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February 10, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
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Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
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Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
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January 30, 2012
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Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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January 11, 2012
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David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
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January 10, 2012
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January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 8, 2008
/ 5 Sivan 5768
Apple of an uncle's eye
By
Mitch Albom
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The nephew asked the uncle if he would come to his high school graduation. The uncle said sure.
It was far away. Another country. But the nephew and the uncle always had been close. In fact, the nephew looked so much like the uncle, it astonished people. They used to mug in front of the mirror, the two of them, making the same face, the same squint, the same grin. It was like looking at old and young versions of the same face.
"He's really not my son," the uncle laughingly would tell people of his sister's child. "Believe me, that's not possible."
But as someone once observed, G-d's way of making sure you love your family is making you all look alike. So they were close, the nephew and the uncle. And the uncle would be there at graduation.
Oh, the nephew added, and could the uncle do the commencement speech?
Uh ... sure, the uncle said.
A commencement speech? Really? What did the uncle have to say to a group of high schoolers?
He thought. And he thought. And, as usual, he waited until the last minute, and wrote the speech on the plane overseas. His head was filled with grandiose themes, the world, its challenges, global responsibility.
But then he thought back to the day his nephew was born. He remembered the pudgy little ball of humanity. He remembered how the kid, in the early months, looked like Popeye, and how later he was covered in shaggy golden locks. He remembered this certain expression, as if the child were always on the brink of thrilling excitement, his mouth pursed, his eyes wide.
He remembered holding the child in his arms, and lifting him onto his shoulders, and bouncing a basketball with him, and playing pinball with him, and reading to him, always reading. He remembered the little one-man shows the nephew would put on in front of the family. He felt a tiny knot in his stomach for how quickly the years had flown by, and how the newborn was now 18 years old.
And pretty soon the uncle forgot about global themes. He wrote a commencement speech as if he were talking to one special kid in the long row of caps and gowns.
And, in truth, he was.
When the ceremony came, the uncle wore a suit, and he sat on stage and stole a glimpse at his nephew, in the back row of the graduates on the stage. The nephew gave him a small nod.
And then the uncle stepped to the microphone, in front of parents and siblings and friends and teachers. He spoke to them all, but in his mind, he was speaking to the Popeye kid in the back row, who now towered over him by several inches.
He told him not to hurry through life. He told him not to feel like a failure if he hadn't sold a tech start-up by the time he was 25. He told to find a home, and to cherish that home, and not to think that neighbors were corny or staying put was boring.
He told him to take chances, that mistakes were OK. He told him to find love. That was the most important thing. And he told him to cherish his family.
He got a little choked up on that part.
And then he finished. And the audience clapped. And to his surprise, they asked him to hand out the diplomas as the kids walked across stage.
They say you can never feel for someone else's child the way you would your own, and maybe that's true and maybe it isn't. But when the nephew approached the uncle, with his face in a small and familiar smirk, the uncle did what those who know him would have expected.
He held the diploma high overhead, so the nephew had to jump for it.
And then I hugged that kid as hard as I've hugged anyone.
And I have never been prouder.
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