Yom Kippur 5781

 

Another year on the Jewish calendar has passed and this one was a doozy. I feel the need to ask for forgiveness from everyone this year. I have not been myself. Or rather I have been myself under duress. This is me running on a high level of anxiety, a reservoir of suppressed anger, and a great deal of straight-up grief. This is me taking leave of my senses, and the one I probably miss the most is my sense of humor. I apologize for not being funnier. I would like to give you a laugh because humor heals and I wish you wellness.

This year I have often not given my full attention to relationship. I have struggled to hear and respond appropriately on screenchats. My social skills have atrophied. I feel flat-footed, unintuitive, misinformed, awkward. So I ask your forgiveness on Yom Kippur. If I have hurt you, embarrassed you, or made you feel uncomfortable in the past year, forgive me.

I feel spectacularly insufficient to the task right now. The task of responding to the moment, to this phenomenal mess. The task of communicating well. The task of loving from afar. The task of resisting the powerful negative forces tearing down our society and culture. The task of not believing everything I think. The task of exercising my imagination. The task of having faith in the future. The task of feeling grateful for the present. The task of accepting human failing – mine and everyone else’s. I hope I will make a better job of it all in the coming year.

Forgive me if I have caused you harm with word or deed.