Appreciate Every Day

Yakov Avinu was criticized for the way he described his life before Pharoah. He told him that he was 130 years old and his years were מעט ורעים, “few and bad.” He added that he had not yet reached the years of his father.

It sounded as though he was bitter and complaining about all of the difficulties that he had to endure. When he compared himself to his father, he was implying that his father did not have as many problems that he had.

There are those who felt that he lost years of his life because of his complaints. He died at 147, while Avraham and Yitzchak lived to 175 and 180, respectively.

We are told that the first seventeen years of Yakov’s life and the last seventeen years, were very happy years for him. As difficult as Yakov’s life was, he should not have complained at all. I was impressed by an interview with Dennis Prager, that was aired recently. Prager was paralyzed a year ago in a bad accident. He only spoke of how grateful he was for being granted a very fulfilling life of seventy-six years, until his past misfortune.

We see this same attitude with holocaust survivors and even more recently with our freed hostages. Despite unbelievable hardships, they are not bitter. They remain positive and appreciative for the gift of life.

It is never good to dwell on the negative on any level. Faith, optimism, and gratitude, are clearly the correct attitude we are supposed to have as we confront life’s challenges.

The lesson from Yakov Avinu is that we pay a price for our bitterness and negativity. Yakov lost years of his life because of it. This implies, that the opposite approach of gratitude and appreciation for all that we have, will not only bring us peace of mind, but it may very well add years to our lives.