In those days, at this time (cont'd)

"Morning Coffee" ~ by Malcolm Liepke

 

.... Let’s go back to the cave where the Maccabees are discussing what to do. Imagine a 21^st century person joining the discussion.

Judah Maccabee: We can’t go back to our village. The Greeks are looking for us. We’ll have to live here in the cave, without any of the comforts of home.

21^st century person: But that’s hard.

All heads turn, but they decide to ignore the interruption. Another brother continues:

Jonathan: We can’t even stay in this cave. We’ll have to keep moving around so the Greeks won’t find us.

21^st century person: But that’s hard.

Simon: It means not seeing our wives and children—for as long as this takes. It could be a very long time.

21^st century person: But that’s hard.

Eliezer: We can’t just hide. We have to go out and attack the Greek troops, engage them in battle.

21^st century person: Are you kidding? That would be really hard.

Maccabees, annoyed, in unison: What does “hard” have to do with it?

 

 

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

A nice parable -- and one that pertains well beyond the Chanukah season. "Hard" has become one of the most opprobrious words in the language. Millions of American kids know that math and physics are "hard" to learn, so they stay as far away from both subjects as they can get away with -- and our schools accommodate them. In the meantime, youngsters in India, Japan, and China ask "What's hard got to do with it" -- and they're moving into a future for which many of our youngsters have disqualified themselves. Our politicians know it will be "hard" to solve the problem of unsustainable entitlements, so they avoid the problem -- and with each passing day it becomes "harder" to solve. And so forth and so on. In World war II, the Navy SeaBees had as their motto: "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer." The West won that war because it knew that "hard" had nothing to do with it. What had to be done got done. Yet just a few decades after the war, the notion that it's best to ignore the "hard" in favor of the easy began to spread like an indelible stain across our culture. Maybe that's why we never talk about later generations being among the "greatest." Deep down in our hearts, we know we just don't measure up.