Yesterday Dineen and I attended (with Alex) the bat mitzvah of the daughter of one of her colleagues.
One of the major themes to this particular celebration was the passing down of tradition. We heard the stories of Abraham and his wife Sarah, and were asked to comtemplate how the decisions they made thousands of years ago had a lasting impact even today. We can see that impact as the Jewish tradition, and the Christian tradition that sprung from it. All of us are makiing decisions that may have consequences decades, centuries, or even millenia from now.
The most obivious of those is the choice to have or not have children, and the potential for decendants many years later. Another, less obvious choice is the way in which we raise the children we have. The nurture or neglect of a single child usually passes on in a cycle, so those of us who are parents have an awesome responsibility placed upon us.
I'm sure as I go through my daily life over the next few weeks I'll think of more ways in which my actions now can have a lasting impact. What about you?
Posted by wasylik at November 23, 2003 04:59 PM | TrackBack