Dear Porch Masters

By Sholom S, thequil.org

Summer means something different to everyone. For kids, it means school is over. No more teachers, homework, or classes, or more homework. Then there’s camp. Who doesn’t love camp? You get to hang out with your friends all day, and you only need to talk to your parents to refill your canteen bill. If you like sports, then you finally get to showcase your talent and maybe win a trophy. Or perhaps you’re not into sports, so you and your fellow non-players find a frog in the woods, and name it Fred. That’s fun too.

However, before camp begins, and before the last day of school, the adults are already having all the fun. All winter we’ve been waiting for the sun to come out. Waiting to clean the chairs that have barely survived the wrath of winter, and place them where they were always meant to be – on the porch.

On the porch, no information is too sensitive, and no world problem is unsolvable. On the porch, we get heated about who’s who and why. On the porch, we are the puppet master, meticulously shaping the future of Lubavitch.

The best part is that the porch is the gift that keeps on giving. If we are lucky enough to live anywhere with serious foot traffic, we always have something to talk about. How fortunate we are to have our blessed porch. Sometimes I wonder about where we would be without our porch masters. Scary to think about.

So to the porch masters of 5780, as a veteran of the team, firstly, I would like to wish us all immense success this year. May this year be the year we cover it all. From the shidduch crisis to the chinuch crisis, and of course, above to all, to feel bad about everyone else who is not as good as us.

However, if the board of directors allows, may I make a small proposal:

Maybe this year, we do things a bit differently. Perhaps this year, we draw a line in what or who we talk about. Maybe this year, we don’t just fill our starving egos by putting people down, but we resolute to come up with real ways to help real people. Or maybe we carve out a couple of minutes of our precious time to talk about something of substance.

Regardless, keep saving the world, and who knows, maybe I will walk by your porch, and merit to be a topic of conversation.

Originally published on thequil.org, a new website for ideas and thoughts. If you have potential articles to share, email: [email protected]