Play every match like it may be your last
“Play every match like it may be your last,”
Novak Djokovic
"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life"
From Ron Baron quarterly letter
“The Blink of an Eye.” Rabbi Elliott J. Cosgrove. Park Avenue Synagogue.
Rosh Hashanah. Jewish New Year. 5782. September 7, 2021. On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year 5782, the Rabbi of New York City’s Park Avenue Synagogue where many of my friends are members, delivered a “who shall live, who shall die” sermon several thought I should read. The sermon encompassed two chilling stories that illustrate the fragility of life and make you ask “Why?” and “What if?” In the first story, a rising college senior and member of that congregation was in a car accident in Chicago. The accident was so serious he had to be taken from his vehicle with the “jaws of life.” Miraculously, the young student escaped with only bruises! Regardless, he was taken to a nearby hospital for an MRI to be certain there was no concussion, which proved to be the case. However, the MRI, unexpectedly, detected a rapidly growing brain tumor that would have soon become inoperable threatening that young man’s chances to survive. The student was operated upon and was in the Rabbi’s congregation in September. If the student had not been in the accident, it is unlikely he would still be alive. In the second story, two weeks after the accident in the first story, a rising college junior, also in Chicago, was in his car driving when he was hit by a stray bullet. The bullet severed his spinal cord from which there could be no recovery. Three days later that young student lay paralyzed in a hospital bed, unable to breathe without a ventilator and able to communicate “yes” or “no” only by blinking his eyes responding to an alphabet board. With his family and friends at his bedside, he signaled his mom by blinking that he was ready to die. The Rabbi then told his congregation that it was hard to understand the meaning of these random events for which only seconds meant the difference between life and death. In the first instance, were it not for the accident, the tumor would not have been discovered, and the student probably would have died. In the second, if the student had taken an extra second to tie his shoelace, fumbled for his keys, or taken a call on his cell phone, he would still be alive!
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