Posts by SeemsImportant
Apology Demands Admission (My Annual Yom Kippur Sermon)
Yom Kippur is coming up which means it’s time for my annual sermon on forgiveness. This year I’m going to tell you a less-known fact about the tradition and assert something that appears on the surface sacrilegious but hear me out. You do not have to forgive. The commandment is to ask for forgiveness. Not…
Read MoreWhat Arguments Are Worth Your Time
In response to the story I shared last week, many of you disparaged yourselves for not having the courage to say what I said. I realized I didn’t add an important distinction: That wasn’t courage. I rarely speak up when adults say inane and cruel things anymore. Not because I don’t want to, but because…
Read MoreThe Subtle Transmission of Dangerous Ideas
We were all sitting around the living room trying to ignore the chaos of children around us and have a decent conversation when someone made the trying-to-be-funny comment about how their son should marry that person’s daughter so they could be in-laws. “Or son,” I said. “What?” the father said back to me. “He could…
Read MoreWhat Lies Underneath Worry
It hasn’t happened recently, but occasionally, I will publish a piece that evokes an: Are you ok? Should I be worried? First of all, yes, you should be worried about me as I am worried about you and the state of the world all day every day. It’s part of having been born Jewish. My…
Read MoreTalking is Dangerous Which is Why You Should Do It
“What are you STUPID?!” I watched a grown man scream at his daughter. “She’s $%#@(* stupid, You know better! What are you doing???” I don’t remember much of the scene except to tell you that we were at a lake, visiting friends and the scene happened on the dock. I recall the mother pretending like…
Read MoreSaved
You can’t save people who don’t want to be saved. You can pull them out of a bathtub, but you can’t *make* them want to live. To love someone is to let them sit in their own consequences. To risk losing them if they want to be lost.
Read MoreLight and Fluffy
I had a serious piece queued up for today about how you can’t save people who don’t want to be saved, but I’m in the mood for something lighter. Things in my world are heavy. Hope takes effort. I’m told this is a symptom of trauma, not depression. Depression displays anhedonia, which is the absence of pleasure…
Read MoreWhy Doing Creative Work Will Save Your Life
Creativity is not in conflict with what is essential to survive. It is vital to survival. Yes, Kyle, I know it’s not bread. It is soul sustenance. In my life, I’ve watched many people I love commit soul suicide in the name of preservation. I’m not convinced it’s worth it. Suffering is inevitable in life. To suffer gratuitously…
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