Monday, June 26, 2006

Three Elevators


In the lobby of a large building.
With Three Elevators.
Each elevator has a little screen atop the door.
To entertain us voyeurs as we wait for it to stop at out floor.
So I let myself fly into the tiny commode
As these vertical travelers unsuspectingly rode
Up
Down
Elevator 1. Floor 12 Going down.
Frum guy after years in Yeshiva enters the workplace..the secular world. Toying with his Treo..fixing his tie.

Elevator 2. Floor 5 Going up.
Frum guy in his 50s going through his midlife crisis rushing to get his stuff to make it home for his shiur. Anxiously watching the floors pass by.

Elevator 3. Floor 2 Going up.
Secular girl feeling down lately. Glowing, still thinking about the class she went to at Aish last night. Peeks at the pamphlets in her hand for the next class.

It suddenly hit me..clear as day.
You see....it doesn’t really matter what floor you’re on...

The only thing that really matters is..

In
What
Direction
Are
You
Going
?

Labels:

21 Comments:

Blogger anonym00kie said...

so creative!
for some, focusing on the floor they are on, instead of the direction theyre going, makes them feel better about themselves (theyre not as low as they thought), and for others it depresses them (theyre not as high as they wish) when in fact the direction is so much more indicative of where a person is holding.
brilliantly expressed!

June 26, 2006 11:06 PM  
Blogger Pragmatician said...

Nice post, now we just need an elevator like in Charlie and the choclate factory actually going in all directions..

June 27, 2006 5:20 AM  
Blogger exsemgirl said...

Someone once said to me that if you are not going up you are going down.
The point is to keep moving in the right direction however slow.

June 27, 2006 6:24 AM  
Blogger Mimi said...

Ah hah...

I think the trick is making the floor you land on the right direction. Wherever you are, there you are.

June 27, 2006 6:48 AM  
Blogger the only way i know said...

good point to ponder..

i suppose if you don't like the direction - you can push another button -
if you're desperate -
you might have to use the emergency bell!

life is about movement
(gosh - sometimes i get nauseous!! lol)

June 27, 2006 6:52 AM  
Blogger Shoshana said...

Beautiful new banner...and blog. I love your new philosophy on blogging - good luck!

June 27, 2006 8:49 AM  
Blogger socialworker/frustrated mom said...

Interesting insights! Seems negative as we get older according to the post. Am I wrong?

June 27, 2006 9:26 AM  
Blogger Stacey said...

Aside from direction, this poem is also a beautiful reminder that life is not so much about the destination as the journey.

June 27, 2006 9:50 AM  
Blogger Bonnie B said...

I love how this poem points to the different pathes people take and different stages of life. Lots of movement within a tiny snippit of a world we all live in and interesting choices. It makes me wonder which elevator I would choose and what direction am I going?

June 27, 2006 11:27 AM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

anonym00kie
Thanks. Yes thats exactly it...The elevators is pulling you down...no matter what floor ur on

prag...
Ha...well...in spirituality ui cant go sideways as
exsem pointed out..

mimi...
You can use wherever u are as a starting point for sure..

theonlyway...
Yes thats true. But thats only in case of emergencies..otherwise just get off and change directions..
lol..now u know where that nausea comes from

student...
welcome aboard.
Excellent point..not all elevators are moving at the same speed..

Shoshana...
Thanks so much...Looking forward.

social worker...
well..actually..it doesnt really have to do with age..no matter how old u can turn ur life around

Stacey..
Yes..the movement..up or down..


limey...
well..I hope ..in a good way.

bonnie...
Yep..and sometimes the smallest things..in the oddest times can turn it around...

June 27, 2006 5:18 PM  
Blogger smb said...

Excellent message about moving forward.

June 27, 2006 5:45 PM  
Blogger socialworker/frustrated mom said...

That I know trust me.

June 27, 2006 9:07 PM  
Blogger Genendy said...

Great concept. I stress to my kids the importance of improvement. It doesn't even matter what you've improved on or how much you've improved - just to know that you've gone a step up since yesterday.

June 28, 2006 4:24 AM  
Blogger smb said...

David, beautiful lesson

June 28, 2006 4:10 PM  
Blogger kasamba said...

What a wonderful, beautiful blog!

This reminds me of a vort by Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, who said that the reason yaakov's ladder was a ladder and not stairs was because stairs you can take two at a time and you can stand on one for as long as you like.

Spirituality is like a ladder in the sense that you are either going up or going down, its virtually impossible to stay on the same rung for a long period of time.

And you can never take two steps at a time, one has to be sure where they are before they can go forward.

June 28, 2006 5:05 PM  
Blogger Also A Chussid said...

David,

Beautiful post as each and every one of yours…

Whatever your problems are I hope it is a small nuisance. God knows I had mine too. I guess it’s a must for every blogger. I wanted to close my blog as well but kept it and turned on the moderation option, since then everything is nice and quiet.

Kasamba,

That’s an amzing vort.

Boy do I wish we had today a Hasidic version of a Reb Shamshen Refuel Hirsh Zatz”l

June 28, 2006 7:01 PM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

lvnsm...
Thanks.

genendy...
do they listen?
:-)

smb...
welcome to my blog...and Thanks

kasamba...
Thanks for adding..
Thats beautiful..Never heard it before..
:-)

AAC...
Thanks alot..
I'm glad you decided not to close up..

June 28, 2006 8:03 PM  
Blogger Genendy said...

But of course!

June 29, 2006 1:44 AM  
Blogger FrumGirl said...

My father always says life is a ladder you cant stay on the same rung for long you are either going up or going down... we try to keep going up.

June 29, 2006 5:00 PM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

FG...
Youre last name isnt Hirsch..by any chance..is it?
lol

June 29, 2006 9:01 PM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

HBJ...
Yup...Yerida L'tzorech Aliya
sometimes you even have to hit rock bottom before ascending

June 30, 2006 9:17 AM  

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