Everything Happens for a Reason...

June 4, 2008

It’s funny how when you start something that you enjoy or produces some type of results, it self-motivates you to continue to do that exact thing. Everyone goes through these stages, sports and drawing to name a few. I’m going through my own right now: Hebrew, running, and now writing. Interesting how they are all intertwined…

A very strange thing happened to me today. I went to my parents’ house.

Ha that wasn’t the strange thing. Gotcha! When I arrived, there was an envelope sitting there on the old reliable dining room table. Just by looking at the outside where it read “DO NOT FOLD” did I already figure out the contents.

I was a mere three feet from my college diploma. I had gone through all of the boring yet enjoyable graduation processes. But that document I was staring at was by far one of the most important pieces of paper I had ever received.

I just stood there in awe with my eyes fixated on the envelope and a smirk on my face. That was it? That’s what the last four years of college look like condensed into a single piece of paper? I felt accomplishment and emptiness. That’s a lot of money, time and effort for just a piece of paper.

This past weekend when I was in Chicago visiting many good friends, one in particular, Mollie Flink, made an interesting analysis about the same concept. Dollar bills are just pieces of paper yet valued so high. Doubtful, but it would be pretty remarkable if people didn’t have to value these bills so much. Back to this diploma…I do feel good that I reached this point in my life; I just hope people, including myself, are judged on other things aside from a paper given by a university or a high school.

As the night unfolded, my dad mentioned he had already read my blog entry and that my mom was about to do the same. Being the keen son of theirs for the last almost 22 years, I made an accurate prediction. Tears flowed from my mom’s eyes like they do many times each year. I was touched to know it meant something to her, yet I hope reading it each time doesn’t bring these tears. Because, at this rate, she’ll go through a hefty amount of tissue boxes. I don’t think my parents signed up for in this part of the deal going into this. Maybe I can get a tissue company to sponsor this…

After eating dinner and enjoying one of my favorite past times of watching the Yankees with my dad, I strolled back over to the infamous table (which has its own long history). I saw another vital document sitting there. It was my passport. I double checked the contents without catching anything out of the ordinary; but the third time, I glanced at what was my Aliyah visa. This was the single piece of paper that was going to gain me Israeli citizenship when I step off that plane at 7:05 AM on August 13, 2008.

The two documents were separated by a microscopic foot; they were much farther away from each other than that, though. One signified an end, the other a very fresh, crazy beginning. Sometimes things randomly happen or fall into place in a strange way. I’ve always thought everything happens for a reason (even if it’s something devastating or awful). I’m still trying to figure out how this one occurred. But it definitely brought a smile to my face.

Although the visa is in black and white and looks like something any computer savvy teenager could make on the computer, it just seems so real. Just looking at the Hebrew inside makes me feel like I’ve already completed all of my steps for getting there. But alas, I look at the cover of the passport and am put back in my place of being in the U.S.A. still. I’ve learned that paper is just what we must use as accountability in almost all that we do, but it’s what we feel and the attitudes we express that truly show our real colors. The Grateful Dead said, “Put your money where your love is.” Don’t mind if I do – Ha’aretz, the Land of Israel.