In the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to engage in some conversations with some groups about Boomer issues. We were all reflecting on the news that is in front of us these past weeks that this season marks some very interesting anniversaries. It has been 30 years since Apple launched the iMac. Now our phones outperform in an instant that first desk top. It is 50 years since the debut of Fiddler on the Roof. The first week in February marks the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in the USA and their appearance on Ed Sullivan. Can it really be 50 years?
I do not know about you, but one of the issues that really gets to me now is that I seem to have lost the ability to hold on to time. I experience this as well every time I look at the grandchildren (all of whom now live far away) and see how much they have changed in a matter of months. Yes, time is taking on a different feeling. I guess that the growing value of time is enhanced because all of us are slowly becoming aware that we have less of it. That is a finite fact, and despite the fact that we often wish to repress this, it is true.
We recently posted on jewishsacredaging’s Facebook site a reference to a recent post on www.nextavenue.org on “50 Things I Know Now That I Am 60.”
Some of those humorous insights reflected on the fact that, given the knowledge of how precious time is, we often tend not to get so wrapped up in what really are trivial issues; matters that at a younger age we may have ruminated about. Time is also a great teacher in what is important and what really is marginal. That is why, I think, family and friends and relationships become more precious to us now.
So, here is a small wish for all of us. Take some of that time and renew the relationships we have with friends and family. Give that hug to those grand-children and cherish those moments that make memories. Sanctify the time we have and live to celebrate those times.
Take care!
Rabbi Richard F Address, D.Min
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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