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Thought for the Day: Being Better Today Than Yesterday; The Gift of Guilt

Imagine this: one day a wealthy person (see how inclusive and diverse I am being?!) comes to you and announces, "I am going to give you 1,000$ a day." He hand you the cash, and walks off. You have never seen him before, you have no idea what this is about, and you certainly have no idea how long this will continue. What you do know is that you have 1,000$ cash money in your hand.

As this continues for a few days and then weeks, you come to rely on that money. You still have no idea how long it will continue, but it sure is nice. A foolish person just spends the money like there is no tomorrow; each and every day. A somewhat smarter/more conservative person uses some now and saves some. He (that is not non-inclusive; English uses the male pronoun to also mean "unknown/irrelevant gender") lives within a budget, but certainly appreciates the daily gift.

What would a wise person do? The wise person would, upon his benefactor's arrival, ask how he should best utilize the money. After all, the wealthy person almost surely knows the value of money and how to build with it. Once the wealthy benefactor observes how careful you are to follow his guidance and to emulate his ways, the benefactor comes back with an amazing proposition: "A new market has just opened, and I want to take you as a partner. The new market will basically be your operation, but I will support you and provide you with resources. Of course, though, you realize this comes with a detailed contract that you must carefully observe, including penalties for non-compliance. However, we will be full partners."

What an incredible opportunity! You would learn to emulate your benefactor and want to learn as much from his as possible. Moreover, you would start to keep an accounting of how your investments are doing. You would look over the past year/month/day -- depending on the nature of the investment -- to see what worked well and what worked better. It would become fun and exciting to see how you could improve your own investments. Sometimes working to improve this one, other times that one; and you would constantly be asking your benefactor to critique your handling of present investments and ideas for the future. Of course, when you were deficient in running your end of the business -- either through being lax in your duties of even going against the terms of the contract -- there would be penalties. After all, you aren't just a worker, you are a full partner. Your mistakes also cost your benefactor. That comes with the territory of being partners.

You would soon learn that the 1,000$ daily gift was really not so important. The greatest gift would be the relationship you had developed with your benefactor. You would have certain independence, having used the tools you received to emulate your benefactor. Having grown to understand your benefactor, in fact, you would also been able to deepen your relationship and appreciate him so much more. His initial gifts, in fact, could be considered somewhat of a "loss leader" to have given you the real gift -- a relationship with him and a true sense of self-worth.

At some point, the wealthy person ceases his (there it is again, gender neutral) daily visits/gifts. Would you have any complaints? Does he owe you anything? Certainly not; as any emotionally mature person recognizes instantly. Sure, there are those who will complain that it's not fair, but that is objectively and patently false; they didn't ask for the gifts and they certainly did nothing to earn them.

HaShem created all of humanity (along with everything else, of course) and gave each and every human being much more than 1,000$ a day -- He gave them life! He also gave them air, water, food, natural resources, etc, etc, etc. Most were thrilled to just enjoy the benefit. One, though -- our illustrious ancestor, Avraham Avinu -- took an interest in wanting to build a relationship with the Creator Himself. HaShem, in abounding love, kindness, and generosity, offered much more -- a partnership. And not just a business partnership -- a relationship based on love and respect and shared goals; a marriage. The guilt we feel when we fall short is only because we are in a loving relationship with our Creator.

When this world ends, the nations will have no complaint. They got everything for free with no strings attached. When it ends, it ends. We, Klal Yisrael, though, weren't satisfied with strings, ropes, or even chains... we wanted the gift of life solely and only as a means to forge the most intimate of relationships with our Creator and thereby life forever benefiting from His infinite (and more) goodness.

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