Lucky

I'm feeling maudlin and overemotional. Mawkish. I'm thinking about my place in the world. And you have to suffer for it.

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It's raining. The temperature is about 29 degrees. Fahrenheit. It's dark and windy and generally unpleasant out there. And I'm lucky.

I'm inside where it's dry and warm and well-lit. Not everyone has that luxury.

I'm lucky. My family and I are well enough off, we enjoy good health, and are blessed with above average intelligence.

I'm lucky. My wife and I have three children and thirteen grandchildren. None of them has a drug problem. None of my children is divorced. My eldest granddaughter is married and expecting her first child. My wife and I look forward to being great-grandparents.

And all of my children and grandchildren have stayed true to their religion. I'm lucky. The traditions I love will live a little longer.

But not everyone is so lucky, and, in addition to wondering why our lives have been so good, I sometimes wonder what I should be doing to help others. More than that, I sometimes wonder what obligation one person has to all the others.

Not that I doubt an obligation, but I feel almost powerless when I consider the problem faced by the world and the vast majority of people in it. Were I to liquidate all my assets and distribute them to those in need, it would have virtually no effect. Perhaps if the distribution were among only a few people it would help them, but it would have no effect on the billions of others in need. And if I were to divide equally what I have among them I would certainly be of no help to anyone.

So what should I do? I can give away all I have and destroy my own life, as well as the good of my family, but even by doing so I'm not likely to save the world. Yet the obligation remains, so I have to find a way to deal with it – somehow or other to share my good fortune. That's the teaching of my religion and traditions. But how can I do that?

The first thing I have to do is to lower my goals and expectations. I can't save the whole world – at least not in the usual way – but no one can. Perhaps I can help one person though. According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin, 22a), “ ... whoever saves one life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world." Unrealistic expectations are not likely to be met, but we can dream the possible dream, and sometimes even realize it.

And we can help the unlucky in ways other than with money. Numerous volunteering opportunities exist and it is almost a cliché to suggest offering your time for the less fortunate – though clichés, however sappy they may sound, are often true. But more than time, people can give of themselves – blood while alive and organs afterward.

We can also help those in need with our voices and our words. The education of others – individuals, politicians, media – by spreading the word about needs, will sometimes result in their providing the help that is beyond our own means. Our obligation is to convince them that they, too, have obligations.

Being lucky has a down side. No. It has another side. Abraham Lincoln said “ … my concern is not whether God is on [my] side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.” Whether luckiness is divine or random, whatever you believe, the obligation of the lucky is to be on the right side, and to help those who do not share their luck.

Come in from the rain. But don't forget those who are still outside.

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There. I'll stop making you suffer.