A sentence, I was taught, must contain a subject (noun/pronoun) and a predicate (verb).
An example might be: "She sings" or "He is eating." The sentence may also contain adjectives, conjunctions and adverbs to give it more presence: i.e., "She sings beautifully," and "He is slowly eating and enjoying tasty food."
I share this with you not as an English composition lesson, but as a metaphor for life.
We have choices to make every day and they involve the subjects and predicates of our lives. If we choose to see life as merely noun and verb, there is no room for poetry or story; boredom quickly sets in.
When we include additional subjects and a careful choice of adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions, life becomes much richer and we are more fully alive.
"I went to work, did my job, came home and ate dinner during the news," is not as enriching as "I went to work, talked with Linda about the weekend and laughed at lunch over pizza with Sam."
When we enrich the content of the statement, life becomes more than a report on how time was spent; in fact, life moves from the shadows of black and white into the realm of color, pulp prose borders on poetry.
The phrase, "sentenced to life" -- no adjective, adverb, conjunction or even a simple preposition -- certainly tells us what life is like without choices.
The philosopher Ibn Ezra (1055-1135) remarked, "Grammar is to speech what salt is to food."
In his writing, Ibn Ezra was referring to more than the agreement of subject and predicate. He was teaching about the rich potential of life lived in color and community; in poetry rather than scarcity and emotional poverty.
As always, spring invites us out from the confines of winter's limitations and our self-imposed sentence of protection and privation. Something (and Someone) deep within us calls us into the open and invites us to a new (or renewed) openness.
Outside the real or metaphorical door is a palate of colors, conversations and cooperative ventures filled with lively and vivid words and wonders. Compound the subjects and the predicates and see how life is colored in a new radiance
Albert Micah Lewis is rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Traverse City.
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