I have been thinking a lot about “net value” of late. For those of you who do not have a mother who is an accountant. Ones “net” is what is left over when all the other considerations are taken away, In business it is your profit after you minus overhead, payroll, advertising, taxes, etc. In life it is a little different.
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| Wednesday, November 17, 2010 |
Ofttimes we are so focused on the appearance of the thing itself that we do not see what it is producing. Take for example my friend. My friend who wears the kippah. Who meets, all “coincidentally” last erev Shabbat, a Saudi Muslim in a library. My friend was there looking up information on Magen David Adom when he walked in. Intrigued (I suppose) with one another they proceed to talk. Politics, religion, who knows what else, long into the night. At the end of it they pray, together. You are thinking...Wow! a Jew, a Muslim, praying together...really? That is great! What a feel good story!
Net: My friend who wears the kippah, who struggles in his faith, who struggles, sometimes just getting out of bed, misses Shabbat Shacharit (morning) services, misses the special Havdalah concert, misses an opportunity to help another dear friend who needed a positive word. All because he stayed up all night, and couldn’t get out of bed. Plus he never did get the information he wanted on helping Haiti through the Magen David Adom.
Is this cynical? Or is judging the person/action/religion/culture purely by its “net” the only true way to judge? I am taking a hard look at things. What is my “net” effect. Is there good coming from my walk? Is my shadow a positive or negative reflection of where I have been? Where I am?
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