Recently I finished reading The Chosen by Chaim Potok. It seemed to take a little while for me to really enjoy it, but once I got to a certain point, I could hardly put it down. I realize that it has been almost a week since I finished it and I can't get a certain part out of my head. I keep thinking about it over and over again so I wanted to share it.
This is a conversation between the main character and his father and I believe it to be life changing if you let it.
"Human beings do not live forever Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?" He paused again, his eyes misty now, then went on. "I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasruable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"Merely to live, merly to exist-what sense is there to it? A fly also lives."
Wow and Amen!
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