We didn’t just come to sew buttons.
All Humans have a deep, almost instinctive need: to feel like they were born for something.. But instead of living to discover it, we often get distracted. We fill ourselves with noise, busyness and excuses just to avoid being confronted with the uncomfortable but inevitable question: Why did we come into this world?
We feel that Our lives should have a greater purpose, a “why” that goes beyond us. The problem is that most of the time we don’t live by this intuition. In theory we all agree; In practice, something doesn’t quite work.
There is a story that explains it with uncomfortable clarity. It is the story of a Rebbe and a tailor. The Rebbe lived in Poland. He was a man deeply connected to the soul of his people, sensitive even to the spiritual downfalls of people he had never met.
5 for 5: the true story that shows everything we give comes back
Across the ocean, in the United States, lived a great tailor. A brilliant, recognized and admired professional. Her life revolved around fine fabrics, precise threads and perfectly aligned buttons. His workshop was his world. Your success, your identity. But something inside him had slowly faded.
When the Rebbe heard of the spiritual distance in which this man lived, he neither wrote a letter nor sent a message. He made a radical decision: to travel himself. A long, uncomfortable and expensive journey. From Poland to the USA. Just to see it.
The day the Rebbe entered the tailor shop, the tailor looked up and froze.
“Rebbe…” he said almost in a whisper. What are you doing here? Why does such a large figure come to visit someone like me? What is my earnings?
The Rebbe looked at him tenderly, without reproach or judgment. He took off his jacket, placed it carefully on the counter and said simply, “I came because I have a little problem with my shirt.” It needs repairs… and I’m missing a few buttons. Could you sew them for me?
The tailor thought he hadn’t heard correctly.
– Excuse me, Rebbe? Have you crossed oceans, crossed countries, left your community…just to sew on a few buttons? There was irony in his voice, but also confusion.
The Rebbe was silent for a few seconds. She looked him in the eyes. And then he spoke, slowly, with words that were not strident but touched the soul:
“Tell me something,” he said. Do you find it absurd that someone would travel from Poland to the US just to fix a few buttons?
“The truth is… yes,” the tailor replied. It’s too big a journey for something so small.
The Rebbe nodded slowly. – Then I would like to ask you another question. Doesn’t it seem infinitely more absurd to you that a soul travels from the highest heavens through infinite worlds to reach this world and live only by sewing buttons? The tailor was silent. The Rebbe continued:
– A soul does not come to this world to seek comfort. He doesn’t come down to chat. He doesn’t go downstairs to get lost in the noise. A soul comes down because there is something only it can fix. Something no one else can do in your place. If my trip seems absurd to you, how come your trip doesn’t seem so absurd to you?
Building a bridge begins with a simple, small act of courage.
The tailor didn’t answer. He couldn’t do it. For the first time in a long time, he stopped seeing himself as just a successful man and started seeing himself as a soul with responsibility. And perhaps this is the point that makes us all uncomfortable. Because most of us spend our lives asking ourselves: What do I want? What do I need? What would make me happy?
A new year is approaching and once again we are writing endless lists of requests and wishes. What do I want? What do I need? What would be good for me. But maybe it’s worth doing something different this year. Next to this list, write another one. Not the list of what I need. But the list that answers a different question: What am I needed for? Because we didn’t just come to sewing buttons. We came for something much bigger.
The question is not what more we can ask of life. The question is what life expects of us. And if we start writing this list, maybe we will finally understand why we came to this world.
Good weekend.
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