“It’s raining in January!” said my treadmill with a black disgruntled look.

 “So?”

 “Why did you go for a walk in the rains, you could have used me instead!”

We walked towards the mountain, my friend and I. We knew we had to cross to the other side. We had heard, the valleys across were full of milk and honey, that jobs were aplenty, people sweet and friendly and opportunities enough to achieve our dreams.

But we also knew we had to cross the mountain to reach that promised land.

We came across two paths my friend and I that led to the mountain: One broad and easy, the other narrow, treacherous and difficult. “Let’s take the easy path!” smiled my friend to me, so when we reach the mountain, we will have strength and energy to climb!”

Was invited by a Jewish family living in Manhattan to share their Shabbat on a Friday when I once visited New York, and as I watched the four candles being lit, two for the couple, my two friends and the smaller ones for their two children, I saw in their eyes, and in all the prayers offered the ever increasing need for peace.

Outside, on the streets of New York I heard the often constant sound of traffic and every once in a while the sound of police sirens and in that moment there in that peaceful room was a flicker of fear, as the harsh, grinding, noise of that police vehicle made everyone flinch.

A line appearing almost daily in newspapers, after murders in broad daylight, religious places vandalized, or assaults committed is that the ‘police were mute spectators!’ I decided to visit a police station on the wings of my rather vivid imagination and find out why policemen had become mute spectators.

 ‘Sir,” said the policeman to whom I fist asked the question, “Do you like my uniform?”

“Of course!” I said.

'……May the outer and inward man be one..'    Socrates

Years ago as a teenager, I remember seeing Gregory Peck in Mc Kennas Gold and telling myself that wow, I would love to be that man. He was one of the handsomest men I had ever seen on or off screen. But the most beautiful part of Peck was his life was as lovely and wonderful as his image on screen. There was no difference between the inner and outer man. There shown through him an unending feeling of goodness.