I have always wanted to write a Blog, but was too nervous. What would I say, and worse, because of the commitment necessary to Blogging – what would I continue to say! But my husband has assured me that I have lots to say. Anyone catch the intended irony there! I wish I could use a laugh track or put in lots of ‘HaHa’s’ and ‘LOL’’s so you would know where not to take me too seriously.
So, as the school season commences and the Fall Feasts are around the corner I see this time and blog as an opportunity of newness. I am inviting you to share my journey with me. Sometimes, it will take us around the world as it has for the past few years of my life. Sometimes it will be in my own backyard. Because of that I am tempted to call it “Acres of Diamonds”, the title of a famous book, actually an essay from the 1920’s, which my Father gave to me to read when I was very young. While it has become a very cliché title, it has great meaning to me.
My Father gave me lots of valuable reading material when I was quite young. I remember reading “Psycho-Psybernetics” a book about the wondrous computer like abilities of our Brain to integrate with our body, and soul when I was 9 years old. It was one of the first books in pop neuro science. Then, when I was 10, my favourite book that my Father gave me was “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. I have often heard people diss this book, and I wonder have they read it? Perhaps we can discuss that on another blog.
But today I want to share about “Acres of Diamonds”.
Citing Wikipedia “…..The central idea of the work is that the resources to achieve all good things are present in one’s own community. This theme is developed by an introductory anecdote, credited by Conwell to an Arab guide, about a man who wanted to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in futile search for them. The new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right there on the property. Conwell declares that it was the very mine of the famous KohiNor Diamond! The application is clear!….”
So, here I am back from travels to Singapore, Malaysia , Indonesia Guatemala, U.S.A. and Israel. I see and value the’ Acres of Diamonds’ that are right here in my backyard, and I also see that there have been ‘Acres of Diamond’ everywhere I have gone.
After 30 years of not watching Television, I found myself with time and Netflix on my hands. I find metaphors and life lessons in everything I see. My children call me ‘Tragically Philospohical’ as opposed to ‘Tragically Hip’…The closing scene of the final season of “Ugly Betty” – I did NOT watch all the episodes! – had a profound effect on me. TIn the final scene of the Series, she sits in the back seat of the Taxi, leaving the past – her previous employment, family and life behind and is being taken to the Airport to her dream job. We see our Betty transformed. Not so ‘ugly’ anymore with the braces, frizzy hair and strange, tasteless clothing gone. She is quite sophisticated, but entirely unique in her looks and deportment. There is a shot as she looks backwards out the taxi window where they superimpose on the glass the opening shot of her in the series – clutzy, insecure, tasteless, awkward….we see the 2 Bettys juxtaposed on the screen, the old one in opaque image in the Taxi rear window, and at that moment we see what we could not have known 4 years earlier. 4 seasons of (for the most part) thoughtful choices of a certain kind of integrity have brought her mature, graceful character, and recognizable but unique beauty.
I am not going to argue the absolute morality of that TV show, because it doesn’t exist, but against the very nasty, backbiting and claw your way to the top shenanigans that everyone else displayed, Betty’s kindness, thoughtfulness and loyalty brought her to a place where her character could receive the dream job, which by the way was more about helping others than herself.
What does this mean to me, to us. Okay Zsiporah, what does this have to do with “Acres of Diamonds”? Well, after I finished watching the last show, cried and wiped up my snivel, I prayed – “Lord, I want to be like Betty on the back seat of the Taxi, able to see and accept the various rough and sad times of the past, yet moving forward with assurance and grace into the future, knowing that something transformative happened in my soul, and perhaps people can see that…”
At the risk of heavy cliche, the diamonds are the lumps of coal that we found along the way. You know what they are. These lumps of unwanted pressures that we have to live through. The diamonds show in that final scene every time we move forward with our character enhanced by the Godly choices we made.
Sometimes it has been a rough road and there have been many lumps in these past few seasons. Sometimes, it has been brilliant. But, I am about to embark on a new season, new show and I invite you to share the new episodes discovering Diamonds with me in this blog.
