Rabbi's Musings

Ever hear of Situational Awareness? It’s a handy term. Maybe you know it. It is something you need if you are a fighter pilot, a spy, or an Olympic athlete. Captain Sully had it when his quick thinking saved his plane from tragedy. It's something that many of us have sacrificed as we are too preoccupied by our smart phones to even be aware of walking into things.

Loren Rosenberg was struck by a car when attempting to cross a busy street in Utah. Her eyes were glued to her Blackberry. She is now suing Google, claiming that Google Maps told her to walk along the busy road but did not warn her about the traffic or lack of sidewalks. I don't imagine she will win her case.

It turns out you also need situational awareness to be a successful criminal. Here are some reports about stupid criminals who did not have situational awareness:

In Nashville there is Fred "Junior" Williams, the burglar who fell asleep on the sofa of the home he was robbing, only to be awakened by the police.

Rhode Island cops were sure they had the right guy when the suspect in a string of coin-machine thefts paid his $400 bail entirely in quarters.

Texas authorities, responding to a store robbery, seized a man who was fleeing naked. He said he'd stripped after the job because he figured his clothes would make him identifiable.

Finally, in Virginia, a janitor went to great lengths to avoid being identified in a 7-Eleven robbery, using a ski mask and a rental car for the occasion. But he also wore his work uniform, which said, "Cedar Woods Apartments" and had his name, Dwayne, stitched across the front.

The basic point: When situational awareness is high, we can succeed despite extremely difficult circumstances. When situational awareness is low, we can fail despite extremely simple circumstances. 

In addition to situational awareness, I want to suggest another term to consider: spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness is when we open ourselves up to the holy moments before us, the opportunities to connect to the divinity without and within us. 

It is about keeping our eyes glued to the things that matter, especially when our journey takes us into spiritually dangerous situations.

In order to understand spiritual awareness of course it helps if we can appreciate its opposite, spiritual apathy. 

What is spiritual apathy? It begins with situational apathy. It begins when people cease to care about the world around them. They forget about the wars being fought overseas. 

They forget about the soldiers who have to fight them. 

They think they have been given a free pass to let others worry about the future. 

In the old Yeats poem, the best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with a passionate intensity.

The result of such situational apathy is missed spiritual opportunity, not to mention a more messed up world.

In order to counteract this sickness, we can respond with three actions.

First, we much expand our world by opening up our eyes a little wider. We cannot be content enjoying our little peaceful part of the world. We have to read more, watch more, and dig deeper into the problems our community, our country, and our world face.

I know we can’t do everything, but can’t we do more?

I remember the story of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise when he went to China. The first night he couldn't sleep because he was so disturbed by the cries of the rickshaw drivers. They were in great pain. The hotel desk clerk told the rabbi that after a day or so he would no longer notice the cry. It turned out to be true, but when Rabbi Wise realized what had happened, he was mortified. 

How easy it is for us to become accustomed to the suffering of others. And how wrong it is.

Second, when struggles do arise, let's not simply pray to end them but also pray for the strength to endure them. 

Sometimes the suffering will not be something we read about. We will experience it ourselves. When such bad things happen to us, be them reversals at work, health challenges, or family dynamics that are dysfunctional, I pray that we will be aware enough to find resources to help us. Prayer, support groups, family, and friends. And the partnership we have with God, who will never abandon us.

Finally, when we keep our eyes on the world, let's make sure our hearts do not lose their focus on what God would have us do. 

It’s so easy to forget that God has a plan for us. We may not be able to discern it from the Torah or any given prayer service. But spiritual awareness can help us find the signs that will lead us to better lives, the opportunities to perform mitzvot, the surprising moments of transcendence that transform us. The burning bushes that we take the time to notice.