I arrived at the pharmacy to purchase a vital medication. The pharmacy was filled with men and women waiting for their turns, and I, wanting to guard my eyes, preferred to wait outside. There was a stand there with sifrei kodesh for the people who were waiting. I took out a sefer about emunah and bitachon, began reading it, and strengthened myself. That’s how I had the inner strength to decide: I am commanded not to stray after my eyes, and inside the pharmacy right now – that is something truly difficult. I’ll wait outside. Although the system announcing my turn doesn’t work out here, I have a number, and I can wait until they call me. And if they don’t call me? It wouldn’t be so terrible. I’ll wait until the line gets shorter, even if I miss my turn, and then I’ll be able to go in and get what I need.
While I was standing there, I heard someone ask aloud, “Who is number 216 here?” This was an encouraging question. I now knew that my turn was coming up soon, because my number was 219. I thought about whether I should enter the pharmacy, but I strengthened myself once again: When my turn comes, I’ll go in and buy the medication.
Several moments passed, and someone called out, “Who is number 219 here?” I entered immediately and said, “That’s my number.” I went up to the counter without any further delay.
It turned out that the young man who had called me was number 218. When he saw that his turn was approaching, he realized he’d forgotten to bring his medical insurance card. There is a way to bypass this problem by making a phone call to the insurance company, but this would take some time, so he sought out the person who was next in line – meaning me – so that in the meantime he’d be able to call the company, and then go up to the counter immediately after me.
All of this really touched me. I saw how happy Hakadosh Baruch Hu was that I had overcome all the hurdles and made the effort to overcome the challenge and avoid seeing things that I shouldn’t see.
