Too Obvious to Mention

by Benji Raymond

"The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.
Kahlil Gibran
-------------------------------------

I recall my principal at my old high school saying to the students at our school assemblies, "Remember that what is right is not always popular... and what is popular is not always right.” I also recall how the students, including myself, would chuckle at the corniness of the saying. She was, of course, subtly voicing her disagreement over the previous week where kids were doing what it is that kids do. When the saying proved to be unsuccessful in putting a stop to the hassles that almost always seem to hover above schools, the principal bought a laminated poster banner with the saying and posted it in the school library.

In reality, my principal's favourite saying is not far off the truth. Nevertheless, considering the essence of the concept, I would have preferred the saying to state, 'what is right does not always feel good and what feels good is not always right'. Humans do what feels good, and boy are we good at it.

While I was recently in Israel, I went to visit an old friend at his yeshiva. One of Rabbis had a talk and I thought I'd listen in. Nevertheless, I found what the Rabbi was saying too obvious to mention, in fact, so obvious that it struck me as corny in a sense. It was at this talk that the memory of my principal’s favorite saying came floating back to me. The Rabbi was expressing the notion that what we eat (and perhaps sometimes the way we eat it) symbolizes the essence of the world in which we live in. Ice-Cream, Chocolate, etc. tastes really good (coming from a chocolate addict!.) Unfortunately, while it often feels as though there is a party in our mouths, the food itself is very rarely good for us. On the flip side, while vegetables yield anti-oxidants, vitamins and nutritional value the majority of us would not consider the taste to be appealing.

In a similar sense, what feels good is not always right for us or the people around us. Therefore, it may be safe to say that there is no direct correlation between what feels good and what is true to ourselves. So while his talk struck me as being corny and while I felt that what he was saying was utterly too obvious to mention, it took me many nights to digest the importance of his speech.

A Long December