Hi,
Hope you’re having a great day.
And that your holidays were enjoyable and meaningful.
… It was one of the most embarrassing things that ever happened to me.
I shared it at the CTN Yom Kippur Service.
And I wanted to share it with you.
… Before the recent CTN dinner I went to the office of a generous supporter of CTN.
We sat down at his desk to schmooze. And prepared to watch a CTN video.
He carefully placed his huge cappuccino on his desk.
And what did I do?
I proceeded to knock it down!!
Coffee flowed all over his desk.
And I mean all over!
On documents. Checks. Records. Personal photos.
Even a mezuzah parchment on his desk was not spared!
To say that this put a “damper” on our meeting would be a huge understatement!
As he and his staff went to work to salvage what they could?
I apologized profusely again and again.
And decided it would be best to come back a different time!
… The next day I wrote him a letter.
And I spoke from the heart.
I told him how careless I had been and how embarrassed I was.
And I told him, that while it would have been embarrassing to do it to anyone?
I was especially embarrassed to do it to him.
Because he has always been so gracious. So generous. And such a good friend.
He was very touched by my letter.
I’ve been back in his office and things worked out very well!
… I learned a tremendous lesson from this experience.
(Besides being more careful about large cappuccinos on a desk!)
Because what I wrote in my letter that he appreciated so much?
Was nothing new. I had always felt that way about him.
And I may have even “kind of” said it to him.
But I never sat down and really expressed my appreciation of him.
It took flooding his desk with coffee for me to do that!
… We all have people that we really appreciate.
People that have “been there for us”. Or have enhanced our lives in different ways.
We think of “someday” sending them a note. Or giving them a call.
And we shouldn’t wait until we need to do damage control.
We should just do it!
All the best,
Rabbi Moshe Katz
Director
ChicagoTorah Network
2832W. Touhy Avenue
Chicago,IL60645
P 773. 761. 0400 ext. 201
F 773. 761. 9262