Comments on: Important (Conclusion)

By: Mr. Mack

Mr. Mack — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:02:02 +0000

Every person has to face this fact when he gets about my age.

Well, then you get to be MY age and realize that this life is indeed wonderful in every aspect….ups, downs, middles.

Enduring life, waiting for some ultimate reward after you die strikes me as both ridiculous and quite cruel.

I’m glad you find the book uplifting, but it troubles me to see your take on life described as a “fact.”

By: nm

nm — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:58:25 +0000

I’m not sure that the message of Kohelet is as bleak as you paint it. It teaches us that life isn’t all or nothing, but full of ambiguity, and that wisdom comes from understanding and appreciating this. From a Jewish perspective, it isn’t really a book about accepting the vanity of the world, but is about loving the world despite the imminence of death. That’s why we read it during Sukkot, a festival of pilgrimage and harvest (fulfillment).

By: hbk

hbk — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:49:53 +0000

You’re right that this election marks the most important time in U.S history, the Revolution notwithstanding.

But there is only one issue: do you want your children to live in a Constitutional Republic or a fascist dictatorship. Think that’s hyperbole? Guess again.

Roll this around in your brain: there has never been a government that had a public policy that includes torture that did not eventually turn on its own people. Never. Of course, the good ol’ USA could be the first. But, oh yeah, there’s that “nothing new under the sun” business.

Torture has nothing to do with gathering intelligence. Its only purpose is to intimidate into submission.

But hey, the “terrorists” attacked us on 9/11 because they “hate our freedoms”.

I guess Bush was right. Since we gave up our freedom we haven’t been attacked. Of course, that means the “terrorists” won.

Things that make ya’ go hmmmmm.