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Seasons’ Greetings & Happy 2023!

This is the time of year when season’s greetings, holiday and new year’s wishes, regardless of religion, culture, ethnic background or heritage, fills the air. We shop for gifts, send cards (digitally, of course, these days), attend parties, dinners and festive gatherings. Oh, and we gain the 10 pounds that we resolve to lose every new year.

Despite the roller coaster pandemic warnings that again seem to be popping up, many of us, albeit slowly, are once again trying to get back to a new ‘normal,’ venturing to get together with family, friends, loved ones and colleagues.  Starting to travel again, perhaps taking that deferred and much needed vacation or simply taking a break from work or school or the anxiety of the last few years.

Looking back at 2022, it would be nice to say this pandemic is behind us, but just a few days ago I heard a new word – “tridemic” – which I’m sure will make it into the mainstream vocabulary faster than the spread of any virus.  COVID, Flu and RSV cases are increasing and new alarms about variants are once again threatening to overwhelm our health care systems.  At best, more anxiety. At worst, more tragic losses and overworked health care professionals.

At the same time, hardly a week (or sometimes a day) goes by where we don’t hear of another tragedy – a shooting at a mall, a school, a store, a workplace, a playground or a street corner.  Innocent bystanders or commuters subjected to random and often violent attacks.  There are still too many homeless, abused, under-served people in despair and distress. In many parts of the world, the holiday season and new year means bitterly cold weather and for far too many, lack of food or clothing or access to basic health care.

War and suffering, displaced human beings, innocent battered and often shattered lives.  There are still too many places in the world where there is no peace. Where instead of worrying about getting ahead in the workplace or being successful in business or striving to make sure children are getting an education and families are well nourished, they are concerned about stray bullets or brutal repercussions for expressing the wrong opinions. Where tolerance, understanding and compassion are absent. In this age of the Internet, we often too easily believe the myth that we live in a borderless world. It’s only borderless for those who speak, work and live in a free society.  For others, the borders, and living life within them, are very real.

I am also pretty tired of politics – especially partisan politics, no longer measured by honest, but well-meaning disagreement. It seems to have become malicious and mean-spirited. What if there was a requirement that every elected official be prohibited from remaining a member of or being endorsed by any political party, allowed to only accept donations of $10 or less and only once from each person or business in the geographic region they represent. If we are lucky, it would make it more difficult for ‘independent’ elected officials to reach a consensus on self-serving laws. Instead of voting along ‘party lines,’ it might make it more likely that the laws that do make it through are meaningful to greater numbers of citizens! Oh well, I can dream, right?

In case you think all is lost, as we head into 2023, let’s turn to what’s right with the world.  Once again, it’s been a year in which we have witnessed heroic efforts from our health care workers, first responders, emergency search and rescue personnel, as well as our finest and our bravest – not just in our nation, but around the world. So many dedicated, selfless people across the diverse fabric of our communities – communities that transcend borders. People from nations around the globe coming to the aid of those in need – in places they have never been, helping people they don’t know.

Ordinary people performing extraordinary feats of kindness, tirelessly giving of themselves for long, sometimes thankless hours to save lives, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, provide clothing and rebuild damaged houses and give comfort to so many in need. A woman and her family rescuing a helpless and lost elderly man stranded in a snowstorm, a police officer helping a stray deer stuck in a fence, neighbors providing clothes and food and shelter to strangers whose homes and lives have been shattered by tornadoes. These folks don’t make headlines but if look around, you can find everyday examples of the best in us. They are an inspiration to me, reminding me of what we should and can be if we just take the time to look around and try, not just this time of year, but throughout the year.

As this year draws to a close, once again I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of you – people with whom I’ve worked, readers of my silly trivia contests or learned quotes and those who glance at my legal insights designed to provoke your thoughts that I post once in a while. I am thankful for the relationships, old and new. Those that have endured, those that have strengthened and those that have surprised me and sometimes, those I’ve lost.  Each of you have helped enrich my life, personally and professionally and I am grateful.

Every year, as we move closer to a new year, I find myself at a loss for words that can adequately express my appreciation, so as I always do, I’ll just say, “thank you” and trust you will understand all that is behind those two simple words.

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Season’s Greetings

This is the time of year when season’s greetings, holiday and new year’s wishes, regardless of religion, culture, ethnic background or heritage, usually fills the air.  In past years, we have spent lots of time and attention on shopping for gifts, sending cards, attending or hosting parties, dinners and gaining the 10 pounds we resolve to lose every new year.  Some join a swelling tide of well-wishers, holiday revelers, frosty noses, red cheeks and smiling faces. We traditionally gather together with family, friends, loved ones and colleagues –  often planning travel and vacations and taking a break from work and school.

This year, much like last year, but unlike any others, we continue to face challenges unthinkable and unimaginable less than two years ago. We have and continue to suffer tragic losses, we continue to confront anxiety and fear, we continue to pray for our most vulnerable. Many were often helpless to be near loved ones, unable to hold their hands or be there during moments when it mattered most. This has also been a year in which natural disasters and catastrophic events have contributed to the despair, forcing us to confront tragic loss of life and devastation to homes and property.

This past year, adding to the raging pandemic is our growing frustration and often a sense of helplessness – it seems each time we think we are turning the corner, we feel outwitted by a tiny organism – a virus known as COVID-19. We argue over mask mandates and social distancing, whether to vaccinate or not to vaccinate and it sometimes feels like we are on different sides. The differences aren’t trivial and yes, they are most often very real. But they aren’t what really matters.

Once again, I prefer to focus on what is best in all of us, rather than what we argue about. Another year in which we witnessed heroic self-sacrifices from our health care workers, first responders, emergency search and rescue personnel, as well as our finest and our bravest – not just in our nation, but around the world.  So many dedicated, selfless people across the diverse fabric of our communities –  communities that have transcended borders. People from across nations, from around the globe, coming to the aid of those in need –  in places they have never been, helping people they don’t know.

Ordinary people performing extraordinary feats of kindness, tirelessly giving of themselves for long, sometimes thankless hours to save lives, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, provide clothing and rebuild damaged houses and give comfort to so many in need.  Let’s also not forget those medical researchers, clinicians and volunteers who are still engineering medical miracles and who continued to work tirelessly to prevent this virus from outwitting us.  While we never know what the future holds, nor what “normal” might look like in the months and years ahead, we can change the way we handle and deal with it – together.

I know the news media spends more time reporting how these difficult times have brought out the worst in some of us. But quietly and usually without fanfare, you can see more examples of how these adversities are bringing out the best in us – just stop and look around you. They are my inspiration to try harder to live up to that ideal, rather than any headlines.

So not surprisingly, this time of year my thoughts turn gratefully to those people and relationships who have helped to enrich my life, personally and professionally and to those who have helped make this world better. There really aren’t words to adequately express my appreciation, so I’ll just say “thank you” and trust you will understand all that is behind those two simple words.

Wishing all of you, your families, friends and loved ones a meaningful holiday season and a wonderful new year filled with health, happiness, prosperity and peace!

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During this time of year our thoughts turn gratefully to our relationships and to all those who have helped enrich our lives personally and helped make our business progress and professional growth possible.  To all my family and friends, loved ones, colleagues, connections and contacts, the holidays and new year seem like perfect times for me to say ‘thank you’ and express appreciation to each of you.

There are so many things we can be thankful for and among them I count your friendship and support, as well as your contributions to my growth as a person and professional – in short, our relationship, whether near or far, close or casual, constant or sporadic.

In the year ahead, I look forward to being better at staying in touch with many of you whose time and schedules have not intersected with mine as often as I might like;  to facing challenges together and in the process, learning and growing; to listen more to those who mean well, to ignore those who don’t and to try and have the wisdom to know the difference.

Most of all to appreciate the countless blessings around us every day that we far too often take for granted. Thank you!

I wish each of you a new year filled with health, happiness and prosperity.

Best wishes,

Joe Rosenbaum

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Seasons Greetings

Thank you for reading and visiting Legal Bytes. Each year, at this time of year, I try to post messages in the spirit of the season and often some of my own reflections at the end of one calendar year, looking forward to a new year ahead.  This year I’ve chosen a story about Franz Kafka.  When I recall reading Kafka (forced by required reading in school), I think of the “The Metamorphosis” and  a giant cockroach or works that exude alienation and hopelessness or surreal worlds filled with bureaucracy and despair. Not, as I recall, filled with compassion, love or kindness.  But having started reading books again and publishing Light Byte quotes for my blog, I came across both a quote and a story that surprised me.

“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”  Yes, this is a quotation from Kafka. It surprised me.  But there was also a story – perhaps only a legend – about Franz Kafka in the last year of his life – Kafka died in June of 1924.  There appear to be multiple versions and variations to this story and many claim to have gleaned details from Kafka’s last wife, Dora Diamant.  She would have been the only one who would have possibly known most, if not all of it, if true.  We may never know if any version is true , but whether fact or fiction, the story, like all of Kafka’s writing, is complex, nuanced and meaningful on so many levels and for so many reasons, permit me to share it with you:

Franz Kafka, a literary genius widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th Century literature, was a young man suffering from tuberculosis and dying – he was never to see his 41st birthday.  He had recently fallen in love with Dora Diamant, a young girl of nineteen or twenty who ran away from her Hasidic family in Poland and now, as a married couple, they were living in Berlin.  Most afternoons Kafka would go for a walk in Steglitz Park, often accompanied by Dora, and one day, Kafka came upon a little girl in the park, immersed in tears and sobbing her heart out.

Kafka inquired what was troubling her, and she told him she had lost her doll and was heartbroken. Trying to make her feel better, he offers to help look for the doll, but fearing the worst, he decides to tell her the doll has gone away, but has written her a letter. When she asked to see it, he told her since he didn’t know he would meet her in the park that day, he had left it at home, but would bring it to her the next day. Now if this story has any truth to it, I’m guessing this little girl was probably more than just a little suspicious at that point. But Kafka promises to return the next day with the letter from the doll – a letter he then goes home to compose.

The next day Kafka returns to the park with the letter and finds the little girl waiting. She is too young to read so he reads the letter to her. He tells her the doll is sorry, but had gotten bored and needed to get out, see the world, do new things and make new friends.  Of course, she still loves and misses the little girl very much, but her dreams of new adventures and of seeing new things has made her decide to go away for a while to do just that. But, as Kafka told the little girl, the doll promised to write her every day so she can follow her activities and know she is thinking of her.

According to the story, from that day and every day for at least the next three weeks, Franz Kafka – one of the most brilliant, talented writers in literary history – goes home to write letters from the lost doll.  Every day, in the last year of his life, knowing his remaining days on earth are dwindling, he composes these imaginary letters from a lost doll. Every day he returns to the park to read them to the little girl – a stranger he didn’t know, had never met before and whom he had run into by accident one afternoon in the park.

According to reports from Dora, he would sit down at his desk, composing letters about the doll’s adventures that were detailed, funny and captivating.  According to accounts of the story, when writing these letters Kafka dedicated himself with the same seriousness as he had when composing his own towering literary works. Fictional letters from a lost doll, intended to replace a little girls sadness with believable joy. So every day, Kafka returned to the park to read another letter to the little girl.  As the weeks went by, knowing all to well his time on earth was nearing an end, Kafka must have also been struggling with how to end this story – the moment when the letters must inevitably stop and he could no longer return to the park to read them to her.

Here is where versions of the story diverge. In one version, the doll grows up, goes to school, gets to know other people, falls in love, has a wonderful wedding and goes off to live happily ever after, somewhere in the countryside with the doll’s new husband. In this version, she bids farewell to the little girl, knowing everyone will live happily ever after.  In another version, Kafka presents the little girl with a doll – which clearly looks different than the original – which he notes, in the doll’s words: “my travels have changed me…”

We never learn what the little girl may have thought at the time, but as the story is told, many years later that little girl, now all grown up, reportedly finds the cherished doll given to her by Franz Kafka to replace the one she lost.  Stuffed somewhere in a previously unnoticed spot was a final letter from the doll, which ended with the words “every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.”

Wishing you, your family, friends, colleagues and all those you hold dear, a joyful and meaningful holiday season, a prosperous and healthy new year filled with peace, and most of all and in all its forms . . love.