In today's LA Times, Kurt Streeter wrote a follow-up column about what had happened to a former drug addict and street thug whom a federal court judge took a special interest in. I remember reading the first column Kurt wrote and loved the story of someone who went above and beyond his job to help someone who truly needed it. The beneficiary of this attention, Michael thrived and then fell again, the path of walking the straight and narrow just way too narrow. But when Kurt reconnected with him finally he found him living in a group facility and finding joy in helping others. When Michael says "I don't understand how helping others turned out to be such a great help for me, and has changed me deep down within...it's like a miracle." , I just thought, Amen to that! The gospel of giving, is the gospel of mitzvot, and it doesn't matter at all what religion you practice to hear the truth in it. Every bad day I have, I can find a way to give to others, to get out of my own head and my own worries and take the focus to the goodness and greatness of the world we live in. Of course, then I turned a few more pages, and there it was the ubiquitous advertisement from the King of Self Endorsement, Donald Sterling. New York has Donald Trump, but in LA this Donald is as unique as the city he calls home. Look I know it is my challenge to see others favorably, so kudos to Donald for giving money to charity, and for probably being a major contributor to the much needed LA Times advertisement revenue stream, but I am pretty sure all the self-aggrandizement he engages in takes away from these positives in some way. Found this quote on a blog post on the musar and the age of self-aggrandizement, "
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility
consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only
to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
(Philippians 2:3-4) http://rivertonmussar.org/middot-character-traits/humility/item/467-humility-in-the-age-of-facebook
Ironically Donald uses the same terrible graphics for his self-promotion as he does for his real estate properties making it incredibly easy to get that they are one and the same person. Thankfully, there are no bikini beauties in the relentless "man of the year" spreads that he runs. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt, and figure he hired the wrong PR agency as his spin doctor back when he was being raked over the journalistic coals as a slum lord. But as it says in the above mentioned blog, "
“Be like Hashem and don’t look for people’s shortcomings and weak points. You will then be at peace with everyone.” So I am trying, but perhaps Donald you could try a little harder too, to toot your own horn a lot less and let your good deeds perhaps go unnoticed except by the universe. It would make you seem a more admirable human being, but then maybe that isn't what you want.
To anyone who might ever read this and say tsk tsk at my rant in this space, usually reserved for doing good things, and feeling the miracles that occur, I truly and sincerely apologize. It is not my intention to speak behind Donald's back, it is my hope and fervent prayer to the universe that he or someone he knows will read it and illuminate him on this folly. In the meantime, I'll keep looking for more miracles in my newspaper.
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