Wonder of wonder, miracle of Miracles!

• Match maker match maker, make me the perfect match...

Its not that I'm sentimental its that I'm terrified...playing with matches a girl could get burned...this is a familiar song from Fiddler on the Roof.

What a great movie, full of music and true history, and people that talk to God and they believe He listens.

I talk to God a lot lately, and I can relate my life to many movies and books and friends, but when I get to the place I am today, I put on this old faithful movie and let it soak in, like a hot bath. Only better than a hot bath, it doesn't take me away, it brings me into the now. It speaks in plain English the kind of traditional values, I have. It also shows clearly the upheavals, that all of us have, and within this simple artistic art form, I am calmed , renewed, my Jaded heart nurtured. I am amazed that this classic film, still holds true in a modern world of prosperity and freedom. This enduring film will always be my most favorite.

The main character as you know, is Tevia, Father of five girls, who struggles to get his work done on his farm because he has just one lame horse. The father and his right to hold traditions as truth, and he alone makes the decisions. Except when, the world changes and everything around him starts to turn around and upside, and his children make their own decisions, based on how they feel and their freedoms. While on his own, busily working, he wonders why he isn't cursed with money...it is there that we hear the powerful song, " If I were a rich man" . This is a comforting theme I can relate to, not exactly the man part, but the asking God if it would spoil some vast eternal plan is humorous and worth contemplating. The kind of patience and kindness that was required to survive in the chaos of the days when a farm and a family was all that you ever had, to be so closely tied to your town and your children and your religion, is something few people in 2011 would touch with a ten foot pole. In fact I am quite sure that many would run fast and far from that kind of reliance on such secular beliefs. I often wonder, how many of us- came from similarly humble beginnings? To our benefit our forefathers were no wimps, and struggled through for us to have better days. Modern days, without irrational fear of sin, and many needless worries that today are proven to be sorely out-dated. Fear of sin, for dancing, or marriage, and fear of a woman not getting married--is quite humbling as well. Who has not thought to themselves, oh no, shes doing something she should not...? How many stones are tossed, in the name of religion and tradition, that now are clearly so unnecessary? More than we can count.

What makes this story so timeless and so applicable, when the majority of us lack this long suffering back ground, or more likely not even know our back ground? Is this troubling story just enough to stir our souls back to think of what is right way to love in the eyes of God and our parents, and what is truly our own choice? If you have children, it seems as if God only knows what goes on in their heads when they make poor choices. And as adults, we hide from our children our childish needs, in order to teach, through actions, what we need them to see in us, to be the adults 'we' approve of. When we stop asking for approval from our parents, and the line is blurred enough for us to make this transition , children and parents can loose sight of what is real, for what is similar to the dated irrational sinful fears. We can hold onto our worst fears, and impose the strictest ideals, remembering our own bad habits when we should really, let our bonds of family hold us up and trust our children have learned what we wanted them to. Let go and give out fears to God. When we go to God and talk to Him, we bring our troubles, do we always remember to bring our joys? I want to try this, each time I panic, and worry about troubles that I cant control, I need to find a grateful place, and be calm.

( God ) Who do you take your troubles to? Tevia asks thoughtfully.

I grew up with this famous movie, and I sung its charming tunes. I did not even think if I was the 'right' religion, for it I am not Jewish. Now that I am older and look at for what it is, did I hide from that tormenting secret so intertwined within this story, I think so. I absorbed the visual beauty of hard work, the essence blessed family, and the obvious hardships that are not just about the children but also the responsibility of the parents, all shown off with talented dancing and singing actors? The sadness could be seen as beauty, they give poverty the look of artistic quality , and the music makes this epic film easy to digest. Each time the story turns, and the children go their own way, we pull into our hearts thoughtful desires to be loved, and the intimate soulful songs weave our heart into understanding that love has no boundaries. Love has no walls and cannot be contained. We believe the children are right, but we mourn the parents rights as well. It's as sad as the lame horse that cant help the father, the history speaks for itself, and yet,the bonds of the family are stronger than any bizarre hatred this world can force upon them.

I caught some of the fantastic quotes this film salts us with, not just fancy words:

" Dear God, Did you have to send me that news today?I know we are the Chosen ones, once in awhile cant you chose someone else?"

Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness

Enough lessons, back to the house, there is work to be done!

Good news will stay, and bad news will refuse to leave!

Where do you think you are, America?

even the great wealthy must die in fact if the rich could hire out the death and the unhealthy, we poor could make a good living!

their so happy, they don't know how miserable are

After a life time a piece of paper and get out...

Eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the whole world will be blind and toothless!

After all that I see in this 'Fiddler' story, good and upstanding people, who have skills that they define and use to support themselves, and yet-nothing can keep them from the eminent harm that will change their life forever. These truths ring true in recent problems of our own housing industry, and our American history is being written as we live each day. There are still wrongs that need to be made right with human suffering in many homes and places all over the world this will test us all. The bonds of family are tested in all walks of life, and there is no normal, this is a word that we should probably consider outdated and even a inappropriate.

The traditions today may not be the truths for tomorrow. But for most of us love is more than a feeling, its more than a ceremony, it remains, the willingness to take care of each-other along with the commitment of growing old together and sharing the new traditions. We want to bring us as a broken people into an atmosphere of personal relationships that have freedoms and understandings that are good in the eyes of our intimate family, and hopefully, our society accepts us as well, so that we are not so broken.

I am tested and I am broken, but I can still love, and find something to sing about. In the midst of troubles in my own life, or in yours, or in the lives of children and the world, we can still find the time to see the fiddler on the roof, he plays for all of us.