Yom at Heart.

Today is Yom Kippur.

For the remaining 16,000,000 Jews left in the world (that's about one-fifth of one percent of the world's population) it's the holiest day of the year. 

Though many Jews, myself included, live in fear of the inimitable or perhaps inevitable re-ascent of anti-semitism, we still cordon off a day every year to beat our breasts and bemoan all the things we have done wrong.

Only about one-in-forty amerikkkans are Jewish. But in amerikka, three-out-of-five victims of hate crimes are Jews. 

That said, we are not, by the calculus of the day considered to be a "minority." We are not members of a protected class. Jews on average pay a higher percentage of their income as tax than any other group and their children have a harder time getting into top colleges. This isn't paranoia. It's data.

That said, we still atone every year for all we have done wrong. Some do it publicly in temples that require metal detectors and armed guards against potential terror attacks. Some do it privately, internally and as I do, daily. Yes, daily.

This I learned from my father. 

A man, like so many fathers of his generation, a man who was most missing when he was most needed. 

That was a sin. A sin visited upon his children.

Stan was about as religious as a lamb chop, but he took atonement as seriously as a gavel.

During Yom Kippur, Jews traditionally recite something called the Al Chet ten times. (Al Chet, I realize sounds like the name of  a midwestern sports-reporter. To make Al Chet properly Semitic, add a little spittle to it. Al will rest easier, as will Chet.

The Al Chet is like Kasey Kasem’s Top 40. They’re the recitation and confession of the biggest, most universal and most human of sins. Not of the “I left the refrigerator door open” ilk. The Al Chet confesses serious shit—hard-heartedness, impurity of speech, disrespect, evil talk. And so on.

It’s how Jews ask forgiveness and atone.

It's how we always have, and no matter what happens to our dwindling and besieged cohort, how we always will.

You can do the standard catalog of sins. 

Like my father before me, and likely my children after me, while the list above is good and encompassing, I prefer my own list. It feels realer, truer, more atoney-er that way. I've never been afraid to re-write what was written. Even the word of god.

So, simply, I am asking forgiveness and atoning.

For the sin I have sinned when I have thought differently.

For the sin I have sinned when I refused to do as I was told.

For the sin I have sinned because I know my worth.

For the sin I have sinned when I made a joke during a meeting.

For the sin I have sinned when I wrote something instead of talking about writing something.

For the sin I have sinned because I am old.

For the sin I have sinned because I am old and still energetic.

For the sin I have sinned because I am old and still energetic and still ambitious.

For the sin I have sinned because I have questioned you.

For the sin I have sinned when I asked you to explain.

For the sin I have sinned when I tried to lead with a channel other than broadcast.

For the sin I have sinned because I made myself a product expert.

For the sin I have sinned because I believe people want information.

For the sin I have sinned because I believe people will read what interests them.

For the sin I have sinned because I favor conversations over texts.

For the sin I have sinned for not using jargon.

For the sin I have sinned because I don’t believe ______ is dead.

For the sin I have sinned because I still don’t know what agile means.

For the sin I have sinned because I don’t believe agile has a place in creative.

For the sin I have sinned because I believe advertising is a service business, not a servile one.

For the sin I have sinned because I leave nine-hour meetings early.

For the sin I have sinned because I suck at small-talk.

For the sin I have sinned because I don’t allow myself to be cookied.

For the sin I have sinned because I use ad-blockers.

For the sin I have sinned because I don’t ass-kiss.

For the sin I have sinned because I trust myself.

For the sin I have sinned because I spend too much time helping young people.

For the sin I have sinned because I don't buy the hype.

For the sin I have sinned because I won't give musk or trump or any other blowhard, air.

For the sin I have sinned because I don't go with the flow.

For the sin I have sinned because I don't try to become part of culture.

For the sin I have sinned because I say prove it.

For the sin I have sinned because I don't AI.

For the sin I have sinned when I tell the emperor he's stark naked.

For the sin I have sinned because I speak up.

For the sin I have sinned by dissenting.

For the sin I have sinned when I say something that sucks sucks.

For the sin I have sinned when I call out the inherent evil of big concentrations of wealth.

For the sin I have sinned because I refuse to dumb-down.

For the sin I have sinned because I won't.

For all these sins and a trillion more, I ask forgiveness and pardon.

And Happy New Year.