10 Wisemen

Five Jewish Wisemen
1. Moses - "Everything is Law and Order"
2. Jesus - "Everything is Love"
3. Karl Marx - "Everything is Money"
4. Sigmund Freud - "Everything is Sex"
5. Albert Einstein - "Everything is Relative"


Five Gentile Wisemen
1. Buddha - "Everything is nothing"
2. Mohammed - "Everything is submission to God"
3. Machiavelli - "Everything is Power"
4. Oscar Wilde - "Everthing is posing"
5. Chip McDonald - "Everything is Important, but Nothing is more important"

PeaceHike

Today marked the first Peace Hike up Mt. Kekes. The hike was made by three Central European University students and myself. We took a bus from Budapest to Matrafured, then we entered the trailhead and climbed the mountain - Hungary's highest - in support of the cause of world peace. One student, Ian McDonnell is a Harvard University undergrad doing a semester abroad in CEU's Nationalism program. The other two were economics students - Ralica from Bulgaria and Rasheed from Kirgizstan. We had a refreshing 2 hour hike up through the forest, took photos, talked about a range of topics from books to politics to sports. At the summit, we signed a simple document stating we all hiked for world peace. Then we hiked down to a nearby village, drank tea and caught a bus back to Budapest.

We all agreed that a follow-up hike is in order. Ian agreed to help hang posters to promote the event. We also talked about an event in the forthcoming spring. I'm considering a call to the German language Andrassy University to invite their students. And while I'm at it, why not Pesti Yeshiva? But they couldn't hike on their Sabbath.

Pain in the Neck

Yes, I have a pain in the neck, extending to the left elbow. Is it my heart? Will I be dead in an hour? Should I be so lucky? It has eased up a bit since I lined up an interview with the environment minister for next week for The Budapest Times. And it's not so excruciating since I started writing this Blog. Gone are the leisurely, reflective thoughts that run cross my mind at 5 this morning as I exited the tub en route to the dining room for my morning Yoga practice, thoughts that then struck me as so suitable for print.

Instead of thoughts, a mental checklist formulates across my sensorium, haunted by doubts and anxieties. The Yogi in me says to experience the pain, not react, to experience all that occurs, to live as the astral being I am, a temporary passenger in this body of organized and animate dust and water.

But the builder says, charge! Attack my dreams, break them down into goals, line up my tasks and execute them one by one! Make things happen! Materialize those chosen concepts that tasted so sweet on the plate of ideas.

Responsibility to my wife and son. Must dredge forward to feed, clothe and house them. Alas this is my creed. To sort out the means to sneak in myself and make it better for all is my secret plan.