Live Life

I just went to get my hair cut and as always, my hairdresser said something that really made me think. (In addition to doing an amazing job with my hair, she's quite an "interesting" personality, apparently unafraid to disclose quite personal information with her clients.) She grew up in my neighborhood, before it was so predominantly Orthodox. She told me that her father actually attended the shul that I do now, before it switched from being Conservative to being Orthodox. She knows a little bit about Orthodox Judaism and, as I'm finding to be the case with many in the NY area, has a strong Jewish identity, probably just because it's so easy here. Everytime I go for a haircut she tells me something that leaves me a bit surprised to hear from someone I've only met a handful of times. I guess since I trust her with my hair, she trusts me with what I think most people would consider fairly personal information. I was telling her, for some reason, about a story I recently heard about a girl who was sitting in a dentist's waiting room when a car crashed through the window and she was injured pretty badly. To me, the story says that you should really live your life without being scared - you never know what's going to happen when, so you shouldn't live in fear of experiences that some consider slightly dangerous, such as driving a car, flying in a plane, going to Israel, or my favorite, skydiving. In response to this story, my hair dresser said she agreed with me - then she told me that her father had drowned when she was a kid. They went for vacation to the beach, and he died. She said that the experience taught her the same thing; you can't be scared of living, because you never know when you're going to die. (She also told me that the accident caused her to lose her belief in G-d for a long time, and she still isn't sure if she believes or not, but that's a different post that's brewing.) I think it's foolish to live in fear. Yes, there are some things that are just stupid. David Blaine comes to mind as an example of someone who likes to attempt those things. But most activities, even the slightly dare devilish ones, are about having fun with your life and making the most of each moment. And I don't want it to take a bad experience for me to learn that. So, life is for living and I plan on doing that, without fear. (Except the fear of driving in Manhattan - still not ready to overcome that one.)