointed with people. There are those of us who fall into despair and feel as though we are in a dark tunnel with no light to guide us out.
Then we come across someone who will light up our lives, bring meaning to our experiences, and lead us into a new understanding that there is goodness in this world. We are so accustomed to hearing about the ugly side of life that we forget the times we see kindness but ignore it.
Many times, people ask about the hereafter. We are taught that our concentration needs to be devoted to the here and now. Scriptural writings teach us to live. To concentrate on death is contrary to the intention of the Creator. We were not created to die, but rather to live.
What about the hereafter? We also learn from Scripture that our deeds are the only passport to eternity—eternal life-rebirth. Life is evolutionary, as is our world. The world was not created to disappear, but rather to change with time and adjust to a new period in our existence. We, too, follow the same pattern. The evolution of man is that we are constantly taking on new looks, new abilities, new designs to continue energizing life and making it more enjoyable.
The people who make a difference in our lives epitomize another concept described in holy writings, “Deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments.” How can we exist without concern for each other? If we lived in a vacuum, our lives would be meaningless. It is a circle with no beginning and no end.
We are all products of our environment. Some of us are trapped by them, and some are able to break loose and change what is deemed unfit. That is progress, and it is also evolution. Scripture also teaches that God does not care about what our ancestors did, but what we do at this time. While it may also talk about the sins of the past generations carrying forward to the next, it is not a signal that all is hopeless. Rather, it is an indication that if we do not change our ways, in some respects, we are destined to repeat the bad and thereby condemn ourselves to a life of pain and misery.
Let us not ignore the goodness that is found deep down in our very soul. Let us not dismiss the values we are capable of. Let us not discard those who epitomize these virtues. Let us, instead, honor them. We will also be honoring ourselves.