A Leaf on my Mitzvah Tree
I hold the environment in high regard. I have even chosen to focus my undergraduate education, and hopefully future career around this topic. I try my best to ‘live and learn’ sustainability. I am quite occupied with concerns such as greenhouse gases, global warming, rising sea levels, the environmental potential of our presidential candidates, and the struggles of the food economy as corn continues to be sourced for ethanol. Since so many of my gemilut hasadim, acts of loving kindness, are for the land that we live on, it is not absurd that I had forgotten to sustain the people who live on it.
I never thought that Starbucks would be the place to remind me:
The other day I was with Ilana, the other intern at COEJL, at Starbucks. The drink that Ilana ordered was not what the barista gave her. He kindly offered it to me, and said he had to throw it out if no one wanted it. Never to be the person to turn down a free beverage (because it goes so well with a free cookie) I happily accepted. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t like that particular iced-sweetened-frothy concoction. As I almost put what probably cost close to $5 in the trash can, I looked up and saw a man with sad eyes staring at me. It became clear he was hungry when he wouldn’t stop staring at the soon to be disposed drink. I went up to him and asked him if he wanted it. His eyes quickly twinkled with happiness as he offered to trade me his cup of water. While I let him keep both drinks, I took away something much more worthwhile from the proposition, that special feeling when realize you just did a good deed. The only thing I could say to Ilana was “If I were still in religious school that would be a leaf on mitzvah
tree.”
One of the most important things I can do as an environmentalist is to think about the people who live on the earth I am working to protect. And while I didn’t expect anything but a gracious thank you from this sad-eyed man, I hope that my deed will inspire someone else to do a mitzvah. Soon, just one kind gesture, can spread and bring a smile to many. As I “hug another tree,” I must be responsible to nurture every branch of the most special tree of them all, my very own mitzvah tree.
tree.”
One of the most important things I can do as an environmentalist is to think about the people who live on the earth I am working to protect. And while I didn’t expect anything but a gracious thank you from this sad-eyed man, I hope that my deed will inspire someone else to do a mitzvah. Soon, just one kind gesture, can spread and bring a smile to many. As I “hug another tree,” I must be responsible to nurture every branch of the most special tree of them all, my very own mitzvah tree.
