"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Monday, November 02, 2009

THE ESSENCE OF CHUTZPAH

Trick or Treat in Georgia - It was a dark and rainy night - when all through the subdivision . . .

there were tiny Bakugan's and Leopard Princesses - looking so tired and wet . . .

They even had big teenagers out with them too . . .

With Chatty's array of unusual umbrella's . . .


Getting full bags of goodies this particular night . . .


Even though it was almost pitch black and scary and my what a fright . . .


They forged on - up hills and down hills . . .

To end the night!



Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, kohones, sheer guts plus arrogance. It's Yiddish and, as Leo Rosten writes, "No other word, and no other language," can do it justice. This example is better than 1,000 words . . .

THE ESSENCE OF CHUTZPAH



A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each. Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time, and as he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a pretzel.

And this went on for more then 3 years. The two of them never spoke. One day, as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.

"Sir, thank you for your business. You are a good customer, but I have to tell you that the pretzel price has gone up to 35 cents."

Now why would I take the time to post this? Good question. One - it's from my friend Richard, Jewish - they have such wonderful words with wonderful meanings we just don't have in the English language.

I guess secondly we need to recognize we all need a little CHUTZPAH to make it through life.

And if you don't have a little Chutapah, life might be a little harder and less satisfying. Some people have it and some people will never get it - do you?

Love,
Chatty

A quick one - Happy Birthday to Stephanie Powers who starred in "Hart To Hart" with Robert Wagner - did you ever watch that show years ago? I loved that show! (I told you I was a dreamer and romantic - they had a great life and a great marriage - didn't they? - Television)

5 comments:

ClassyChassy said...

Yep - I get it! That is definitely worth passing along! And a useful message during times of joblessness - as in "You need to blow your own horn" to get the interviewer's attention! That takes "CHUTZPAH"! and, Chutzpah can be a GOOD THING! Thanks for the great post today - and your trick or treaters are so very cute - a nice peek into your life!

^..^Corgidogmama said...

Everybody needs a little of it to get through life, otherwise, we'd be walked all over on. Some folks, have way too much of it!

Cute tricksters, the weather was lousy up here too for the tykes. Very cold. Better than rain tho.

Joy Tilton said...

I think I do, I say "The squeeky wheel gets the grease" meaning speak up when you want something! That's Chutzpah isn't it? Thanks for following GrannyMountain and come visit often!

A Lil Enchanted said...

Great pics of the kids... they look sooo cute! We were lucky and didn't get rained on... but we took our umbrellas just in case.

Love the story of the litle old lady!

A Lil Enchanted,
~LaShan~

Sue said...

Todays post is great startng with the Maxine cartoon....and ending with the pretzel lady.....I like to think I have Chutzpah.....if you read yesterdays post I'm thinking of taking the postal employee to small claims court..Can't wait to meet tomorrow....some of us are getting there a little before noon to get a table for us all....See you then!