Tiffany suggested I try out WordPress, since it’s free and has basically the same features as Typepad. I still can’t really make my own layout like I’d like, but I’m not giving anything up, so we’ll see how it goes.

I have a lot of thoughts going through my mind this evening on respect. They haven’t had time to coalesce yet… a series of events today that all have to do with lack of respect for fellow humans. We don’t really seem to be in a society that encourages respect. We look at people through a cost-gain lense; if we really respected others, and humanity, a woman who is 8-months pregnant would have been given a seat on the Metro, wouldn’t have fallen, wouldn’t have spent several hours at the hospital being observed in case the fetus had been harmed. Thank god everything was okay.

In Jewish teaching, every individual represents an entire world- all the people who will come from them, all the people who might be affected by them. I think that perception makes things both easier and harder for me. It adds to my awareness of each individual’s value; flipside, it makes it harder to give up on any one, or to do anything that could hurt someone even if it causes myself harm to not do so. Which is where self-respect comes in; learning to make choices that foster a sense of self-entitlement. It’s a tricky balancing line- all the more so because it’s my goal to dedicate my life’s work to others, without thought of personal gain beyond experience and growth. Over the past year, I’ve learned how much more I can do for others if I take care of myself first. That’s one of Pittsburgh’s biggest draws for me- the lifestyle and city will make it so easy to do little things that bolster me, like hiking.

Maybe somehow I can help spread respect for humanity in my work.