A human story not about the war . . . exactly.

“What Have We Accomplished?”

I heard these words this morning wafting around the gym lockers at the Jewish community center where I have been working out. The speaker was an older man who is present every day and seems to be sort of lonely. He and I were the only two gym patrons in the locker room, and since I do not know this person, I decided – initially – to let the comments pass.

When the changing area is more crowded, the gym patrons speak about “the game” from the previous evening, or the building project in which they’re engaged. The JCC is in a heavily Orthodox neighborhood, so some of the men speak about this rabbi or that congregant. (Those are some of the more interesting conversations!) Some doctors and lawyers even speak about their clients in ways that are likely to approach the borders of confidentiality . . . but their secrets are safe with me!

But of all the conversations, purposeful or frivolous, that take place in the locker room, the comments of this solitary individual stood out to me. Again, he intoned,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)