One Book, One Bettendorf

In 1689, the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, while on a ‘walking tour’, described his journey. He wrote, “Each day is a journey and the journey itself home.’ I believe our trip through life, daily and cumulative, must be made one day at a time and that each day is made lighter by the presence of one true friend on the path.

I believe special friends come into our lives, unexpectedly, at just the right point in time, joining our journeys together. One autumn evening I was at a picnic with a bonfire on a farm outside the city. While we were engaged in watching toddlers play in the peacefulness of the surroundings, a stranger spoke to me. This young woman asked if we possibly belonged to the same church. Our journey began.

I believe a friend walks with one daily. We would phone each other and at the mere vocalization of each other’s name, we’d completely dissolve into laughter. At day’s end she was my release, and I hers. We would laugh for long minutes. I marveled at these wordless conversations. The more I laughed with her, the more I laughed each day and the more people I met with whom I could laugh. There were times my face ‘hurt’ from laughing.

Basho took someone with him on his voyage through the rough terrain of Japan. I believe a true friend is the companion who walks with me, not in my footsteps but alongside me in the course of the time we have together. It might be a lifetime.

We traveled together. Through my friend’s eye I saw the landscape, the beauty of the setting sun, the greenery of nature, the order of a formal garden. She took me to flower shows and I began to ’smell’ the roses. I went with her to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and eventually ended up at a seed emporium. She knew everything about turning seed into beauty. I was in foreign terrain and I learned to speak the language from her.

I believe friends share special moments. We celebrated Christmas with a Tea and her wonderful Angel Tree, filled only with Angel Ornaments. I once went with her on the coldest, snowiest day of December to the Amana Colonies to look for THE special ornament of the year. It was a relentless search and we laughed our way home.

I believe friends support us also on our spiritual growth path. I first experienced walking the Labyrinth with my friend. Together we took a class in understanding the Labyrinth and ways to experience the walk.

I believe Basho was right over 300 years ago when he wrote about the essence of the journey being precisely a journey within, daily on the ‘trip’ of a lifetime. The essential friend relationship is my journey daily and reflects the changes my friend brings into my life.

Margo Thornton

There is a concept known as “Tikkun Olam”. This is a Hebrew expression meaning “…the healing or perfecting of the world.” It is not at all uncommon for a bit of Hebrew text from the Talmud or similar source to be susceptible to two translations. In this case I take it to mean that to heal the world is to perfect it, as well. In what has come to be a traditional saying, Rabbi Tarfon said: “It is not incumbent upon you to finish the job (of perfecting the world); but neither may you shirk from it.”

I understand this to mean that it is possible for the world to be perfected only if every person, in each generation, does his part, contributes his effort to the good.

Rabbi Tarfon spoke his now-famous words in the second century of the Common Era. Through the centuries men and women of good will, persons of every religion, every nation, every color have made their contribution toward “Tikkun Olam”.

Throughout human history, many great men and women have contributed to “Tikkun Olam”. I am thinking of such great names as Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein, and many others. Some were not so well-known, yet their work has been important. These might include Martin Buber, Martin Marty, and Thomas Cahill.

Mostly, though, the work of perfecting the world is carried on by the millions of men and women who are not famous, and who do not even consider that what they are doing is part of this essential process. These are the people we all know, the ones we think of as “saints”, though they would not consider themselves to be such.

“Tikkun Olam” is more that a Jewish tradition or even Jewish theology. It is, fundamentally, a condition of our humanity. It may rightly be questioned as to the possibility of actually perfecting the world – though, like most of life, the effort is of greater import than is the result – but there can be little doubt that the reverse is true. Should we give up our efforts toward “Tikkun Olam”, the human condition will surely be diminished.

I believe in “Tikkun Olam”. I see it every day. I saw it in my parents, both now deceased. And, though I frequently fail, I continue to try to do my part in the work of perfecting the world.

L. Edward Sizemore