Sunday, September 7, 2014

#BlogElul: Please Forgive Me

Please forgive me if I wonder how much NBC-Universal's full-page tribute to Joan Rivers cost in today's New York Times.  More to the point, please forgive me if I wonder how many hungry kids that money could feed.

Please forgive me if I don't respond instantaneously to your email or text.  I might be talking (on my landline) to my dad, to my Aunt Claire, or to my sister.

Please forgive me if I screen my calls.  I might be trying to take some much-needed quiet time to read, to inhale and exhale slowly, or just to get off the non-stop merry-go-round for a few minutes.  Leave me a message and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Please forgive me if I can't answer all your questions, and I just send you a link to read instead.

Mazel gov on your wedding, but please forgive me if I wonder what is a Universal Life minister.

Please forgive me if I get mad at you when you wait for a bus for 10 minutes, but only start to look for your MetroCard once you're standing in front of the fare box.

Please forgive me, but if you took your backpack off before you got on the subway train, three more people could get in behind you...and you wouldn't keep bumping into me with every lurch of the train.

Please forgive me if something slips through the cracks. Even though I am a yekke, I'm overloaded at the moment and, despite my best efforts, a few things do slip off my very full plate from time to time.

Please forgive me if I don't participate in Monday morning quarterback conversations at the water cooler.  The first time I heard a sports commentator mention "Gang Green," I wondered how an entire football team could contract such a potentially deadly infection.

Please forgive me if I say "no."  It's not a popular word in my vocabulary, but I think I need to start learning how to use it -- even if it's just once in a while.  I think it might help me uncomplicate my life.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima, this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.