Barbara Cooper

Do you complain or give thanks?

A quick copy store in my old neighborhood in America* offered printed pages that customers were welcome to take, free of charge. Some of the sayings on those pages were amusing, others thought-provoking. My Dad had one hanging in his office which I had thought appropriate enough to send to him.  “G-d made only so many perfect heads. The rest he covered with hair.”

Thirty years later, the one that still greets me when I enter my office each day is always relevant and especially when Thanksgiving rolls around.

“Some complain because the rose has thorns.  Some give thanks because the thorns have roses.”

Who doesn’t complain when poked and hurt by the thorns of life’s challenges?  Who can see beyond the pain to delight in the wondrous beauty that Hashem has provided?

* The store was a franchise of PIP at 25 Pleasant St in Worcester MA,  That branch is no longer in business.

About the Author
Once a stay-at-home mother of four children, and now grandmother to 16, Barbara spent 50 years 'children watching.' For a decade, she provided childcare in her home and was also a substitute teaching assistant at Gan Ephraim Preschool in Columbus OH. Over a period of 23 years, she made 19 trips to Israel, finally fulfilling her dream of making aliyah in 2019. She pursues ongoing independent study of Torah.
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