Make That Change!

I just read a classmates post, and found it really interesting and wanted to write my own blog about a similar topic.  Check out Olivia's blog!


Her post was all about what prayer does for a person.  Olivia wrote; "It won't make your life better in any way unless you do something.  Take action and make your situation change."  This first of all immediately reminded me of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror".  The lyrics go; "If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change".  Both the post and the lyrics say the same thing.  If you want to change something, do it yourself, make the change.  I agree with this, if you want something fixed, you have to do it yourself.  If it is something that you can fix, don't mope, get up and go.


For me, I don't go to temple for the service (and to be honest, I rarely go to temple).  But I see it as more of a community.  When I think of Judaism, I think of faces.  I see the faces of the people that I have met because of it, and the people that will always be a part of my life.  I don't think of the prayers or Torah passages and honestly most of the things I learned in Hebrew or Sunday school I can't remember.  I think  of how everyone came together when there was a terrifying situation for one of the families in the community.  I think of the support I got and kind words when I butchered a Torah portion I chanted on Yom Kippur one year.  No one cared that I messed it up, they just were happy I tried.


These are the things I remember from my temple community.  These were times that we came together to help out another member of the community.  I don't really pray because as Olivia wrote, I believe more in fixing something and getting it done rather than praying for it.

I do think that prayer can be a healthy outlet for people though.  I'm not really a religious person, but in hard times, people need to find whatever they can to help them get through it and for some people it is religion that they turn to.  If there is stress of a sick family member, it can really weigh on a person and each person must find what it is that can help them.  For my mom, she starts cleaning.  For me, I go run until I can no longer run anymore (not run away, go for a run).  Each person has his or her own way of dealing with things, but at some point, we all need to stop trying to deal, and start trying to fix.