The wisdom of 
Harold Kushner 

When all you ever wanted just isn't enough

To members accustomed to presentations on organizational topics like operational excellence and strategic vision, the December 10 session by Rabbi Harold Kushner was conspicuous by its difference. Instead of being about markets and numbers, it was about us -- our worries, our desires, our souls.

God, not Peter Drucker, was mentioned, and not in passing, but a record 58 times, surpassing Scott Peck in 1992 by 38 times and runner-up Dennis Prager of 1995 by 41 times. He even mentioned sin a couple of times.

This otherworldliness might be bothersome had not, Kushner, who first found fame with his 1978 bestseller When Bad Things Happen to Good People, enjoyed enduring commercial success with his readable, nonsectarian inquiries into the basic but formidable questions of why life is the way it is, and why we are the way we are.

Indeed, many people think of Kushner as a kind of one-man wisdom industry. He can't count the number of people who have passed on ideas about what e should write about next. A leading contender is the idea of a sequel to When Bad Things Happen to Good People (about reconciling to loss), with the inside-out title, When Good Things Happen to Bad People (presumably, about envy).

Now that's an idea that mystifies people, he said. In a world where the innocent and the good suffer, why do schnooks seem to prosper? During the session, he would tell why good things seem to happen to bad people, and why that bothers us so.

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