VOICES
ne life, never achieving any of my dreams. Was there anything I could learn from him about the significance of turning 70? The number 70, as a multiple of seven, connotes rest and completion. We observe Shabbat, the seventh day, as the culmination of our week—a time to rest, reflect and then move forward. It is that concept—that endings are springboards to move us forward—that the Rebbe used to commemorate his own 70th birthday. He did not believe that people should retire at an arbitrary age to live a life of leisure. He believed that whatever we may lose in physical ability is more than compensated by the wisdom that only experience can give us. “Indeed,” said the Rebbe with a smile, “a twenty-year-old can dance the night away while his grandmother tires after a few minutes. But man was not created to dance for hours on end. Man was created to make life on earth purer, brighter and holier than it was before he came on the scene.” The Rebbe was telling us that what matters isn’t what the world has given us, but rather, what we give back to the world. Every person has something of value to offer. There are no wrong doors, not if you choose to learn and grow from every experience. With this epiphany, I stopped thinking about the doors I never opened and focused instead on the ones I did. I realized that from working with customers, I learned to make the most of these short interactions and leave them with a positive impression of me and our business. From all the professional correspondence
I produced over the years, I learned how to write clearly and persuasively. Like every small business owner, I learned how to weather the inevitable ups and downs of the economy, and how to solve all the daily problems that arose. And I learned not to be shy when we were owed money, but how never to humiliate those who owed us. Since I retired, I’ve worked as a Jewish volunteer at local hospitals, where my experience with customers enabled me to have brief, positive interactions with hundreds of people. All those years of professional writing gave me skills that I’m using in writing articles. And all that asking customers for payment has helped me every time I’m asked to make fundraising calls for my favorite charities. Life is an unfathomable mixture of free will and Divine intervention (hashgacha pratit). Are we pushing ourselves through a door, or being guided by an invisible hand? Did all those doors just happen to present themselves or were they placed there at precisely the right time? Perhaps, it’s not either-or. The Rebbe, in just a few words, put it all in perspective for me. More important than wondering “What if?” about the past is asking, “What now?” about the future. As long as we live, we can be productive, and it’s our mission to use all our resources, at every age, to make the world a brighter place. - Karen Kaplan, a native Chicagoan, lives in Evanston, Illinois, where she actively volunteers in the community
Mazel Tov Michelle and Richard Cozza May you share many simchas In your new home In the years ahead
Madeline Friedman Vice President, ABR, CRS, GRI
520.907.4141 TucsonHomeFinder@aol.com www.TucsonAZHomes.com 13
