A Time For Reflection

Dear Readers,

It has been quite a long while since I last posted on this, or any other, blog site. It seems, perhaps, not so strange, that I am doing so at this time. I write to you now from the middle of The Ten Days of Awe, better known as The Jewish New Year. It is a reflective time, and a very somber time, very different, indeed, from the secular New Year on January 1st. I have asked a great many questions during this time, including the following:

I have asked myself why a counselor, and there are many of them, unfortunately, would cast aside common sense and ignore intellect, including from several dictionaries, and end up vindicating those who commit crimes of the mind, as well as of the body.

I have asked myself why an institution would cover up a serious crime wave at the expense of its own reputation.

I have asked myself why the people who ought to love me the most are the quickest to blame me for opening Pandora's Box without first checking the people they chose to surround themselves with, let alone the ones they wake up to every morning and why others in my shoes, whether or not we are "whistleblowers," are often the first to be blamed, cast aside, written off, or otherwise blacklisted for wanting to know the logical truth.

I have asked myself why the greatest, most healthy nations are often the ones that fall so hard and, seemingly, so fast.

I have asked myself why, at times, I have been so brutally hard on myself, at only my own expense.

I have asked God why I have been chosen to experience certain things in this life.

Fortunately, I have learned this Rosh Hashanah, that there is precedent for such questions of God.

Now, at this time, I ask you to join me in doing one thing, besides a little personal reflection of your own: giving yourselves some extra credit. This might sound like a school task, yet it is the one thing I find many of us deserve and do not do nearly enough. And, while your at it, if you need to thank someone -- in person or in writing -- for something that he or she has done for you during the last year, please to this, too. We are raised not to expect a thank you, but a little appreciation can go a long way both in your office and at home.

Thank you to my many teachers, of different roles and places, over the last year. You have shown me much wisdom.

May you all have a healthy, happy, prosperous, and loving New Year.

L'shana Tovah,

Rachel Gluck
Your Humble Blogger