Be careful about self-fulfilled prophecies

Edna Freinkel

So, what are we going to do about these fears? Sit back or, as a nation, consciously confront them?

In the Stone Tanach, Job (3.24) says: “Because I feared a fright, and it has overtaken me; what I dreaded has come upon me.” In the King James version Job says: (3.25) “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that of which I was afraid is come unto me.”

Rosenthal and Jacobson, in their bestseller “Pygmalion in the Classroom”, based on the law of expectation, say: “Our prediction or prophecy may in itself be a factor in determining the behaviour of other people.” Later they say: “Another major theorist to employ the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy was Gordon Allport (1950)). His application was to the field of international tension and war. It was likely, Allport suggested, “that nations that expect to go to war, go to war”.

We need to look for miracles in our everyday lives and be constantly grateful to G-d for them. This brings us closer to His love and consequently it becomes our reality. The more we expect miracles, the more we look for them with complete faith and thanksgiving, the more we find them. All our bodily activities are cause for thanksgiving as well as our experiences.

Many years ago my mother and I were given a lift in a friend’s car from Johannesburg to Durban. Halfway there a fierce storm hit us. We begged our friend to stop at the next town, but he drove through it unflinchingly. The torrential rain beat so hard against the windscreen the wipers were useless and the headlights didn’t penetrate the heavy rain. 

I quietly thanked G-d for our lift and prayed for His protection. Suddenly the words from Psalms came to my mind: “In Thy light shall we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)) I rejoiced, knowing that was my answer. From then to the next town a sheet of lightning lit up a vehicle or cart just as we were about to hit it.

When we arrived at the next town, Ladysmith, our driver agreed to sleep over. We were given the last two available rooms! Our protection was complete!

The whole world needs to have waves of miracles flooding through all the media so that readers start lifting themselves spiritually to recognise G-d’s miracles which, according to the daily Thanksgiving Modim, “are with us every day”.

International floodgates of gratitude can sweep the world if all people reading this will send 150 words to this publication before June 15, telling of a big or small miracle in their lives! 

What a book of triumph that would be as each person contributes towards expecting good.

Lyndhurst, Johannesburg