have a little faith- Mitch Albom

"And then what happens? When life comes to an end?"
I shrugged.
"You see?"
He leaned back. He smiled.
"When you come to the end, that's where God begins."

Happiness is a tablet. This is our world. Prozac. Paxil. Xanax.... You don't need a specific trauma: just "general depression" or "anxiety", as if sadness were as treatable as the common cold.... much of what we call "depression" was really dissatisfaction.

"Getting old we can deal with. Being old is the problem."

What do people fear most about death? I asked the Reb.
"Fear?" He thought for a moment. "Well, for one thing, what happens next? Where do we go? Is it what we imagined?"
That's big.
"Yes, but there's something else."
What else?
He leaned forward.
"Being forgotten," he whispered.

He also, on occasion, told the joke about a man who complains to his doctor that his wife, when angry, gets historical.
"You mean hysterical," the doctor says.
"No, historical," the man says. "She lists the history of every wrong thing I've ever done."

"But real commitment? That requires staying power- in faith and marriage."
And if you don't commit? I asked.
"Your choice. But you miss what is on the other side."
What's on the other side?
"Ah," he smiled. "A happiness you cannot find alone."

"Even in our own faith, we have questions and answers, interpretations, debates. In Christianity, in Catholicism, in other faiths, the same thing- debates, interpretations. That is the beauty. It is like being a musician. If you found the note, and you kept hitting the note all the time, you would go nuts. It's the blending of the different notes that makes the music."
The music of what?
"Of believing in something bigger than yourself."

And I should be ashamed thinking I knew everything, because you can know the whole world and still feel lost in it. So many people are in pain- no matter how smart or accomplished- they cry, they yearn, they hurt. But instead of looking down on things, they look up, which is where I should have been looking too. Because when the world quiets to the sound of your own breating, we all want the same things: comfort, love, and a peaceful heart.