Such is the nature of questions that go to the core…they are clear, concise and hit the mark. This question is the focus on an article on CNN today.
It is interesting that a rabbi is chosen to articulate the place of G-d when calamities strike, given the penchant to remember the Holocaust and how the same question was asked about that event over 60 years ago.
Today we are seeing G-d in the people of Japan. Their resilience, they sense of common ground, their ability to rise from ashes…this is the epitome of the true G-d within us. G-d does not require us to subordinate ourselves, as he (she) walks beside us. It is the example of leadership not from below, not from above, but from beside.
Mother Teresa often said “I see Jesus in everyone”. She again hit the nail on the head. In that short and sweet statement she found the ultimate truth. That when people are faced with another part of their journey, they can choose to see light or they can choose to see dark. She chose to see light in everyone and even in everything.
It is testament to the small miracles that we are witnessing each day in Japan that we owe it to them to shine our light towards them at this time. It does not matter to me whether you believe in Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Moses or others. If you believe in your own light, take a small part of it and shine it to the japanese people today. The gift will be returned to you in droves.
Someone accused me of bordering insubordination the other day. I agree. I can be insubordinate by my choice. Because if G-d does not ask me to subordinate myself to him, nobody else can. If it is by my choice, it is because I recognize strength, not power, and acknowledge in my humility that I have much to learn from those who are strong. It is the weak who pretend to be strong that bother me. Leaders in Japan today who failed their people by hiding things or reacting too slowly are weak, yet they have power. It is the common people in their sacrifices, the 50 workers who know they are risking their lives for a greater good, that are the exhibits of true strength and to whom I would subordinate myself willingly, if called upon. The leaders who believe their titles, are simply full of entitlement. The leaders who we willingly follow are those who choose to lead from strength. We are witnessing so many leaders today in Japan, yet would we recognize them simply because they may not carry a title on their cards?
May G-d keep them well.
Sass