(This is from a talk I recently gave at a Senior Luncheon)

Hello again,

Jackie asked me once more to speak to you. I could have made it easy and given a little historical overview of the Thanksgiving holiday. But then that would be old news, you have heard it all before.

The holiday we adore comes from the Pilgrims being thankful for the new life, thankful for the indigenous natives helping them, everyone gathering at the festive table to eat together. I like that Hallmark vision. Historically we know that it didn’t last, conflict erupted, and wars were fought, the world took over.

Yet we hang on to the thought of gathering yearly to give thanks to G-d and thanks to those who have helped us this year. We need to honor that tradition in spite of the history.

So today, thats all I will say about Thanksgiving. What I want to do is to briefly tell you about my current thinking on a variety of subjects. It has been a season of pondering.

The first thing to address is the search for truth. Ever since the philosophers asked “What is truth?” the answer has been vague. A wise man responds with “Depends!” That can’t be allowed. Truth should be clear and solid. Truth that wanders around the universe creates only chaos. There is a theory that actually points this out.

The trouble ends up in the transfer of a truth from one person to another. Different people have different experiences, different mindsets, different ethics… How can we bridge this to pass on truths?

Look at the current US election. Each candidate offered a set of truths that did not live together. Did someone lie? Did they both lie? The problem, as I see it, is that they labeled these things as “truths”, when they were only opinions, or ideas.

1. We need to spend time considering what we know as “truth”.

Another ponder is based upon how much we are filled with ourselves. For the last few years I have started to react to certain phrases like “fingernails on a chalkboard”. The first one to come to mind is the set up phrase “I think…”. Normally, this is just passed over. Of course I want to know what you think. We’re friendly, I want to understand where you are coming from. And it’s reciprocated because you want to know what I think. But maybe not in all cases.

Example, I’m listening to an expert at a lecture, after years of study and she has formulated a new idea. She has finished the speech and has asked if there are any questions. Someone stands up and begins to speak, “I think…”

I shudder, this person is not a colleague who has studied the same issues. This person just has an opinion and feels the need to share it. 

2.  Beware the phrase “I think… “, even if you are the one saying it.

We are so full of ourselves that we can take on a posture, or a facial expression showing our distain for others. Several times in scripture we hear of G-d’s condemnation of “haughty eyes”. What is that? I’m thinking it must be very apparent, so I vote for the “rolling of eyes”. Have you seen that in person? It’s very revealing.

3.  Don’t ever roll your eyes

We are so full of ourselves that we often just “go our own way”. Why not? We are masters of the universe. We are totally free to pick a direction and a speed to travel. Except on the roads. There are signs on the road to tell you a truth. This is where you are going, and this is how you can go. Mostly we accept these signs, we understand that it is not “advice”. And there are penalties if you don’t obey.

The sign I want to focus on is the “Yield” sign. We don’t know how to yield, at best we think it is advice, at worst we just ignore it. There is something threatening to our ego to be ordered to yield. “Hey, I’m walking here.”

There is a trend to replace crossroad stop signs with roundabouts or “circles”. This only works if we understand how to yield. We are failing at this in driving, we are failing this in life. It takes being humble to yield. It’s important to understand it’s not a compromise. It’s yielding

4. Try very hard every day to be more humble. Yield every now and then.

And lastly, do not wait in a waiting room. I am so opposed to this concept. Life is movement, that’s one of the keys factors in describing life! Being patient is beneficial, but waiting should not be going “on hold”.

We are not machines, we can’t pause ourselves. All “waiting rooms” should be renamed “living rooms”. Wait, that’s already been taken. Something else then.

5.  While you wait, life goes on.

One more personal thing, technology is not all bad. Ha! This reminds me of my promise to bring you even more historical facts. Sabotage! Do you know the meaning? If you look at the French origin you might get a clue.

During the Industrial Revolution there were job replacement issues. In the French linen factories water powered belts were replacing manual workers. The looms were driven by gears connected water power, and workers were laid off. There were protests, workers broke into the factories and threw their wooden shoes into the looms, causing a breakdown of the machines. Wooden shoes in French are called “sabots”, hence “sabotage”.

We often react to the misuse of technology. The truth is that technology is an unbiased tool. It can be used for good, it can be used for bad.

I bought an Apple Watch, it lasted for years and I learned to rely on the features. While in the process of selling, and moving to a new house, my watch died. I didn’t want to buy a new one, so I went to Amazon to buy a used reconditioned one for much less. It came in a week and I tried to sync it to my phone.

It failed, my iPhone was years too old. See, technology is bad, you have to always keep up! Sure, my phone worked, the battery was horrible, the screen was cracked, mostly it was dead in my pocket.

So I bought a used/reconditioned iPhone. The watch synced, everyone was happy. I was moving heavy boxes upstairs, reinstalling shutters and doors, basically killing my back. Then I looked at the new apps that the watch had installed.

There was one new I hadn’t seen,the EGC test for heart health. I tried the app. It said I was showing signs for AFib. What???

The watch was obviously still broken. I put it on my wife and she is fine. I put back on and I was in AFib. I went to my doctor and he said his experience is that the watch was pretty accurate, he recommended going to the local ER.

Spent the evening in the ER, had a $30,000 machine tell me that I’m in AFib, but not how long. I don’t have many symptoms, I’m old and I’m tired with moving. I don’t know what is normal.

I’m on blood thinners for a month, then I will get shocked to a normal rhythm.

6.  Trust technology, it’s your friend

That’s my potpourri, G-d bless all of you!