Free Association (click for cool link)

What an amazing world. Yesterday I was in Israel. I flew away, it took about twelve hours. Some would consider that a long flight. I think that six thousand miles in twelve hours is pretty good time for a human. It reminds me of when a website takes 25 seconds to come up and someone shouts - "OMG! This computer is soooo slow!" I think for having an image from a distant land appear in front of you via pushing a button - twenty five (even thirty) seconds is not bad. Which reminds me of the Bill Cosby routine about man inventing the car and saying it was faaantastic, while G-d created the rabbit and said it was good. And man invented the refrigerator and said it was unbeliieeevable, while G-d created the oceans and said they were good. Then he adds - the car's got a flat and the refrigerator blew a fuse, the rabbits still running and the ocean's still flowing. Man makes some pretty incredible stuff, but G-d is still The Master. But that's tangential (even for a tangent). A more relevant side point is this: once during a scene Oliver Hardy had to wipe his nose but he was afraid that using a hanky would look too crude, so he pretended to be playing with his tie nervously, and that's the story behind his trademark tie twiddle. But imagine, that was once considered crude! That seems a bit similar (in my universe) to the fact that once upon a time getting mail from someone in three days was considered quick, but now twenty five seconds for an email is slow. This reminds me of people being called slow or (worse) retarded and how much I hate that. Which reminds me of the idea of labels and my distaste for them. Which reminds me of the saying - label cans not people. Which reminds me of the person who recently told me that he/she is thankful for labels and knowing what his/her disability/condition is. This reminds me of how I never seem to get clear answers regarding anything, and how I’m a little jealous of people who know their diagnosis/answer/label. Which reminds me that the person who told me this may read this - and will hopefully take no offense as none is meant. Which reminds me of the reader a few months back who took serious offense when none was meant. Which reminds me of how I never know who’s reading this. And also – how sometimes people learn things here that they don’t hear from me directly. Which makes me wonder about this MO – of not always saying things directly. Which reminds me of how different different people can be. And how different one person can be at different times. Which reminds me that I was in Israel yesterday at this time. Which reminds me that this is the first day in over a month that I haven’t been at the Kotel. This reminds me of what my friend said when I asked him why he was going to the Kotel every day – “we don’t have a Kotel in Teaneck.” We don’t have one in Washington Heights either. Come to think of it no community here has one. G-d, I hope no-one builds one.