Water Over the Dam

It means something has happened and nothing can be done about it. The bottom line is, forget about it, and move on.

My thoughts are completely opposite and that water over the dam represents a challenge of unutilized energy. Falling water has power. The force of falling water can be harnessed to turn turbines to create electricity or power machines. The higher the waterfall, the greater is the force produced. This is waterpower in its basic form. Some people even think of harnessing the tidal flow to capture its power.

The current thinking is, that Yiddish is “Water over the Dam”, and Yiddish is passé. What we need to do is emphasize Hebrew and put Yiddish in the category of Aramaic. Readers of Der Bay are Yidophiles (lovers of Yiddish). We know that the rich heritage of our Eastern European ancestors is only at the precipice of the waterfall in its quantity of translated material. The rich tapestry of poetry, literature, theater, and music is a treasure trove worth a pirate’s ransom.

Shleykes (Suspenders) They Ain’t What They Used to be.

Suspenders are for old folks.

Only people with potbellies wear suspenders.

Farmers wear suspenders.

Suspenders are only black or brown.

Fishl was sold on them the first time he went through the security line at the airport wearing his new suspenders with plastic clips.

Imagine the old-fashioned way of going through the line pulling a rolling suitcase, holding your shoes, boarding pass, and metal-buckle belt while trying to hold your pants up to prevent them from falling down. It was a no-brainer. Without having to take the belt off, holding it, or having to hold the pants up, going through the security line became much easier. All that is needed now, is to have shoes that don’t need to be removed.

As for styles and colors, take my word for it they abound like fish in the sea. Just looking at only one suspender catalog, you can see classics, contractors, corporate, designer formal, industrial, Jacquard, leather, maternity, outdoorsman, silk, stripes, tradesman, under-ups, and finally URBAN YOUTH.

When ordering, it is like an automobile, you have many choices. You select; style, color and pattern, length, type and number of clips. Not only are there all the colors of the rainbow, but every pattern imaginable.

If you are embarrassed to have your friends see you wearing shleykes, they even have the soft kind that you can wear under your shirt.

Men, you can envy your wife, girlfriend, or the other woman with big hips and a tiny waist, their pants don’t fall down.

Confucius Was Jewish

Well, if he really wasn’t, he should have been.

Yesterday I came across one of his sayings that is the most profound and yet common sense that I have heard. It summarizes my life and one of the best bits of advice one could give.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Watch kids play. They are full of laughter and really enjoying themselves. Thus comes the question, what is play? It must be anything you really enjoy.

This can be extended to be around people you enjoy and avoid those who do not bring you happiness. Remember, to have friends whom you enjoy, you yourself must be joyful.

Of course it is not always possible to be around only people who are pleasant and we cannot always do only pleasant tasks. The answer then is to make the tasks and the people as pleasant as possible. If it is the job, think of the rewards. It could be the money you make or the good you do. If it is a person, challenges yourself to see if you can make that person laugh or be nicer. You may be surprised that person may be hurting and looking for a kind word, or even a friend.

Lateral Thinking: Lessons in Problem Solving

            During the Summer of 1965, we were returning home to New Jersey. We had to go through Wheeling, West Virginia.  It was a hot and muggy day in August, and we hit stand-still traffic two miles out of the city. Several of us decided to walk ahead and find out what caused the delay.

            When we arrived at the source of our problem, it proved to be a large tractor-trailer that had been jammed under a railroad overpass.  Asking a police officer at the scene, we learned that several attempts to move the tractor-trailer had failed.

            A six year-old boy kept coming over and saying, "Mister, I can get the trailer out".  He received annoyed responses, "Sonny can't you see we're busy".  When the irate mayor arrived, there was a hush in the crowd, and you could hear the little boy saying, "But I can get it out".  Finally the mayor in frustration said, "OK, sonny how're you going to do it?"  The little boy took his mother's hairpin and proceeded to let some air out of the tires.  This lowered the tractor-trailer, and it was easily driven out.

            The second story was in reference to a new six-story apartment house in Manhattan, during the Great Depression.  It begun renting when complaints came in to the management about the elevator.  It seems that it took the elevator too long to arrive.

            An engineering analysis determined that a second elevator was needed.  This is simple to do when a building is in the early construction phase, it's another matter to in a completed building.

            First, the architect would have had to make a set of drawings removing a section of an apartment on each floor. In addition to the inconvenience, noise and dirt would be produced.  The owner would have had the cost of construction, and the loss due to reduced rentals on the smaller units.

            My dad told me how this problem was solved.  A woman came to the landlord and said she could solve the problem.  She needed $100 for labor and material, and asked $100 for the idea. This is what the woman did.

            She placed a mirror alongside the elevator door, on each level. When a person came and pushed the button, he/she looked in the mirror and this time took the edge off, permitting a longer delay than was acceptable prior to the mirror installation.

            What is the message in this last story?  The problem was not stated correctly.  It wasn't that the elevator moved too slowly.  It wasn't that there weren't enough elevators.  The problem was in the perception of time by the waiting tenants.   

            Look for novel ideas.  Look at your problem as if YOU were a stranger. Often the solution is simple. It is coming from a different perspective—lateral thinking.

Litvaks are from Mars and …

John Gray’s book, Men are from Mars, Women from Venus was published in 1992 and now again has come in handy.

While back East, Sally and I were greatly benefitted by the Marriage Encounter program that helps couples have an even better marriage through dialog in a 10 and 10 activity. When we retired in 1984 and moved to Sunny California there was no convenient group nearby and the 10 and 10 soon ceased.

In 1991 the 7-year itch reared its ugly head and looking for a new challenge, Der Bay was born. The following year Gray’s book did wonders.

Now, in 2011 this book has brought new insights. As my sight fails, I’ve turned to talking books from BARD: Braille and Audio Reading Download.

This time the comparison between men and women, and Litvaks and Galitsianers came loud and clear. YIVO’s standard orthography and Weinreich’s dictionary are patterned after the northern Litvak dialect.

Men are problem solvers, speak less, and want to be alone when confronting problems. On the other hand women search for other women to “talk things out.”

The Galitsianer dialect is used in song and stage. These southerners are warm, homey folk unlike we aloof, intellectual, aristocratic Litvaks.

Of course there are exceptions--just like among men and women. I wish I were born a full "Galits" and not half-and-half.

Thank you John for the added insight the second time around.

The Real 6 Senses: Common Sense, The 6th Sense

So, what are our senses, and what about our sixth sense?

1. Sight - This is the ability to see through false statements. It is the ability to look through rosy glasses and see the best in people and opportunities. It is the ability to make the most of bad situations.

2. Sound - This is the ability to hear the true meaning of what is being said. It is listening to others, and hearing their frustrations and fears. It is the awareness of the beauty in music and being able to differentiate it from the noise that is purported to be music.

3. Smell - It is the ability to sniff out a bad situation it is a sense of sifting out the air to differentiate the aroma of Mama’s soup vos shmekt from the rodent in the woodpile.

4. Taste - It is the beauty, or lack of it, in items like clothes, jewelry, music, etc. It is the selection we make from the gamut of the gross to the exotic. In the ultimate, it is the beauty we instill into our lives that separates the mundane from the extraordinary.

5. Touch - It is the stamp we put on things or people with whom we interact. When we put a touch on someone we are the takers, the usurpers, drainers, ruiners of humanity. On the other hand, it is the softness of Mama’s caress, the downy pillow, or the warmth of the sun on our skin.

6. Sixth Sense – Googling gives the definition as, “A supposed intuitive faculty giving awareness not explicable in terms of normal perception.” In other words, just plain intuition. I would suggest that instead we use “common sense” as the real sixth sense.

Googling “common sense” quotes results in names of famous people whom we studied in history and literature classes; Voltaire, Rene Descartes, Victor Hugo, Thomas Paine, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson Oliver Wendell Holmes, Teddy Roosevelt, and Will Rogers. In more modern times they include; Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Admiral Rickover, and George Carlin.

“Common sense” is really rare and quite uncommon. It belongs to the wise and in the realm of wisdom. A perfect example is the national health debate. The solution seems to be to throw more money into the “Health System”. This is a perfect example of cognotive dissonance. While we have learned and attacked the problems of smoking and alcohol, obesity is a major problem from which The Colonel, McDonald, Wendy, Jack, Carl, Popeye, and Wimpy have become wealthy. Myriads of Americans are slowed down and die each year from the poison they advertise and feed us.

All we need to do is have a tax of a dollar on each burger and use that money to subsidize the healthy foods. Shortly our healthcare system would be self-sustaining. Let’s discard the Obama Plan and institute the Common Sense Fishl Plan. It will cost only the expense of collecting the money from the bad guys and giving it to the good guys. If you want to smoke, you pay for it. If you want to become inebriated, you pay for it. If you want to be obese, you should pay for it. No wonder we get sick on a diet of biscuits and butter, mashed potatoes soaking in gravy, French fries, hamburgers and drowned down with coke.

Let’s put big signs on these establishments with the warning, “Enter at your own peril.” Let them become true fast food havens for healthful eating. Let’s reward them for doing the right thing. Let’s become red-blooded Americans and not the ketchup and red meat Americans.

My Yiddish “Grateful Diary”

My Yiddish “Grateful Diary” is an imaginary book in which I write all the wonderful things in my life for which I am thankful.

Each morning when I first awake my thoughts are of a beautiful rose and how some people say, “Yes, but roses have thorns.” Then I say, “Yes, but I think how lucky thorns are, for they have roses.”

My blessings start with that first phone call every morning to my daughter Debbie in Florida. Since it is 3 hours earlier, I start off the day on a real high. I wish every father would have a daughter like my Debbie. She is so upbeat!

Yiddish has brought me friendships from afar. Yesterday I spoke with Harold Goldstein of Fishkill, NY who turned 102 last August and is sharper than many 70 year-olds I know. He told me that at 100 he went sailing on the Hudson.

Then there are my regular Skype buddies in Winnipeg and Toronto. Sitting there in front of my screen, I feel that we are together in my living room. To this are the frequent phone calls to: New York; Washington DC area; Monroe Township, NJ; West Bloomfield, MI; Sarasota, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and Tamarac, (all in Florida) Phoenix, AZ; those wonderful, wonderful folks in the Cleveland area; and many in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Emails, emails, emails are my major means of hearing your wonderful stories and just shmuesing.

With a wonderful wife, Sally, my dear friends in the blind community, and those at Peninsula Sinai Congregation, my cup doth truly run over.

My severe loss of vision is a mixed blessing. I get and extra $600 tax deduction. People chauffeur me around, and there is the free bus pass.

Hey, Fishl, what about all those bad things that happen to you like everyone else?

Yes, they are challenges to be overcome. Those for which no one can do anything about are accepted just like accepting the nightfall as a time to do nothing but sleep and not being able to do exciting things.

So, my Yiddish “Gratedful Diary”, you finally got me to write in your “Book of Gratitudes”.

Remember to smile, it takes the pressure off your teeth.