Happiness in TImes of Distress

Last week my wife and I spent three glorious days in Vermont soaking up the fall colors. I have to say I felt a bit guilty enjoying myself when there is so much suffering in Israel and in Gaza. There I was in peaceful, pastoral Vermont a week after 1400 people were slaughtered in Israel. There are rockets and missiles flying between Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and tens of thousands of Israeli troops are poised to invade. Then there are the 200 kidnapped men, women and children being held hostage by Hamas. As one of my Israeli friends wrote to me, “These are difficult times. If there is still a country when this is over, it will be populated mostly by people with PTSD.”

But life goes on. Even in Israel, there are still brises to be performed, bar and bat mitzvahs to celebrate, marriages to be solemnized. These are islands of joy in a sea of sorrow. At a meeting this morning, Rabbi Margaret Frisch-Klein shared this poem of Mary Oliver’s that speaks to emotional conflicts we experience at time like this and gives us permission to embrace happiness in times of distress.

Don’t Hesitate

by Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

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