Might Does Not Make Right

I heard from someone the other day...

"Do what is right--the others be damned!"

And this is right on the money.

You should always follow the dictates of your conscience.

Do not worry about pressure from others or what others will do that you cannot control. 

My dad (A"H) used to say:

"YOU do what is right--YOU be the example!"

He was my example, and I will always follow in his footsteps. ;-)

(Source photo: here with attribution to cursedthing)

Might Does Not Make Right

Growing Shoes For Growing Feet

Great innovation from The Shoe That Grows.

Innocent children around the world living in poverty are frequently forced to walk barefoot, without shoes, risking dangerous injury from hard and sharp objects as well as disease from contaminated soil. 

Now there are expandable shoes that can be adjusted in the front toe piece and side with snaps, as well as with a back heel strap.

The shoes are made to expand five sizes and last 5 years with high quality rubber soles and leather uppers.

A donation of one pair for a needy child is just $10.

No child--or adult--should ever have to go without the basics like shoes and this can help millions get to a higher standard of living, which everyone deserves. ;-)

(Thank you to Michelle Blumenthal for sharing this with me.)

Growing Shoes For Growing Feet

Live To Live or Live To Die?

In The New York Times today, David Brooks presents “two sets of virtues, the resume virtue and the eulogy virtue.”

The resume virtues are the skills you need to get ahead in the marketplace, and the eulogy virtues are “whether you were kind, brave, honest, or faithful.”

While we'd like to believe that most feel that being a decent human being is more important than how much money we earn, unfortunately our education and economic systems are geared far more toward the latter, where it's widely acknowledged that "money makes the world go round!”

In fact, many will often sacrifice the moral high ground for landing on a bigger, cushier hill of worldly possessions and pleasures. 

Interestingly enough, my daughter asked me last week, whether it is better to personally live a happy life but die with a horrible reputation or to live selflessly, struggling with life challenges, but be revered after you die?

To me the answer was simple--live, learn, and grow regardless of momentary personal happiness. Do what’s right, period--honor and chivalry is alive and well. 

But my daughter told me that over 90% of people polled chose their happiness in life as their #1 goal.

I suppose it's easy to say what's the point of leaving a legacy if you were not happy living your life every day, but I would counter with what's the point in chasing life's daily pleasures, if you were a bum and everyone knows it?

The point isn't even what people say about us when we are alive or dead, but rather that we know that we tried our best to live as decent, ethical human beings and that hopefully, we left the world a better place than when we got here.

Sure, there is no blessing in being poor or unhappy--but living purely to satisfy one's voracious materialistic appetite is just being a selfish little pig--come on admit it!

On your deathbed, will you wish you that in your life you had more money and status or that you had been a better, more giving human being? 

I say forget the resume and the eulogy, just think about what will really gives you peace of mind and inner happiness and it's more than any amount of money can buy or any seduction you can imagine.  ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Live To Live or Live To Die?

Who Will Help?

This is an awesome video that has gone viral.

A social experiment with hidden camera filming of a homeless child freezing on the streets of Manhattan...

See the people just walking on by--completely ignoring or plain unaffected by the suffering taking place literally right next to them. 

Where is the compassion of the people?

Many are just rushing by, chatting away, and/or carrying fancy filled bags from nearby shopping excursions.

The bystanders walk past and practically over this boy's shivering body lying in ragged shirt, without a coat, and lying half inside a big black garbage bag on the street. 

I imagined G-d looking down on this extreme callousness of his creations ignoring the suffering of this boy and being quite upset. 

Perhaps, there are unfortunately so many people now homeless , hungry, and begging in the streets that our minds and hearts have simply learned to "tune it out."

The ending is really amazing...when the one person who comes over to care for the poor boy is a black homeless man--who ends up taking off his own coat and gives it to the child. 

May G-d open our eyes to the pain of our brethren and grant us compassionate hearts to sincerely care one for each other. ;-)

Who Will Help?

Live With The Eternal In Mind

I really like this saying.

I heard it this weekend on a popular television show at the burial of one of the characters. 

"What you see is temporal; what you don't see is eternal."

Everyday, we think we are living in the "real world," but this is just our mortal experience, one constrained by our senses and the dictates of time and space.

However, beyond this mere earthly experience and existence is the eternal G-d. 

Perhaps, we can take comfort and live a life of meaning, if our existence in the temporal world is always with the eternal in mind. ;-)

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Terry Dennis)

Live With The Eternal In Mind

Top 100 Social CIOs

Top 100 Social CIOs from Huffington Post.

So cool to make the list. ;-)

Shabbat Shalom!

Top 100 Social CIOs

Amazing Advances In Prosthetics

Watch this video...

Where a man who lost both arms over 40 years ago is fitted with these amazing dual prosthetics that he is able to control with his mind and muscle movements. 

Made with financing from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab shows the possibilities for the future for helping everyone from Wounded Warriors to those disabled from accidents and disease. 

G-d creates and we imitate and together we make an incredible flourishing world. ;-)

(Note: My gratitude to Rebecca Blumenthal for sharing this video with me.)

Amazing Advances In Prosthetics

Shoes On the Dumpster

So I had a great new pair of sandals that I wore just 3-4 times, but they didn't fit right on me.

We wanted to give them to a poor person, but didn't want to just walk up to someone on the street and say, "Hey, do you need a pair of shoes?"

So down in Fort Lauderdale here there are plenty of needy people, and we decided to leave them prominently on a trash/recycle bin on the street where we were confident that someone in need would see them and take them.

We left the shoes at about 5:45 pm and went to the store for some errands, and literally by the time we circled back not half an hour later, the shoes were gone.

It is terrible to see people on the street in need of food, clean clothes, and just a pair of shoes. 

While it was rewarding to see that someone got these shoes, the fact that they were gone so quickly shows me clearly that there is still so much more that needs to be done.

Too much poverty, too much suffering...my daughter says "Dad, we can change things!"

I hope someway we can all make a difference and help all the people that are in need--those are some mighty big shoes we need to fill, but I pray in my heart that G-d will help us all succeed. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Shoes On the Dumpster

Colors Of Race

With the race riots in Ferguson again this week, the divide between black and white is once again evident in America.

Coming from big city life in America, like New York City and Washington D.C., I've grown up in divided neighborhoods and united organizations.

For example, just this morning, my daughter and I walking down Las Olas had to duck into an Illy's coffee shop when an impoverished (black) man in dirty clothes and talking loudly to himself turned around on the street and was coming up steadily behind us in a threatening way. Similarly, the day before, there was a (white) lady at the bus stop talking out loud, hallucinating, and thrashing...also scary in this otherwise posh neighborhood.  In other words, these issues are race-agnostic!

Simultaneously, I go to synagogue where blacks and whites (as well as "black hatters" and the modern religious) sit and pray and socialize together, and go to work where many of my esteemed coworkers are African-Americans, and watch as one of my daughter's best friend in school and who she blabs with on the phone is a nice young man who happens to be black

Also, I remember last year I think it was having to move a heavy piece of furniture and one of my black neighbors went out of his way to help me get it upstairs--he was incredibly generous and he and many others where I live are friendly, neighborly, and we live side-by-side together.

We need to move from racial inequality to racial harmony!

We don't have to wait for an alien invasion to realize we are all human beings here on Earth and that we share more than not.

In Fort Lauderdale, by Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University, and Broward College, the actual intersections of the street are pained in multi-color. 

I love it..not black and white, but the colors of the rainbow...mixed, flowing, getting along, and happy.

Let it be--black and white, yellow, brown, and red--a melting pot, together throughout the world in peace and prosperity. 

No more rioting in Ferguson or elsewhere, but celebration of humanity--nothing more, nothing less. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Colors Of Race

Soften The Hearts

This last year has shown some difficult negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran.

It seems as if the P5+1 have been doing everything possible to get Iran to stop pursuing dangerous WMD, but that the response is just forever, "No."

So the deadline for a deal was extended once again. 

Many are saying no deal is better than a bad deal--and that certainly makes sense. 

The key is for national and global security to take precedence over any deal for deal's sake.

Everyone desperately wants peace, but it should be a real and lasting and verifiable peace.

Most people are good and want peace, but there are always those extremists who have an irrational hatred and seek nothing but power and destruction, and they says things like they want to "annihilate Israel" or seek to build ICBMs that can reach Europe and America. 

Oh L-rd, please soften the hearts in Iran to agree to a real and lasting peace that safeguards us, and that brings prosperity and betterment to the world. 

Maybe this next extension will be the charm--let's hope and pray.

Note: The characters in the cartoon are fictional and do not intend any disrespect to anyone--simply the hope for a softening of hearts and minds of Iran's leaders, and with that the attainment of a real and verifiable peace with this next round of negotiations. 

All opinions my own.

Soften The Hearts

Homeless At Foggy Bottom

The homeless situation in Washington D.C. (as in other big cities in the U.S.) is horrible and tragic. 

The homeless person here is wrapped in a blanket trying to stay warm on her wheelchair. 

Further, her bucket, at her feet, for people to give is empty. 

The Thanksgiving holiday is this week, but where is the thanks and where is the giving?

Interesting...halfway down the block is GW Hospital and across the street behind this lady is a gorgeous, modern, brand new GW University engineering and science building (almost completed now). 

The haves, the have mores, and the have nots. 

Where are all the trillions of dollars of spending going..,that we can't feed, clothe, shelter, and educate our people. 

We need to do better as a society for providing care for the truly needy.

G-d is watching what we do and what we don't do.

Our test. and the test of our elected officials/leadership--will we/they stand up for those that can't? 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Homeless At Foggy Bottom

Guard Your Menorah

This was a funny picture I took of a zebra with the stripes that are in the shape of a Jewish menorah. 

The menorah has a center stem from which to light the branches extending upward to the left and right on the menorah. 

Last night at a Shabbat dinner, someone said something very interesting about keeping G-d commandments and staying innocent and holy.

He said a person face, which has 4 of our senses (mouth, eyes, nose, and ears) is actually like a menorah.

These start at the center of the face and then are emanating upwards and outwards:

- First, the mouth (speech)  is sort of the center stem--and our words needs to be carefully spoken so that we speak nicely to others and not to hurt them with what we say. 

- Second, our nose with 2 nostrils (smell)--we should smell holy things like the sacrifices and incenses to G-d, and not things that make us improperly attracted to worldly impurities, like inappropriate sexual partners, drug, smoking, and alcohol. 

- Third, our 2 eyes (sight)--we need to see the good in others and the world around us, but guard ourselves so that we do not see things that make us want, desire, and lead us astray after falsity. 

- Fourth, our 2 ears (hearing) --we work to avoid hearing "evil speech" about others and instead seek to perceive words of insight, spiritually and growth. 

I would add the following to complete our 5 senses:

- Fifth, our 2 hands (touch)---because if we but lift our hands up to heaven in prayer and servitude to G-d, then we use our sense of touch for helping rather than hurting people. 

So while this zebra has a menorah on his side, we have it built into our very faces and bodies. 

And with a little effort, we can use all our senses for doing good, and guard ourselves from the otherwise seemingly natural impulses to do otherwise.  ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Guard Your Menorah

Good Spreads Good

This was a nice note to see this morning at the parking garage. 

"To the good samaritan who picked up an Amex card on 11/3: Thank you! You are awesome."

Look at how good deeds work and spread:

Someone lost their Amex credit card.

Another found it and went out of their way to take the time to safeguard it and turn it in.

The person who lost it then got to recognize the kind act and in turn make the effort to write this nice thank you note and post it. 

Other people passing this by get to see this and learn from it, and hopefully do similar nice things when they are presented the opportunity.

Do you look the other way and run off to do just your own (selfish) things or do you take the time to help others when they are in need?  

The answer may not be obvious to everyone or all the time, but we can all learn and grow. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Good Spreads Good

Swarovski's Crystal Balls

This seemed like a cool shot in the Swarovski store.

Crystal balls hanging in a display case. 

Purples, pinks, greens, and more. 

Feels fanciful and otherworld-ish. 

These aren't the type you look in and see the future, unless you want to see more of the same crap we are in as a society today.

Well, hopefully, please G-d, things will be getting better soon.

And as long as these all don't start swinging...I won't need to puke!

P.S. After reading this one with a double entendre, my wife says I'm sort of a crazy guy...but funny!  

So what's wrong with having some fun and being a little provocative? ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Swarovski's Crystal Balls

Be Relevant, Live!

"Hello Irrelevant. My name is Andy."

The photo above was taken today near a prominent university in Washington, D.C. 

When our youngsters in the Capital of the United States--the holders of future creativity and energy are feeling irrelevant--we as a country are in serious trouble. 

Yet, don't we all feel irrelevant at times?

We see and hear so much that is somehow wrong in the world and feel powerless to stop it, change it, or do anything about it that really makes a difference. 

Everyday we are witness to people's personal misdeeds that should never be done, let alone contempalted; large, medium, and even smaller organizations doing the wrong thing for profit or power; and governments making decisions for political reasons and not common sense reasons or for the good of the people. 

And how do we feel in all this -- relevant or irrelevant? 

Can we as people endowed with G-d's lifeforce and heavenly spirit, formulate a position that touches people's hearts and minds to do the right thing for the right reasons--and can we speak it articulately enough, loud enough, convincingly enough to make a genuine difference?

Just as a single example in today's Wall Street Journal, an editorial about Yucca Mountain, the place designated for nuclear waste disposal--that is supposed to meet safety requirements for the next "million years" (I think most of us would be happy if we achieve even half that estimate)--and has already cost us 30 years of study and $15 billion, but yet continues to remain stuck in a politcial quagmire--why?

I beleive we can all think of numerous health, safey, and wellbeing issues affecting us, our families, communities, and this country that are are in a similar state of paralysis and dysfunction. 

Why can't we move forward--is there no one relevant out there anymore?

We can't afford to let ourselves sink into feelings of despair, inadequancy, or irrelevancy to the great tasks at hand--whether from things like Ebola, ISIS, or financial meltdown. 

We must find our inner voices, our moral rectitude, and our courage to speak truth to power, to stand firm for right against wrong.

It's understable to feel irrelevant, but it's not sustainable to show it. ;-) 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Be Relevant, Live!

The Light Of Heaven

What a gorgeous sky is South Florida.

The wondrous sun shining through the beautiful clouds floating overhead.

May the light be a healing light and may the power of the L-rd above reign over us in mercy.

From ebola and other illnesses to a sick economy, gruesome terrorism, and general inaction all around, we need G-d more than ever to show us the way.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Light Of Heaven

This Is Our World

This is some of the unbelievable crazy news just from today--check this out:

- Russia accuses U.S. that the rallies of masses of people seeking freedom and human rights in Hong Kong and Ukraine are really CIA plots.

- Ebola enters the U.S. ten days ago by a man who arrived from known, striken Liberia.

- "The Earth lost half of its wildlife in the past four decades."

- Oklahoma man, who recently tried to convert colleagues, beheads one of them at work. 

- Man who is armed felon (with "three felony convictions for assault and battery") gets within feet of and potentially endangers President on elevator within days of another man with a knife, who climbs fence, enters White House and skips about and into the East Room.

- Report that if just a "100-meter wide asteroid hit Washington, D.C....'it could wipe out everything within the Beltway.'"

So in case you didn't have enough to worry about ..this is our world and what we are doing to it. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

This Is Our World

Like A Rock Star

It's funny that people derive so much of their self esteem from others. 

If someone says something nice to/about them, then they feel on top of the world--full of worth, productive, successful, confident.

And when someone says something negative, then they get down in the dumps--depreciated, questioning, can't do anything right, like a failure.

Yet, it the same person inside--the same heart, the same soul.

Of course, we are impacted by our behavior (when we do good and not) and people's reactions to it--and we should be--it's a helpful feedback mechanism to let us know when we are messing up or as reinforcement to continue doing good things. 

But at the same time, people's feedback is not always correct or well-intentioned and certainly it doesn't necessarily represent holistically who we are...it's just a snapshot in time. 

So we need to take what people say and reflect back to us with a grain of salt--listen, try to understand, but also look at the bigger picture of you. 

You know yourself better than anyone else, so incorporate the feedback and use it to improve, but don't get bogged down by any person, event, or cheap talk.  

Yes, you can be a rock star, by reflecting from what others tell you, but more importantly by listening to that voice inside that guides you. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Like A Rock Star

Decide To Win

This was an interesting sign + sticker in Washington, D.C.

It asks to Stop Fighting Congress or perhaps stop the fighting in Congress.

The point is to come together and collaborate for a better decision, rather than have bad decisions made by just one side or have indecision altogether.

The New York Times had an Op-Ed over the weekend called The Great Unraveling about how we are living amidst hatred, fighting, disintegration, disease, and disorientation. 

And we are watching it as if dazed and confused--paralyzed as a nation taking maybe a baby step here or there, but with seemingly no solid committment to do anything to really change, improve, better, or win. 

Scared by lost lives and treasure since 9/11...we cannot bear to lose or waiver in our resolve because of weariness or despair.

Their is a lot to get done...for ourselves and future generations.

We've got to stop fighting our demons and each other and instead face up, man up, to the myriad of global problems that confront us. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Decide To Win

Garbage In, Repair The World Out

I'm sure you know the saying, "Garbage In, Garbage out"--in other words what you put into something is what you get out.

In this case, I took a photo of a garbage truck--of all things--that had prominently plastered on its side, "Tikkun Olam - Repair the World."

That is quite a positive message to put on a garbage truck!

Maybe that is our challenge in life, to make good things happen from the garbage that life often throws our way. 

Make something sweet like lemonade out of something sour like lemons.

This is not easy without some sugar, but in life, we need G-d to supply the raw ingredients and we add the elbow grease. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Garbage In, Repair The World Out