Flown Everywhere, But Gone Nowhere - Short Story
I first heard the following story just this week, in a shiur given by Rabbi Paysach Krohn. It is one of the most amazing and beautiful stories I have ever heard and I felt it would be appropriate to share it now at this time of the year, because of the glorious connection this story has with the days of Elul, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
I hope you will find this story inspirational and uplifting just as I did.
Best wishes,
Yitzy Schweitzer
I hope you will find this story inspirational and uplifting just as I did.
Best wishes,
Yitzy Schweitzer
Flown Everywhere, But Gone Nowhere - Short Story
But that is not true. Because we are going somewhere. We are flying to new mental airports. Every mitzvah we do, every little character trait we try to improve, every kind word we say to someone else, if we would just realize how special the EFFORT of the MOMENT is to Hashem, we would understand, that we have the capability to go everywhere, achieving anything and also that our little airplane of life is soon going to fly everywhere.
A number of years ago, a school in Lakewood decided that two days before Pesach they would close so all the Rebbes could be at home and help their wives with some of the Yom Tov preparations.
At his house, the fifth grade Rebbe walks in to the kitchen and tells his wife "You know we have off today, so I can have some time to help you. Tell me, what can I do for you?" His wife looks at him, quite surprised and asks, "You really want to know what you can do to help me? Well, I am going to be doing a lot of cooking, cleaning and baking and I need some space and time to do all of it without many distractions, so if you could take our six kids out for the next four hours, that would be the greatest because than I could do everything quietly and carefully."
Now, the husband begins thinking where he could take the kids for four hours. Suddenly he has a really cool idea. He will take the kids to Newark Airport on the Air Train.
If you were ever on the air train, you'd know what it is like, but for those that don't know, I'll try explain. It is of course, a train, very sleek and cool-looking and it goes around the whole airport from terminal to terminal, as well as, the Jersey Turnpike and you see the planes taking off as well as, some of them, landing. Almost like a train conducted tour. Well, actually, that is probably what it is. :)
Anyhow, back to our story...
The kids are now on the air train for about two hours, enjoying the sights which is expertly coupled with some good old snacks. They are simply having the time of their lives. At one of the terminals a pilot walks in, neatly dressed with his cap and crisp uniform. A friendly guy, he sees the six kids with their father, goes over to them and asks "Where you guys flyin' today?"
The kids are a tad surprised, so they turn to their father who sheepishly says "Actually sir, we are flying nowhere." Seeing the pilots shocked reaction the father explains how because of the upcoming holiday his wife asked him to take his kids out so she could prepare in peace in quiet and how they were having a great time.
The pilot got very serious and this is what he said,
"Young man, I want to tell you something. I have been a pilot for twenty-five years. There is not a major airport in the world that I have not landed in. Two years ago I received a text from my son and he wrote 'Dad, you've never showed up to any of my birthdays, you did not have the decency to come to my graduation and last week you did not even come to your first grandson - my sons - birthday. Do me a favor: Take my number out of your contacts.' " The pilot continued and he said "Two weeks later I received the same text from my daughter."
"Young man, I have flown everywhere, but gone nowhere. You told me that you're going nowhere, but with your kids, your going everywhere".
That is the story and there are two lessons I think we can learn from it.
The first one is, to always be there for our children and young people in our communities, encouraging them, believing in them and cheering them on when they set out to achieve any of their various goals. We should try to understand their need to be validated and be there for them as someone that they could trusted and rely on for some motivation and support.
At his house, the fifth grade Rebbe walks in to the kitchen and tells his wife "You know we have off today, so I can have some time to help you. Tell me, what can I do for you?" His wife looks at him, quite surprised and asks, "You really want to know what you can do to help me? Well, I am going to be doing a lot of cooking, cleaning and baking and I need some space and time to do all of it without many distractions, so if you could take our six kids out for the next four hours, that would be the greatest because than I could do everything quietly and carefully."
Now, the husband begins thinking where he could take the kids for four hours. Suddenly he has a really cool idea. He will take the kids to Newark Airport on the Air Train.
If you were ever on the air train, you'd know what it is like, but for those that don't know, I'll try explain. It is of course, a train, very sleek and cool-looking and it goes around the whole airport from terminal to terminal, as well as, the Jersey Turnpike and you see the planes taking off as well as, some of them, landing. Almost like a train conducted tour. Well, actually, that is probably what it is. :)
Anyhow, back to our story...
The kids are now on the air train for about two hours, enjoying the sights which is expertly coupled with some good old snacks. They are simply having the time of their lives. At one of the terminals a pilot walks in, neatly dressed with his cap and crisp uniform. A friendly guy, he sees the six kids with their father, goes over to them and asks "Where you guys flyin' today?"
The kids are a tad surprised, so they turn to their father who sheepishly says "Actually sir, we are flying nowhere." Seeing the pilots shocked reaction the father explains how because of the upcoming holiday his wife asked him to take his kids out so she could prepare in peace in quiet and how they were having a great time.
The pilot got very serious and this is what he said,
"Young man, I want to tell you something. I have been a pilot for twenty-five years. There is not a major airport in the world that I have not landed in. Two years ago I received a text from my son and he wrote 'Dad, you've never showed up to any of my birthdays, you did not have the decency to come to my graduation and last week you did not even come to your first grandson - my sons - birthday. Do me a favor: Take my number out of your contacts.' " The pilot continued and he said "Two weeks later I received the same text from my daughter."
"Young man, I have flown everywhere, but gone nowhere. You told me that you're going nowhere, but with your kids, your going everywhere".
That is the story and there are two lessons I think we can learn from it.
The first one is, to always be there for our children and young people in our communities, encouraging them, believing in them and cheering them on when they set out to achieve any of their various goals. We should try to understand their need to be validated and be there for them as someone that they could trusted and rely on for some motivation and support.
The second lesson I think we can learn also involves being encouraging and supportive but this time, towards ourselves. Allow me to explain.
Sometimes, we don't really believe in ourselves or our abilities. We've failed, come up short, or simply, not tried hard enough at achieving greatness and we may want to give up. Or sometimes we are not meeting the level of success we want to see in certain activities we are doing straight away and we feel compelled to quit because we are not "flying high enough" or we feel as though we are "going nowhere" in terms of success. We are just stuck in the same "airport" never landing anywhere new.
Sometimes, we don't really believe in ourselves or our abilities. We've failed, come up short, or simply, not tried hard enough at achieving greatness and we may want to give up. Or sometimes we are not meeting the level of success we want to see in certain activities we are doing straight away and we feel compelled to quit because we are not "flying high enough" or we feel as though we are "going nowhere" in terms of success. We are just stuck in the same "airport" never landing anywhere new.
But that is not true. Because we are going somewhere. We are flying to new mental airports. Every mitzvah we do, every little character trait we try to improve, every kind word we say to someone else, if we would just realize how special the EFFORT of the MOMENT is to Hashem, we would understand, that we have the capability to go everywhere, achieving anything and also that our little airplane of life is soon going to fly everywhere.
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