I was sitting with my computer yesterday just looking on facebook to see what my old friends were up to and someone chatted me on ichat. I hardly ever really have a full conversation so I wasn't really going to respond. (side point: this is a person from here) a few minutes later I decided it would not be nice to ignore this person who was trying to become friends with me. I chatted her back, responding hi to her hey. Then she asked why I had been sad that day. I know it sounds stupid but that simple little outreach of her interested in my feeling meant so much to me. Anyway we somehow got into a conversation about our families, past experiences, and hardships we have been through. Me being like an open book was not about to keep any secrets about my past nor did I have a reason to. I answered her questions and in return she answered mine. I learned so much about this person including that she has been through some of the tough situations similar to mine. She then made a statement to me (that I am not going to write because I don't want to embarrass anyone or anything). From this statement though I learned that people are sometimes not as "strong" as they seem. As I thought about it more and more I remembered someone older than me telling me something which was people often put up a strong wall but crumble the wall and you have a sensitive, week, sad soul who probably needs someone to talk to or even someone to just show some interest in them. After we finished chatting I though about how this nice it was to know that someone knew somewhat what I was going through and that this person could relate to me if I ever needed someone to talk to. As a result to our chat we are now friends which we weren't really before. I am glad we had that chat because it helped us learn something about each other and also allowed us to become friends.
Moving here has definitely taught me a lot. Since I got here I have been having a hard time not having anything to do and being bored. I have also been a little sad because of not having my friends here to hang out with. My mother has been suggesting that maybe I need to reach out to other people and not just wait until they reach out to me. Admittedly I was just too lazy and didn't exactly.
After hearing how this girl and me are similar I realized that I do have to do some of the work. This brings me to my connection to Navi. Sometimes we are too lazy to do everything that Judaism expects of us. Believe me I get lazy all the time. I don't care about Brachas on food before I eat them, I just want to eat or I am not in the mood to Daven leave me alone. But then I remember all the things Hashem has done for us and how little time out of my day it takes to thank Him. Everyday we Daven for only about 50 minutes including Mincha. Hashem has spent way more time on us then that.
The people of Yishayahu's time didn't care about all the miracles, saviors, hard work, and care Hashem has put into getting every single person to the place they are today. It makes me sad and a little uneasy to know the people of Yishayahu's time didn't care enough. Making Hashem so angry that he had to punish them.
(Thank you to everyone who has reached out and made me feel welcomed here, I really appreciate it greatly.)
wow. that was really moving , orly. reading your story reminded me of a situation that happened to a girl who used to go to my shul a couple years back.although this doesnt have to do so much with what you said, i think it is just something nice to share. this person was not very popular, and was made fun of often. they went to public school, and i think the reason they were made fun of was because they were jewish.because of the bullying, this girl would go home in tears every night for months. one day, she found a note in her locker that said something along the lines of "dont give up hope" ( i don't know exactly what it said because i never saw it.)this went on for some time and eventually everyone started noticing a change in this girl. she became happier and stood up for herself, and then people started respecting her more and then after a while she started to make friends. she never found out who it was who wrote her the notes, but that person turned her whole life around. this just shows you what a difference a few words can make.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. In my old school, a new girl came in during 8th grade. I was assigned to show her around and be her "buddy". At first I didn't really know what to really do with her. I mean I didn't know her and no one really did. The first day of school we met, we sat together during Davening, I showed her to all her classes, introduced her to all my friends and everyone else for that matter. Basically I did what my job was. As ironic as it sounds I was lying in bed one night and just thinking about her and my job. I came across a though which was: she is the new girl, I was so worried about doing everything right I didn't even think about how nervous she must have felt. Soon after that I told myself that I would just wipe away all the anxious-ness, nervous-ness, and whatever other feeling were there.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came here I felt very pressured. There was the pressure to fit in, make friends, and the obvious one of starting a new school. Anyway On the plane ride over here I couldn't get the image of that girl I was assigned to. I just couldn't stop thinking about how I finally knew how she felt that day and the rest of that week or however long it was until she felt comfortable.
I think there is great value in going out of your way to do something nice for someone especially when you know they aren't the happiest or having fun or whatever. From your story- a tiny little note with a few words can turn someones feelings from depressed to happy. The person who left those notes performed the greatest Mitzvah of all because that person never did anything for the "fame" or "glory" or whatever you want to call it. We can definitely all learn something from mystery note giver.
I think that it's really nice that you felt confortable enough to share this with us, thank you. I hope everyone is also trying hard to be nice to you and welcome you since i understand how difficult it is to be the new person in the group. I deffinately agree that people are not as "strong" as they seem, and that people always act as if they are strong just so they can confort themselves since you can't always be perfect. That must also be a reason why the people in Yeshayahu's time thought they were perfect and flawless even though they must have known deep inside they wern't, they just couldn't deal with it, and knew that denying it is easier.
ReplyDeleteNotice: Noam is Sharon.. I don't know why it did this.
ReplyDeleteI figured out why, but now i can't erase it.
ReplyDeleteWow! Sharon when I was posting my original post I was trying to come up with a way to connect it to navi and not just have it as a random thought. I obviously could not come up with one one and I even tried to "fake" one but still I couldn't. So thank you for making a connection and a very good one too!! :)
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ReplyDeleteI am always happy to help Orly :)
ReplyDeleteit was very nice that you shared that with us, since I think opening up is also very difficult to overcome when being new somewhere.