The Tragicomedy
Now don't think it's a contradiction. It's possible to give everybody here a hundred million dollars and everybody would surely be happy. I'm sure most of you would be. A hundred million dollars! Why not? But then you'll discover that someone has two hundred million dollars. Ooooh. That's already a little bit of a sadness.
Now in this world there's still hope. You could hope he'll become bankrupt maybe someday. There's still hope. But in the World to Come it's forever. And the Gemara says nichvah – each person is scorched as if a torch touched your hand. It hurts. Now to get a hundred million dollars and somebody scorches your hand, you're mochel. A hundred million dollars is worth something. But still it hurts; it hurts a lot.
And therefore in the World to Come people will discover what a tragedy it was that they didn't utilize that kovod drive to become better. “If only I had listened to that dynamo in me that was saying, ‘Chaim'l get better! Chaim'l grow better! Become greater!’ If I had utilized that instinct for kovod to become better, who knows what I could have been?! Only that I was willing to go along with the yoke of habit on my shoulders. I accepted the life of a decent personality, of a loyal Jew, and I was satisfied. And therefore I have a seat in Olam Habo, but it's not the seat that I would have preferred to choose. And it's forever. Forever!”
Good Selfishness
And therefore you have to be selfish in this world. That’s what it says in Pirkei Avos (1:14), ... – If I’m not for myself, who will be for me? You think your father and your mother are really thinking about you? They spend some time worrying about you, but they don’t think always about you. Your rebbe in the yeshiva, your teachers, they think about you sometimes. But you need somebody to worry about you always! Who’s thinking about you all the time?
There’s only one person who is capable of worrying about you always – that’s yourself! And so if you’re not for yourself, who is going to be for you? Worry about your future! Worry about your personality! What’s going to happen to you at the end of your life? What are you living for? And therefore, it’s of the utmost importance for a person to say, “I am selfish! I am for myself! And therefore I’m going to get better!”
