Approval and Acceptance

Inspiration doesn’t come cheap, or so I’m told. After being in Israel for seven weeks I’ve had a little writers block, its difficult day in and day out to properly describe my experiences in the Holy Land. With every passing week my calendar gets more filled up and my free time shrinks. And what gets pushed to the side? My writing naturally but I’m making an effort to get thoughts down at least twice a week even if you all only get to see them every other week. We have a new guy in our room, he’s here for the next three weeks and it’s very strange. He’s a great guy fits right in, but what’s strange about it is he makes me realize how much I’ve grown in the last two months. How my expectations of what’s normal and accepted have changed. For instance every time this kid opens his mouth every third word is a swear word. I’m not going to claim I never swear but I’ve grown used to a different manner of speaking. Almost no one here swears casually. In fact most of the guys here never swear at all, and I hadn’t realized how used to that I’ve gotten. Also I hear him critique the Rabbi’s at Aish and I realize that many of the problems I have with them I’ve grown used to. It’s not that I now agree with everything they say, but more often then not I don’t let it get to me. I’ve come to accept them as the wonderful human beings they are; even if I don’t approve of everything they believe in or of how they live their lives. Because there is a big difference between approval and acceptance and if you figure that out your life will become a lot simpler, you won’t get as riled up about as many things. Because the bottom line is there are many, many, many people in this world whose lifestyles I don’t approve of. But just because I don’t approve of their lifestyles that doesn’t mean I can’t accept them as human beings. That doesn’t mean I can’t love them as human beings. And it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the beauty of their souls. Learn this dear friends it will serve you well.