Shalom Aleichem! What would be the first thing you would do if you were a slave set free?
Well, this week’s New York area news featured coverage of the alleged escape of a poisonous Egyptian Cobra from the Bronx Zoo. Zoo officials maintained that the cobra was certainly still somewhere in the zoo, and not slithering about one of the boroughs. After about a week on the lam, zoo officials found him curled up in a corner, somewhere on zoo premises.
I mean, the whole story is just kinda ironic: An Egyptian cobra escapes from bondage. Hmm…
While on the run, the slippery serpent procured an iPhone, and began tweeting. Hey, stranger things have happened. After all, didn’t his older brother get swallowed up by a stick?
Anyway, as one who enjoys using Twitter (follow me at www.twitter.com/RabbiShaul), I quickly followed (the anonymously operated) @BronxZoosCobra, and checked his daily progress across Manhattan. One tweet lamented that Donald Trump may be running for President, but assured followers, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle this.” In other tweets, he discussed his culinary preferences, with such tweets as, “On top of the Empire State Building! All the people look like little mice down there. Delicious little mice.”
He picked up over 226,000 followers along the way.
Then I was thinking: What would be the first thing you would do if you escaped from slavery (or in Mr. Cobra’s case, from a cage)?
So I decided to check out the Cobra’s first tweet for possible insight. Here it is:
I want to thank those animals from the movie “Madagascar.” They were a real inspiration.
He says thank you.
Cheesy, maybe, but a pertinent life lesson, nevertheless.
Sometimes we forget the very basics of life: acknowledging those who have helped us along the way.
It is such a simple thing to do – but sometimes overlooked. With each step of life, stop for a minute to acknowledge those who deserve a “thank you.”
Thanks Tzipah for your love & partnership; Mum & Dad for all your love and support; my in-laws for their love and support, to my friends for their friendship, and to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for his guidance and vision. Oh, and to my kids for keeping me on my toes 😉
L’chaim & have a great Shabbos!
