Alleyways To Torah

I am NOT a big fan of the New York Times. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I am not leftist-liberal-atheistic-Pro-Arab-Anti-Israel and that I am strongly opposed to alternative lifestyles. Marriage, to my mind, should only take place between members of the opposite gender. But I wanted to find out what happened in China [more about that in another post bl"n] so I checked out yesterdays paper. This is the gem that I found in an article written by Thomas Friedman who recently lost his mother.

"Whenever I’ve had the honor of giving a college graduation speech, I always try to end it with this story about the legendary University of Alabama football coach, Bear Bryant. Late in his career, after his mother had died, South Central Bell Telephone Company asked Bear Bryant to do a TV commercial. As best I can piece together, the commercial was supposed to be very simple — just a little music and Coach Bryant saying in his tough voice: “Have you called your mama today?”

On the day of the filming, though, he decided to ad-lib something. He reportedly looked into the camera and said: “Have you called your mama today? I sure wish I could call mine.” That was how the commercial ran, and it got a huge response from audiences.

So on this Mother’s Day, if you take one thing away from this column, take this: Call your mother.

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