Deadline? What Deadline?

Some of you (I hope!) may have noticed the absence of my column from this space in last month’s Temple Times. For those of you who didn’t, feel free to skip down to the next heading. For the rest of you, I need to issue an apology. Every month there is a deadline to meet for submissions to the Times, and last month, I missed it badly. My greatest apologies go out to any of you who may have been looking forward to my column. My hope is to draw a lesson from this error of mine that might be of benefit.

Many times a great motivator for adults is the avoidance of public shame. Nobody wants to appear to be a fool or unprepared in the eyes of a big group. We will go to great lengths to avoid such an appearance. One of the principle lessons of childhood is that appearance matters. Yet, here I write, in the wake of a terrible appearance. So what do I take from it?

Perhaps some comfort in the public perception that I am far from perfect. This should be no revelation, yet it is good to say it out loud. So much of the impulse to avoid an embarrassing situation is to consistently project the image that we have everything in control. The reality, of course is that we don’t. I certainly know this to be the case in my own life. Like most of us I try hard, and most of the time things come out all right. Sometimes they don’t. When they don’t, I know that a lot of people will see my mistakes.

All I, or anyone, can do following an error is rededicate myself to doing better. That, and recognize that the sky doesn’t fall when you slip up. Even if things don’t turn out as you would wish, you can almost always try again and do better. That sounds to me like a pretty good lesson for the secular New Year.

Many families suffer from allergies and food sensitivities that have far reaching effects, sometimes as severe as asthma and hives. Other times the effects are subtler, affecting the emotional well being and physical comfort of the sufferer. There is evidence that untreated, many of these allergies can hinder the academic and social progress of children. Dr. Delfiner will speak with us about an exciting new method for eliminating allergies that doesn’t require shots and scratch tests. He is not only a practitioner of this new method, but also a successful patient. Come and hear about how this new course of treatment might improve the health of your children!