Fill’er Up!

Imagine you are speedily driving down a country road on your way to your graduation. You worked so hard to reach this juncture in life and you are anxious to finally celebrate this momentous occasion. The weather is perfect. The warm breeze wafts through the windows, somewhat muffling the sound of the beautiful trees rapidly flashing by in a rhythmic pattern. The grazing cow herds soon disappear into the rear distance and not a soul is present on this idyllic and calm roadway aside from you and your thoughts.
 
Suddenly, you hear silence and your steering wheel jams. Your heart races as the car rolls to an unexpected halt. Looking around and finally down at the fuel gauge, it becomes apparent that you are out of gas! With no one around for probably miles, you reach for your cell phone to call the nearest gas station but there is no reception. You have two choices. You can either wait until someone drives by who may or may not stop to help or you can start walking. You choose the latter. You collect your valuables and are on your way to the nearest garage miles up the road.
 
Before you reach the junction which houses the gas station, you come upon a tavern on the side of the road with a bright and inviting sign out front. It begs visitors to enter and partake of the food, drink and entertainment it offers. Considering whether or not you have enough time, you make the decision to drop in, but only for short break. A cold beer and a sandwich surely can’t hurt, you reason to yourself. But before you know it, you have lost track of time and realize you need to get to the garage as soon as possible. The graduation will be shortly underway and you will miss it if you don’t hurry. With little more than a mention of your situation, someone offers to give you a lift and you gratefully accept. Head spinning from the effects of the beers, you stumble into the car. This kind fellow, understanding your predicament, not only takes you to the gas station but buys you a sobering coffee and transports you back to your car with the jug of petrol in hand.  You convey your sincere gratitude to your new-found acquaintance as he quickly disappears into the sunset.
 
Once alone, the alcohol departs from your being and it is back to reality once again. You pour the fuel into your car but begin to panic that you won’t make it to the ceremony at all. Having learned your lesson earlier in the day, you decide to pay another visit to the garage along the way and fill the tank up completely. Overcome with a sense of tranquility now, you are confident that despite your setback at the local bar, you will successfully join in the Commencement right on schedule. You set off for your destination.
 
Yes, you made it! You arrived at the Gala to the welcoming cheers of all your family, friends and fellow students. There were some tense moments but it was all worthwhile in the end. What is one valuable lesson learned from this difficult journey? The next time you embark on a trip, make sure the tank is full.
 
So by now, you may be able to figure out what the real moral of this story is, but to make it easier, I will clarify the metaphors in this parable. Your graduation is our future Redemption which facilitates your entry into the World to Come. You may not feel ready to arrive at that point just yet, but your neshama (soul) is yearning for its reward as a student on the Honor Roll. The country road portrays all the distractions in life. The beautiful trees, representing all the wonders HaShem has placed in our world, whiz by too quickly and we often fail to even notice them. The breeze which almost mutes their sound is our lust for personal pleasures. We want to feel the cool wind through our hair but in so doing we are taken away from where our true and holy focus should be.
 
If we don’t make time for personal prayer we are not taking advantage of the opportunity G-d gave us to speak to him one-on-one and we will find ourselves alone and ‘out of gas’. The gasoline symbolizes Torah knowledge and closeness to Hashem. Like the gas in the car which regularly needs to be refilled, without constantly learning and gaining spiritual awareness, we become stuck and unable to move forward. We can’t wait for someone else to do our work for us. We must venture out with our own desire and fortitude and make the most of this trip.
 
Once again we will encounter many obstacles and stumble through transgressions provided courtesy of the yetzer hara (evil inclination), in this case, the enticing tavern. HaShem knows we are only human and subject to failure, so he sends us angels either in human form or through our own yetzer tov (good inclination), which inspire us to make worthy decisions, mend our ways and lead us back to the virtuous road from which we deviated. It is up to us to recognize and appreciate these gifts when they appear. We certainly can’t discern matters clearly when our thoughts are clouded by substances such as drugs and alcohol. Like the thanks bestowed upon the kindly stranger in the tale, gratitude must be always on our lips. By verbalizing our appreciation for all the blessings we receive, as well as the difficulties, we will be overcome with a sublime feeling of serenity.
 
May it be the will of the Holy One, Blessed be He, that we will all rejoice together and that we merit arriving at our ‘graduation’ at the right time, in peace, righteousness and with a full tank of heavenly gasoline.