Always Learning
Recently I was addressing some NCSY advisors and as I tried to think of words of chizzuk to inspire them I could not help but remember one of the worst moments in my sixteen year history with NCSY. It took place in Columbus, Ohio at my second NCSY Shabbaton. After having done a stellar job at my first Shabbaton I was promoted and given the privilege of dealing with the most trying group of guys who failed to see the point in attending davening or any programming at the Shabbaton. Eager and inspired by my first NCSY experience I was more than up for the challenge and they really were a wonderful group of teens.
The Friday night meal and program went smoothly and my group and I returned to our hosts’ home to get some sleep. Then, at about 3am in the morning I was suddenly jarred out of my sleep and somewhere in my semi-conscious state I heard the Super Mario Bros. theme playing and without thinking I screamed, “Shut that thing off!”.
Of course, this was not the halachically correct response to the situation. As I pondered the various lessons I could learn from this scenario, I saw several options for how to approach a similar situation in the future.
I could:
1) Vigilantly stay up all night and do Shmirah.
2) Further prevent such a situation by organizing an all night learning chaburah of Shmirat Shabbat KeHelchata.
3) Utilize the opportunity to try to get past Level 8 on Super Mario Bros.
4) Use the situation as a teaching opportunity to explain to the teens why playing Nintendo on Shabbos is halachically problematic and go back to sleep.
5) Understand that everyone makes mistakes (including rookie advisors) and the most important thing is to learn from these situations and discover how to improve one’s reactions for the future.
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