The Loser in 2016

Time is money.

Actually, time is far more valuable than money. We can toss a few shekalim on a nice dinner here and there, but never in life is there a moment to waste. But the Evil Inclination (EI) finds so many ways to take time from us.

Although the 2016 election is still months away I am ready to project the loser:

Me.

I have become obsessed with the American elections. Perhaps it’s because I enjoy watching someone fiercely attack one of Israel’s worst enemies: the media. Perhaps because the world is inching towards one of those danger points in history where the prospect of all out chaos is becoming too close for comfort…

To be honest, it’s probably because the coverage has become political theatre. It’s being packaged as a soap opera and I cannot wait to see the next episode.

The Evil Inclination scored a big one with me. For the past 2 months there was no surprise about who the candidates would be. We always knew this will be a close race with polls seesawing between each candidate – the same way they did in 3 of the last 4 contests.

We know everything we need to know right up until Election Day.

Still, I wasted the past 2 months spending about an hour a day reading news articles that never reported anything new. That’s around 50 hours I gave over to the Dark Side.

The only real news article will be published Wednesday November 9 declaring the winner. Everything in between is a waste of time.

So how did I lose the 2016 election?

Let’s do a little math. If I already squandered 50 hours in the past 2 months, at this rate, I will waste a total of 150 hours on this election cycle. I may find out some details about both candidate’s Jewish son-in-laws, but compare it to what I won’t learn:

In a span of 150 hours, or just 1 hour a day for half a year I can:

• Read The Gate of Trust 25 times.
• Learn 3 Tractates of Gemara in a Daf Yomi class
• Complete most of Rabbi Arush’s English Books!
• Learn enough to become a junior web developer.
• Go over my children’s homework with them for the entire school year.
• Become proficient in conversational Hebrew to make success in Israel a lot easier.

You want to know the worst of it? I don't even vote. I live in Israel.

Quitting TV is pointless if I pass the same amount of time on the same level of frivolity. The Chofetz Chaim would measure his life by how well he utilized every minute of his day. The next time I am on the computer and I feel this nagging temptation to read about the he said-she said twitter spat chat – I must remember what it is costing me.

This gives me just a handful of months to make better choices. With Hashem’s help, the Heavenly Court will grant me a recount.

* * *

Dovber Halevi has 1,001 Reasons to Love Israel, would you like see them?