Rol Fessenden's excellent comments on acceptance of personal
responsibility reminded me of a commentary offered by Hillel, a famous
rabbi of the 1st century C.E.
Hillel said:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
But if I am for myself alone, what am I?
And if not now, when?
When I first learned those questions, the discussion leader suggested
these "guidelines" not in the original text:
- That the questions can be asked as often as we want;
- That we must ask them all, not choose to answer just one; and
- That they be asked in sequence.