A Lawn Or A Life?

There is a book of Jewish ethics called Pierke Avot (or Ethics of the Fathers). One thing this text teaches is, a person who saves a life, it is as if he (she) has saved the entire world. Certainly it points out the importance and value of a human life. So I asked, what is more important, a lawn or a life?

Let me explain the above question. When my mother-in-law suffered a stroke, my son, her grandson, went to visit her in the hospital every day and still pretty much goes to visit her at rehab every day (or almost every day). Initially, when the stroke occurred, both family and medical staff were not expecting her to come through (hence the reason she was placed on Hospice care). It is certainly by belief that her grandson gave her a will to live and he is the reason she is still alive.

Following the stroke, my son and I were out of town for my Nephew’s Bar Mitzvah and upon returning, our lawnmower broke down and needed to go in for service. As a result, you can probably imagine that the lawn got a little out of hand and was in need of being cut.

The day that I went out to mow the grass, lawnmower by my side, our neighbor came up to me and started to read me the riot act about how bad the lawn looked and how I had an obligation to the neighbor and the neighborhood.

I did not say anything to my neighbor because the truth is, what was being said was the truth. Still, when this individual continued to go on and on, especially since I was getting set to mow the lawn at this point anyway, I did get a little annoyed. I made a comment about my mother-in-laws stroke but I am sure it did not registered.

As you can probably tell, I am still a little annoyed over this comment. After all, since we have moved in to the house, up until this point, we have taken care of the lawn. Perhaps our neighbor would have been better served to ask a few questions before saying anything. After all, I would make the same choice again, it came down to it. A life is certainly more important than a lawn.