Breaking Free

Day 90 – It is Passover today, one of my favorite holidays. We celebrate the transition from a group of slaves to free people with their own “constitution” – the set of rules they live by, and their own country. The transition from being a group of people controlled by the misfortunes of their life, to a nation that is taking control of its destiny. It is said that in every generation each one of us should considered himself as if he is the one who left Egypt. We should not take this statement literally but as a reminder that we always have the choice to be victims of the circumstances of our lives, to feel sorry for ourselves, or we can chose to think like the free spirit that we really are and take control, chose to hold the wheel and steer us in the direction we want to go. It is so easy to fall to the position of the victim. I did it for so many years. It was so easy to feel upset and angry and sorry for myself. And then one day it finally dawned on me – if I don’t like it than I have to change the script of my life and I finally to responsibility and thus control. So today when I celebrate Passover, I read the book we traditionally read, called Hagadda with special meaning to it. It is my celebration of my breaking the mental restrictions I put on myself for so many years, it is my celebration of understanding the opportunities as well as the responsibilities that such power holds for me. This is the celebration of freedom to try and to fail, the freedom to live by my rules.

I am thankful for the opportunity to celebrate this holiday with my daughter; both of us definitely seized and practiced freedom in the past year. I am thankful to be among family and have the pleasure of celebrating it with my parents and sister and her family. It has been many years since last we did that and I am very thankful for this special time. My parents are getting old and who knows how much time we still have together. So I am especially thankful that I got to do it at least one more time.