tzekel

Grandma Braff would insist that the water in her cup of tea be scalding, hot enough she would say to make the three drops of lemon from a fresh piece of fruit sizzle as it dripped and made a noise sounding like a long breath of awwwww as it settled into the cup. “Better you should burn the lemon juice then your own lips,”she announced. She would stir the freshly squeezed lemon juice in her cup of tea then place the sliver of lemon into the center of her cup look up at whomever was sitting next to her and add, “being sweet is never easy.” Grandma Braff would sip her tea, offer another cup made the exact same way as hers, look you in the eye as you tasted that first sip and say “you should never be foolish enough to think that anything in life is easy. You taste that tea but look at the effort necessary to give you that feeling of satisfaction.” Grandma Braff was insistent that the energy of the effort was too often ignored. She believed if you were not the one working for the outcome you should at least have enough ‘tzekel’ (insight, inner thought) to understand just how the effort came to fruition.

Today is World AIDS Day. Not quite a holiday or a festival or even a celebration but more so an acknowledgment of the struggle, battles, wars  and victories fought and sought by those living with AIDS with assistance from their loved ones to just survive and hopefully thrive.  It has been sanctioned as World AIDS Day for 25 years a reminder that this disease can and never should be forgotten or taken for granted. This Day has been established to educate and inform and never let you forget of its devious deeds. It also has become a Day for providing promise and is presented as both a cup half empty and half full. As my Grandma Braff would say you see the cup half full but must never forget how the bitterness of the half empty cup was overcome by effort and energy. Grandma Braff would surely shout aloud “being sweet is never easy. 

25 years ago chaos reigned, rumor ran rampant and lives were ruined as this horrific, disease reached epidemic proportions. As is the ugly case of being human prejudice, religious dogma, bias and bogus replaced fact as truth and suddenly a segment of the population was seen as minions of the Devil. Fear mongers paraded their devious muscle, self proclaimed crusaders of God roamed the airwaves, the governments with armaments of hysteria and sense and sensibility were trampled on as senseless. But some persevered working for an outcome and demonstrated energy and effort. Great strides were made and many lives saved. Today 25 years since its inception it is still World AIDS Day and like that cup of tea prepared by Grandma Braff many of us look at it and think very little about how it got her. Like that cup of tea some of us give little thought. Perhaps, however a little ‘tzekel’ is necessary in understanding the origins of the preparation of the tea and some understanding of what it is all about. Grandma Braff  would slowly sip her tea and remind those in her company it is the effort, energy that makes change never take change for granted.