'The miracle of this moment'

Those who did not get a chance to read Sunday’s Your Voice column by Rabbi Abie Ingber should go back and savor his wise words. In “Treasure American-flavored Christmas,” he speaks lovingly about how he, his family and friends embrace each other's religious traditions and celebrations, from teaching Christian friends to spin the dreidel to sharing a joke with a Muslim friend about Ramadan fasting.

Ingber sees this as an inherent virtue in our American culture, a source of blessing. “Ours is an amazing country. We have built a culture that is Western, yet is open to every ethnic and religious community,” he writes. “We have found a way to share our differences in laughter and hope without any thought of one-upmanship.”

You know, he’s right. By and large, we have. The vast majority of Americans treat each other with respect, openness and caring. So why is it that what we hear and read about is mostly the noisemakers, the haters or the exploiters? Why are their voices so much larger than their actual importance in our lives?

This profession, as it were, is a culprit. The media thrive on conflict, on squeaky wheels, on false dichotomies, on reducing complex, subtle arguments to sound bites and headlines, on good guys and bad guys and black-and-white issues. Real life isn’t often like that.

Each of us is a jumble of noble impulses and not-so-noble weaknesses. But most of us have acquaintances of different cultures, religions, ethnicities and political persuasions. We work, eat, celebrate and play with them. We sit on the bus and chat with them. We cheer for our team with them.

Yes, there are many problems, Ingber says, and Americans must do more to break down barriers among us. “But we have done an incredible job in changing the face of the world in a little more than two centuries,” he writes. Think about that for a minute. Where would the world be without this American experiment?

After submitting his column, Ingber sent me an e-mail thanking me for deciding to publish it – although it was I who should have been thanking him. He ended the note with this comment: “We live in a wonderful corner of the world at a most incredible time – and rarely notice the miracle of this moment.”

Take a moment to notice the everyday miracle we sustain and nurture without fanfare. Blessed holidays to you, Rabbi, and to all of us.