“We are living in a real wilderness feeling frustrated, sick, and overcome by despair.”

1967 was not a beautiful year for many Americans. The war in Viet Nam was costly and getting costlier. Protests against the war and against long-standing, caustic racism left our nation both scarred and scared. To the people living in those uncertain times, Rabbi Olan felt moved to speak a word of hope. Even though “evil is dressed up so attractively today” and virtue seems so unappealing to the masses, the good life can still be beautiful.

The good life. What a refreshing concept! When was the last time you thought about the good life? A question to ponder: Is the good life truly possible for any if it is not possible for all?

Olan believed that the good life requires personal encounters with beauty. These can be found (and fostered) in the arts, religion, education, and the home. Everyone has a role to play in the creation of goodness and beauty. Without occasional glimpses of these, we are diminished as individuals and as a society.

“The sages once described God as the Master Artist of the universe. He fashioned order out of chaos. Human life is essentially an art, it should be beautiful.”

*Written by Tim Binkley*