Thoughts about my family

From 4-22-08

Have you ever wished that your life was a little worse? I mean, I’m thinking about when I saw the musical, Avenue Q and one of the first songs was “It sucks to be me”. Have you ever just sat and listened to everyone around you explain how crappy their job is and you just want to one-up them? Or how annoying their in-laws are, and you want to tell them about how yours are worse than theirs? Well, I have to admit that there have been many times in my life where I sit and listen to people describe their upbringing and their dysfunctional families, and I reach and reach for something to say so that I can steal the pitty party, but I always end up bowing out of that one. And it’s kind of sad, because the truth is, I’ve always felt so lucky that I had such a great upbringing but I felt guilty to say it to anyone. I felt like I’d be bragging. There’s kind of a certain place in social environments where you’re actually cooler for having a worse life. Like you have more credibility for having gone through rough times. It’s true that you learn a lot when you have a rough life. You learn how to cope much quicker. You learn the hard parts of life. But I think when we start to think that that’s the only way to learn, we miss a lot. When we continually try to learn from all the wrong ways to do things, sure we eventually find the right way, but there’s a quicker way to find the right way – Learn from people who have experienced it, who have done it already, who have accomplished such great things. There is so much to learn from our own families.

Today, I can’t hold it back anymore. I can’t resist. I hate to brag, but it just won’t stay in anymore. I have the coolest, greatest, awesomest family in the world –EVER! I don’t care who you are, I mean Menasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph could come to me today and tell me about how their father interpreted dreams, and I’d still say my family is cooler. It would take me days to truly explain how hard working, loving and giving both of my parents are and what a success story they are in the arena of life, love, and family, I don’t know if I could ever describe how deep my older brothers are and how they both have guided me so much. I can’t emphasize how all of my cousins are so talented and accomplished, how my dad’s sister is so talented and compassionate, how my mom’s sisters are so experienced and perceptive. I will never be able to chronicle the stories of my grandparents – all four of them – who gave of themselves in different ways, whether it was fighting in the military to stop the holocaust, or choosing not to fight out of a belief in peaceful resolution, or helping to raise their grandchildren, or serving in a church for little pay and no pension.

So here I am, the youngest son of the family, the youngest cousin, the youngest grandson. I have the unique pleasure and opportunity to learn from them all. I have been given such a lucky life and though I am sure all of those that I mentioned wish at times they did more, or did things differently, I see them as successful role models. What a travesty it would be if I ignored their stories out of pity for people who feel screwed by life or because I am afraid people will think I am lucky to have a great family or that my opinions are less pertinent because I haven’t experienced the sucky parts of life. No, I am going to be proud of the stories.