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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Oct. 13, 2008 / 14 Tishrei 5769

Now is not the time to blame others

By Mitch Albom


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As the financial markets tumble and America stands on the brink of a depression, people want to know how on earth we can fix this.


I know the answer. But you may not like it.


We're gonna have to be nice to each other.


Yep. That's what I said. Nice to each other. And before you dismiss this as simplistic drivel, ask yourself a question: If it's so simple, how come we haven't done it?


And ask yourself this: What's the biggest difference between America now and America during the Great Depression?


The difference is people back then were willing to sacrifice, to do without, to cobble through the hard times and pull together because they believed in the future and they believed in their country.


We need to do the same.


Which means a change in the status quo. A change in the blame-someone-else mentality of this nation. A change in the hate-mongering that's going on from right to left and left to right, in the media, in politics, in town halls, in barbershops.


If we're going to weather this mess, if we're going to avert total financial meltdown, if we're ever really going to see brighter days ahead, then here's what we'll have to do:

OUR NATIONAL TO-DO LIST

  • We'll have to stop blaming the poor for buying houses they couldn't afford.

  • We'll have to stop blaming the rich because they wanted more money.

  • We'll have to stop screaming at Democrats, "You created this problem."

  • We'll have to stop screaming at Republicans, "You're the reason this happened."

  • We'll have to help the downtrodden, because without our help they may not make it.

  • We'll have to look out for the elderly, because if illness comes, they can't wait until the markets rebound.

  • We'll have to teach our kids that tough times don't last, but tough people do.

  • We'll have to help our neighbor find a job, because next thing you know, it could be us asking for work.

  • We'll have to take an interest in our community, because feeling part of something may be the only way we climb out of this.

  • We'll have to get behind the new president, whoever he may be, because a country as divided as this one is will never be able to climb out of the muck.

  • We'll have to find a laugh, together, in cutting back to one car, or taking a local vacation, or living without computer upgrades, because if we can't share a laugh over this whole mess, we'll just want to cry.

WORST OF TIMES, BEST OF PEOPLE
The well to do will have to accept that poor people are not stupid or second class — that former high-flying executives are now out in the street, too — and those living paycheck-to-paycheck are not here to be taken advantage of.


The less well off will have to accept that wealth is earned, it is not a right, it is not something you're supposed to have just because people on TV have it. You save, you sacrifice, you avoid debt — those are qualities of admirable folks, not suckers.


The comfortable must know that if they don't help those in need, the needy may be pushed to the brink.


The needy must believe that no matter what, you don't lose your soul over this, you don't steal, you don't rob, you don't break the law for money.


These are depressing times, awful times, head-shaking times. But they also can be times of opportunity. How many of us know a parent or grandparent who claims the greatest lessons they learned came from the Depression? How many of them hearken to that time as a moment when we realized what was important, and we all pulled together?


At the bottom of all that is a simple start. We need to be nicer to each other. That's how it begins. If we take that first step, we may surprise ourselves. And we may surprise this national malaise, which otherwise threatens to swallow us.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

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