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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now as fall arrives for real, a call in for our last 15 minutes of the show on what you want to shed from your life as the trees get ready to shed their leaves. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. As fall arrives, call in on what you want to shed from your life as the trees get ready to shed their leaves. Can we get that personal? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Now some of our Jewish listeners might recognize the hook to the Jewish High Holy Days in that question, but we are welcoming calls from people of all religions, including people with no religion, as we certainly include Jewish listeners to share your New Year's resolutions if you have any.

Rosh Hashanah, which was last week is the Jewish new year for people who don't know, and Yom Kippur, which begins tomorrow at sundown, is the Jewish day of atonement. The question for Jews and everybody else in the audience, as fall arrives for real, call in and tell us what you want to shed from your life as the trees get ready to shed their leaves. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. In honor of this holiday season, the High Holy Days in the Jewish faith, and the changing of the seasons, we're inviting you from all faiths and people who aren't religious at all to call in to reflect a little bit. The way we're framing it is what do you hope to shed or cast off like fall leaves this autumn?

212-433-WNYC or tweet @BrianLehrer. In the Jewish tradition, it's the time when people reflect on the past year and ask forgiveness for their sins. Like many New Year's traditions, all kinds of new years, it's a way to begin again, to start fresh, and by in part, casting off, by shedding things in order to start over. There's the Jewish tradition Tashlich of casting breadcrumbs into the sea or into a river, and it's a symbolic way of letting go of your sins. Now, we don't want to make this a confession booth. You don't have to call in and talk about your sins, we're reframing it a bit for our purpose.

Again, listeners of all religions, including no religion, you are welcome to call in if this time of year makes you reflect. Maybe seeing the leaves change and feeling the temperature shift makes you think. If you're that kind of person tell us what baggage are you hoping to shed or cast aside to begin fresh as the seasons change. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer, and we'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and now to your calls on what you want to shed from your life as the trees get ready to shed their leaves this season. Madeline in Lattingtown, you're on WNYC. Hi, Madeline.

Madeline: Hi, Brian. Thank you for having me on. I guess the most dominant thing is getting rid of all the negativity and the anger and the lack of working together politically, I guess.

Brian Lehrer: You're hoping the country sheds that. Does it apply to yourself?

Madeline: Yes, because I tend to get consumed in it and yelling at the TV and being obsessed with watching MSNBC, and then you just have to step away from it and realize that you have to keep going. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Madeline thank you very much. Charlie in Greenwich is calling with something very similar I think, so let's go to him next. Hi, Charlie, you're on WNYC.

Charlie: Hey, Brian, can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I can hear you just fine.

Charlie: All right. Yes, very similar. I would like to shed my anger toward my fellow Americans. Whether it's their political views, their tax on democracy, their alternate realities, or just the way they're driving on the highway. [chuckles] This is what our enemies want. We must come together and accept each other as fellow countrymen, and it's okay to disagree. It's a good thing to disagree. [inaudible 00:05:08] [crosstalk] on the facts. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Well, that's the problem, isn't it? That we have to draw a line at the same time as we want to accept everybody's different opinions if something like our last guest was discussing is so threatening to democracy, or is just based on lies.

Charlie: Yes. It's a tricky problem, but we're going to figure it out, we're all Americans here. We'll figure it out. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: There you go, Charlie.

Charlie: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. [unintelligible 00:05:37] in Harlem is going to shed something very different than politics. Hi, [unintelligible 00:05:41], you're on WNYC.

Caller: Oh, hey, Brian. Hi. Good. How are you? Good morning, I'm very good, and I heard you mentioned my name the other day. I was like, "Who's that?" [chuckles] [inaudible 00:05:53] [crosstalk]--

Brian Lehrer: Well, you had such a great recall on that earlier call in that we framed it up and replayed it to set a whole other call in last week, so thank you for being so cool.

Caller: I see. Oh, cool. I think this time, it's like reverse of spring. I want to shed some clutter, and I do like Madeline's-- what she said, the first call, I do like that too because I'm obsessed sometimes on the internet where I'm trying to save the world from itself. Pertaining to shedding just stuff like excess, it's not really necessary. [inaudible 00:06:30] [crosstalk]--

Brian Lehrer: You're talking about like physical clutter, stuff around your house, like that?

Caller: Yes, like spring, opposite of spring cleaning. Also, I was so glad that they didn't turn the clocks back this year. It's so much more refreshing than having [inaudible 00:06:44] [crosstalk]--

Brian Lehrer: Oh, we're going to do that-- Don't we still do that? I think [crosstalk]--

Caller: No, I hope not. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: We're going to have to fact-check that one [unintelligible 00:06:53]. I don't think Standard Time has gone away. I think we still turn back the clocks what? First Saturday night in November, but I will double-check that. Linda in New Orleans, you're on WNYC. Hello from New York, Linda.

Linda: Hi, thank you. I want to shed criticizing people on a much more trivial level than politics like the way they dress and the way they dance, [chuckles] and how they park. I really have to stop myself from saying, "Oh my God, why can't you fit in this space? Oh, my God, you're dancing really badly and why are you wearing that?" It's stupid to have those thoughts and I want to get rid of them.

Brian Lehrer: You can't stop your eyes easily from seeing bad taste, right? As you perceive it.

Linda: Exactly. As I perceive it, who am I? What do I know, right?

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Call us again. How about that? Humility. Some coming in on Twitter. "I want to shed my post-COVID symptoms, some still hanging on since July." Someone else wrote, "I would like to shed the lantern flies from my backyard tree and particularly the sticky mess they leave behind." Oh boy. Let's see who's next. How about Jackie in Valley Cottage in Rockland? Hi, Jackie. You're on WNYC.

Jackie: Hi there, can you hear me okay?

Brian Lehrer: I can.

Jackie: Okay, well, thanks for doing the show. What I wanted to say was that growing up, maybe it was because we were children, our parents used this time of year in this particular holiday for us not to think about things or bad behaviors, but to think about how to be a better person moving forward, to just reflect on being a better person, not in castigating yourself for asking forgiveness, just moving ahead and being better. That's come with us through all of our years, is reflecting on what we can do better, not what we did that wasn't as good.

Brian Lehrer: Shedding the most negative take on what Yom Kippur is, yes?

Jackie: Yes, and just working towards being as good as you can be in the world and just always thinking about being better as you move forward, not about anything negative because honestly, they said, "Hey, you kids, what could you have done that so bad? There's probably nothing that you've done that's really bad, just think about being better." I really think that's a really good approach with kids and it carries over into adult life.

Brian Lehrer: Jackie, thank you so much. Here's another one coming in on Twitter. This one says, "[unintelligible 00:09:58] I went through a horrible work experience in the middle of Covid that has really haunted me for a long time. I intend to write it up as I saw it in a letter to my former employer, and thereby, hopefully, let that anger and hurt go and move on." Hope that works out. Goldie in Woodstock, you're on WNYC. Hi, Goldie.

Goldie: Hi. Thanks for having me. I would like to shed any expectation and also any imagination that people in power, in authority, in government have more power than us, the people, because they're not doing anything about the women-led revolution that's happening in Iran. None of the major news channels are covering, yet there is massive murders happening by the government, and the only thing that's leading women and people of Iran and around the world being heart-centered. I want to release any power that I give to people who are apparently in power and authoritative and keep the power inside within our hearts and in our unity. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Jessica in Livingston, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jessica.

Jessica: Hi. This might be a little personal, but I'd like to get rid of my guilt and my dread for something I'm going to be responsible for in the future. I have a special needs brother who lives at home and an 82-year-old mother who insists on taking care of him, and that's probably going to fall to me at some point, and that is dread that I live under every day. I do feel guilty about feeling the dread, so that's what I'd like to shed.

Brian Lehrer: You want to shed the dread and the guilt you feel about feeling the dread. Yes. I would say that dread is okay if it's going to be a very difficult situation. Maybe that'll help you a little bit let go of the guilt and then put one foot in front of the other when the time comes. I hope that's a little bit helpful. Joe in Pound Ridge, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joe.

Joe: Thank you, Brian. I read this quote several years ago and it resonated with me, which was, "I count my life in losses." It resonated because I realized I'm your age, Brian, and I've been counting my life in losses, and I still can cry over things that happened 50 years ago [chuckles] and I've got to get over it.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much, and I hope you get over it. Nick in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nick. You're going to be our last caller. We have 30 seconds for you. What do you want to shed?

Nick: Hey, Brian. Hey, Brian, can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Nick: I want to keep it a little bit lighter. I want to shed the social pressure we all have around things that we all enjoy. I have a stance that I'm pro gossiping. Everyone enjoys it, everyone does it, it can be harmless and fun and a way to build community and have that cocktail on a weeknight and not feel bad about it and just enjoy your life.

Brian Lehrer: There you go. A good way to end this call on a call-in on what we want to shed for fall.

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