Friday, March 23, 2012

Farewell Thoughts

Jeanne and I are on our last day in Israel. Over dinner last night, we discussed how this trip has challenged us professionally (the HP product release here and, for those of you who caught in the news, the merging/re-org of the 2 major business units that included the departure of Jeanne's former boss Vyomesh Yoshi. Jeanne is not sure how this will affect her, and probably won't until all the pieces that are up in the air hit the ground), personally (the culture, languages and ways of Israel are so diverse as to make your head spin) and spiritually (take a generous helping of various beliefs, religions and forms of worship... place in a large pot...stir well!).

Our guide (Ossy Kaufman) said something yesterday that really jumped out at me. "Thousands of years of traditions cannot be erased by a moment of reality (historical fact). The traditions of Israel...Jews, Arabs, Christians and the various sects of each, have generations of traditional beliefs that are so ingrained in their society, they cannot and will not be changed. He finished his thought by saying "it is up to each of us to find our beliefs, and to live together and not argue about it. We should be happy!"

And Jeanne and I are happy. Happy to have been here, and happy to be going back home.

See you soon,

Mike

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