We All Carry

I remember around this time last year posting many questions, sometimes writing exclusively in question form. When I say a year ago I mean the Jewish year. I looked back at March '08 and found wishes for a Good Purim in the comments on March 16th. That post was a short one that garnered comments that morhed into dialogue. It's cool when that happens. I recall that around Pesach I was heavy into the questions, so I'll look a month ahead. The post that I found was this one, and since I believe nothing is by accident I will link to that post (besides, I feel like it).

I just arrived home recently. I decided to ask the grocery to deliver, rather than schlepping for a change. Several people said nice things to me today and I hope, and think, vice versa. A colleague that was able to made some copies for me. And yet. One person was snippy to me early in the morning and I've been carrying it all day.

My dear friend Bin once told me that he remembered a story he heard in college from Dr. Taubes. An Oriental Sage was walking with some students when they reached a river. The water was low and they were about to walk through it when they noticed a young woman hesitating at the shore. The elder offered to carry the woman across, an offer she accepted. That evening one of his more nervy students asked the teacher how he could carry this attractive woman on his shoulders; did it not affect him negatively? The wise man replied, "I put her down hours ago, are you still carrying her?"

Carrying things is a tricky business. I remember during what was simply called the Lebanon War in the early eighties, reading a Time magazine cover story about Ariel Sharon, while I spent a week or so living with my grandfather, while my grandmother recuperated in the hospital from a heart attack (may their neshamot both have aliyot and may they have much nachas from the good they perpetuated in this world). Sharon said that he was not the type to ever look back, he sounded quite proud about this. It's a type. I wonder what it's like.

I perused April '08. Still no sign of question. The first post I linked to was a short poem with a thread of comments. (There were no comments by me. Maybe I just wanted that thread to play out without my involvement. I facilitated from the side. Still, I feel a bit badly. I do generally try to reply to comments. This is a blog etiquette that I learned early on from fellow blogger, and writer of A Stranger Among Us, Robert Avrech. He always responds to comments of his readers. There's another approach, which is that rather than replying on your own site in your own comments the nicest thing to do for a fellow blogger who commented on your post is to visit their site and, if it's feasible, to leave a comment for them too. Anne, Therapy Doc, and Jack are particularly good at this M.O. Some bloggers, including some of the ones just mentioned, do both.

I didn't yet find in April '08 those question posts that I've been thinking about. I did find a short poem called Histakel, with one comment - sort of.