Dear That’s Life

Issue of May 7, 2010/ 23 Iyar, 5770

The worldwide statistics regarding damage caused by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland are mind-boggling. The number of air travelers whose plans were disrupted by airlines coming to a sudden halt looms in the shadow of the even greater loss taken by the airline industry itself – a number said to exceed over $1.7 billion and counting. Consider all of the heads of state who were unable to attend the funeral of the president of Poland and his wife because their planes could not take off. And all along, the number of people who tempted fate and tried to pronounce the actual name of that volcano — a seemingly random string of letters — remains at one: kudos to Al Roker.

While many readers may be wondering why I would bring up an event that occurred weeks ago and is “so yesterday,” especially in light of the growing oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico that could end up being President Obama’s Katrina, I promise that I do have a point.

They say that G-d works in mysterious ways. Strange events occur and we may not appreciate them at first, nor might we ever understand their impact at all, but one must always believe there is a method to the madness. And while thousands of people were inconvenienced by the plumes of ash and some even shouted “I hate Iceland!” in front of rolling cameras at various airports (which happened to be very funny, but not the point), I think I understand what it was all about.

Last week I went to Boston to see my uncle. He’s a lovely man who unfortunately has suffered from Parkinson’s for many years. He underwent major surgery last week and thank G-d, the prognosis was good with improvement already being seen. The week before the surgery, however, my aunt, his wife, was scheduled to be in Geneva at a conference. A week-long conference, as a matter of fact, from which she was to return only 24 hours before the surgery was to begin. She could not get out of it and it weighed heavily on her mind, as if she was not stressed enough. It was a big deal for her to leave my uncle for any length of time — how much more so for a week right before brain surgery. (Think “Grey’s Anatomy” sans McDreamy.)

But then, of course, the clouds parted and the sun shone through.

Suddenly, the entire conference was cancelled. At first there was talk of shortening it, but then the organizers cancelled it off altogether. Why? Well, I don’t know if you heard, but a volcano erupted in Iceland, spewing ash all over Europe and grounding flights for days — including my aunt’s.

The sigh of relief that could be heard around the world came from Boston, but you would not have heard it as it was drowned out by the “argh”s of frustration coming from stranded air passengers hunkered down in foreign airports. Amid all of the angry travelers worldwide who made the news, there was one family in New England that was secretly jumping for joy over a volcano with a crazy name that chose the exactly perfect week to wreak havoc over Europe. Thank G-d.

I do believe that we often stare at the trees and miss the forest but it’s not our fault — the forest is not always ours to see. It is actually none of our business. We do not get to know everything — we get to know what G-d wants us to know, a quiet reminder that we really are not in charge. And while that may sometimes be unfair, hey, that’s life. What we do get, however, is a comfort like no other — the comfort of knowing with certainty that while we may not be entitled to see the big picture, a big picture always exists.

MLW