Second of two parts
Re “So You Think You Live in a Safe Middle-Class Neighborhood? Check Your Belongings First”
As the days passed, I told myself I could not continue to watch and suspect everyone who crosses our streets. I cannot stay at home all the time.
Then I became wiser. I went through the numerous possibilities of life. Think about all of the accidents and events that happen to us and to the people around us everyday. In some neighborhoods, bad things happen everyday. Sometimes the events are very sad, other times, miraculously, people are lucky to come out of the bad situations.
When we hear such stories on the news, we may nod our heads, express our sorrow and resume our habits.
But this time it was different because it was close to us. It happened to a person we knew. The victims had faces and names we recognized.
The week was rolling slowly, sadly. All persons who stopped their cars near our houses looked suspicious. The neighbors and I followed them from behind our curtains until we were reassured that they were welcomed guests.
Eventually, we all started reevaluating our ways, and we returned to doing the right things that we were supposed to do.
As the week was approaching the end, while I was resting physically in front of the TV, my mind was still flying all over to control the situation. By listening to the news and some shows, I realized the true depth of the situation; many events were not in our control.
I have experienced it firsthand many times in my life.
In tears, a woman was asking a psychologist for the solution to her new problem. She said her son’s best friend recently died in a car accident. Now, every time her son takes his car out, she is afraid for his life. She cries the entire time till he is back safe at home.
I remembered that after our accident, many of our friends changed their cars to SUVs to protect their children. When we hear a friend is going for a cancer treatment, we start examining and touching all over our body to find the mass that is hidden somewhere.
Disasters Multiply, but…
Last week, many areas around Los Angeles went through the wildfires. Two hundred houses were lost to the fire. In another part of the country, the waters raised high and hundreds lost their homes, animals, belongings and even their lives in the waters. Elsewhere in the country, they were expecting the arrival of deadly tornados and storms.
Oil always is leaking in the Gulf, and so dangerous chemicals are poured in to disperse them. Waters move, and we know trouble will appear on our beaches one of these days, too. Let’s not talk about the possible earthquakes.
After exactly a week, my regular peace came back to me. I was ashamed of myself but at the same time I was comforted as I remembered the most powerful prayer of the year that we are going to repeat over and over in a month, on Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur 10 days later.
Yes, it is true that some people make bad choices and disrespect the established laws of our lives, the Ten Commandments; some of these Commandments are composed of only two or three words, as in don’t steal, don’t murder. I believe peace will be settled on earth on the day we finally respect the Ten Commandments.
I believe all of the words of this prayer or one of them will happen to us one day, regardless of whether we are a good or a bad person.
At least the good and the wise person is the one who will be able to keep his fate and inner peace. By remembering and repeating this powerful prayer, maybe we will be able to keep our own inner peace even if things happen to us.
Many humans have not made the best choices. Things have happened since the beginning of the creation. Adam and Eve had only two sons, one of them killed his brother. Thieves have existed since the Greek and Roman Empires, but so have good people.
I know that we can never control all, but we can try to be the best of ourselves and pray that we will be protected somehow; at least we can maintain our inner peace regardless of events. Let’s feel blessed, lucky and happy that we have been kept away from all the things that could have happened to us every moment in life — even if something eventually happens. Let’s feel lucky knowing that the worst could have happened, too.
Our prayer:
“ … how many shall pass away and how many shall be born; who shall live and who shall die; who shall attain the measure of man’s days and who shall not attain it; who shall perish by fire and who by water; who by sword and who by beast; who by hunger and who by thirst; who by earthquake and who by plague; who by strangling and who by stoning; who shall have rest and who shall go wandering; who shall be tranquil and who shall be disturbed; who shall be at ease and who shall be afflicted; who shall become poor and who shall wax rich; who shall be brought low and who shall be exalted.
By repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severe decree.”
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, earned her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving wth her husband and children to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published three books in America and is at work on her fourth. Since 1985, Dr. Cohen has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. She may be contacted at rosemary@atelierdeparis.com
