Concrete Abstract

I'm sitting in a public library, which will be closing in a few minutes. My computer is still broken. This will be a brief post of the random variety.

I really enjoy giving talks to older people. The talks I gave over this past weekend about Humor In Judaism and The Power of the Parable and What The rabbis Say About Life seemed to go well. Here come some things I remember saying.

Aharon is described as loving peace and pursuing peace. The idea here is that we all love peace in theory, but doing something about it is a whole different level.

Once there were two construction workers. They set out early to put down a new pavement. After working all day they hear a bell ring and look up to discover they were working in front of a school. Six hundred kids come running out and shlosh through and ruin the nice new side walk. One of the men gets very mad at the children and the other one is confused. He asks his friend, "you've always told me you love children." And the other replies, "I love them in the abstract, not in the concrete."

We need to pursue peace and whatever else we truly value in the concrete not only the abstract.