* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
Mine: "And so do I, regret ... things I have done ... and not done" (Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts)
When I was a kid we used to get the Chain Letter in writing. People would either pass it to me during class at school, or it would arrive in the mail. I hated it. I grew up with a superstitious mother who wouldn't pass the salt cellar hand to hand for fear of starting a fight. So when I received letters telling me to copy and pass it on to 15 people before 5pm or I would turn into a pillar of salt, or have bad luck for the rest of my life, I did it. Without question. I am too superstitious not to.
In the Jewish religion, one of the holiest holidays is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On this day you fast for almost 26 hours not taking in anything by way of food or drink. On this day you atone for your sins, you ask for forgiveness and are afforded the opportunity to start the New Year afresh. The holiday is preceded by Rosh Hashana, the New Year and it follows 10 days later. During these ten days Hashem (God) decides your fate, which is sealed in the Book of Life. It's all very superstitious (look up the definition, it really is!). I was brought up being told that if I didn't atone for my sins, and broke my fast, then lightening would come down and strike me down. In fact as a kid, the Rabbi took it one step further and told us kids that Heaven is like a big cinema and the good people sit in the front near the screen with lots of popcorn and coke, while the bad kids sit at the back and get nothing. One year I decided to test the theory and make myself a bread and honey sandwhich (it was the only thing I could make really quickly without being caught) and I went down to the bottom of the garden and ate it. I waited, and waited, and am still waiting for that lightening bolt. But Im also still superstitious.
Facebook is full of Chain-type-Letters. Things that get posted and re-posted. The concept is the same, and my annoyance is the same. The one thing that makes me crazy is the standard message that "I doubt anyone will notice the suffering and post this on their status for an hour, blah blah blah". Frankly, if you know someone suffering, go and ask them how they are feeling rather than post a stupid status for an hour. Do you wait a full hour? What if you change your status at 55 minutes? And then there are the $45million worth of Facebook shares being given away by Zuckerberg. Seriously people.......someone added a line that Good Morning America had endorsed it and suddenly it became real? Come on! When did we become so gullible? Like my superstition, sometimes it's just safer to be gullible just in case!
The pg 56. instruction at the start of this post was one of those circulating a few years ago. I did it, and for some reason it has stuck on the side of my Facebook wall, somehow it got pinned there. But the truth is that I was reading Shantaram at the time, and the statement is what was there. And just as 42 is the answer to life and everything else, so is the notion that in life, we regret both the things we have done, and haven't. The trick it to ensure there is balance between the two.
42.31
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