Diamonds Polished Here

Click HERE to return to main site

Diamonds Polished Here

Looking for the good in a person is not always as easy as it might seem. However, it’s a “must do” for success in life. Parents must look for the good in their children, no matter what they’ve done. Teachers must look for the good in their students. We must all look for the good in everyone. Rabbi Twerski applied this rule in his substance abuse program. He once dealt with an ex-convict named Avi. Avi was an ex-alcoholic and drug user. One day the Rabbi was addressing the “freshmen” who were joining the program. He spoke of the great importance of maintaining one’s self esteem. Suddenly, he was interrupted by Avi. “How can you talk to us of self esteem, he asked, when I’ve been a thief since I was eight years old. When I’m not in prison, I’m out of work, and my family have all left me. What kind of self esteem can I have?”

Responding to his question, the Rabbi countered, “Have you ever walked by a jewelry store window and saw the beautiful diamonds? You know those diamonds were not always that beautiful and sparkly. In fact, once they were a big lump of coal. Only a professional who knows what he is doing can take that shapeless piece of coal and turn it into a beautiful diamond. That is what we do at the recovery center. We look for the diamond in people. We enable the soul of a person to show its true beauty, then polish it until it shines. You, Avi, are like that big lump of coal. We will find the diamond that is within you. Two years elapsed, and Avi graduated from the program. He went to work as a construction worker. One day, the young woman who managed the half way house where Avi stayed during his rehabilitation, received a phone call.

It was from a lady whose mother had just passed away and she wanted to donate the furniture to the half way house. So she had called Avi to see if he would go pick it up for her. Avi quickly agreed. When he arrived at the lady’s house he could see instantly the couch wasn’t worth going to retrieve. But in order not to hurt the lady’s feelings, he took it anyway. While he was laboring away to get the huge old couch upstairs at the half way house, an envelope fell out from between the cushions. It contained eight hundred dollars! There was a not too distant of a day he would have robbed a house to get a lot less money than this. But, he notified the owners of the half way house of his discovery. They in turn called the owners of the couch. The family was so impressed with the integrity of Avi. So much so, that they contributed all the recovered money to the half way house.

As a result, the rehabilitation house was able able to buy another bed and furnishings for another room. This would enable them to take in another person to help. One more thing, Avi no longer perceived himself as a thief! Avi wrote to Rabbi Twerski of the incident. He wrote, “When I used drugs I use to get high - temporarily. Although after a while I would begin to feel miserable again. Now every time I think of what I did three months ago, I feel great all over again! How different is this feeling, from the high I obtained the old way.” About a year passed and Rabbi Twerski returned to the halfway house where Avi’s good deed had set off a huge chain of wonderful events. He distinctly noticed something different now though.

There was a new large sign hanging over the entrance that read: DIAMONDS POLISHED HERE. The diamond in the rough he had worked with so diligently had finally emerged! We are all diamonds in the rough. Some of us have just been polished a little more than others have. So make sure you always look for the diamond in everyone you encounter in life! arrived. Religion, in it’s pride, says “this is it, you’re saved, this is all there is and we have it all.” One on the journey, on the other hand says, “We don’t have all the answers, but you are welcome to what I have found and we can join hands and seek together.”

Humility, the lack of ego, these are the marks of one on the journey. They question, yet respect differences, while still seeing things as echad. So where are you? Are you in a religion? Are you in a religion of Judiasm with cultural rituals divorced from their true meaning? Or are you a Christian, following a religion based on false premises, inaccurate history, extreme oversimplification and divisiveness? Why do so many people follow a religion to exclusion of all else?

I think there are two reasons, laziness and fear. For the lazy, no one can make the spiritual journey for you. Nowhere is there a nice, neatly wrapped set of doctrines and beliefs that will do the work for us, answer all our questions. Also, do not try to make yourself into someone else's image. Which brings us to our second reason, fear. We think we lack knowledge, our answers aren’t valid, our questions are stupid. But while echad, we are all unique, and each person can see things from a slightly different perspective. However, we can’t sit around and wait for someone to drop it in our lap. Yeshua said each one of us is to ask, seek and knock. This is your life, your journey. Try to learn to enjoy uncertainty. While on this journey, remember to experience “echad.”