The concept of confession crosses many faiths. It is not the exclusive domain of Catholicism nor protestantism.
At this time of year, Jews around the world are marking Yom Kippur in the traditional way with a prayer of supplication to God. It is not just a confession of the individual, but of the community. It is a means to make the worshipper aware of their failings and to focus them to repair their behavior over the following year.
But confession in Judaism does not automatically grant resolution as it may in other faiths. One must not only confess, but make amends for past failings and strive to not repeat them. Only when they have completed these three steps can they consider themselves truly repentant. It is the individual that must take the responsibility to confess and repair the damages. It is not for the community to decide the level of sincerity of the petitioner. Each person is responsible for their own actions and inactions. They must each make a personal effort and thereby effect the culture of the community.
The following is the translation of the vidduy section of the Yom Kippur service as published by The Rabinnical Assembly in 1972.
Apparently, we were supposed to be amazed at David Blaine's latest stunt, but everything that could go wrong seemed to. When Murphy's Law meets magic, boredom and disgust set in.
First of all, Blaine was supposed to hang upside down for 60 hours over Central Park drinking only through a straw and urinating through a catheter. But somewhere along the way, plans changed and instead he took a 15 minute break every hour to right himself, drink and urinate. But we weren't supposed to know that. And now we are told that the plan never involved being inverted for 60 continuous hours. As one blogger stated it best "I am going to eat 1,000 hard-boiled eggs - but I am going to do it one a day for a thousands days. I wouldn't want to make myself sick."
Microsoft has kicked off its new ad campaign "I'm a PC" where they have a dozen or so people including Deepak Chopra and Eva Longoria explain why they are a PC. Apparently, the ad is intended to blow away the stereotype portrayed in the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads from Apple. (read more on the story here). The humorous thing to note is the images used in the Microsoft Press Pass to kick off the campaign were generated on Mac computers using Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh. (read about this here). Apparently, even Microsoft's ad agency realizes that Macs are the way to go. Or is Microsoft in serious need of psychoactive medication?
