Event Handling in Life

A Non-Event is Still an Event  

In programming, there is something called “event handling”. Here are some examples of event handling in a typical web page:  

• Hovering over a button with your computer mouse  
• Clicking the computer mouse  
• Entering information inside a Contact Us form  
• Buying the chicken wing hairpin by using PayPal  
  

Programmers write code to tell applications what to do when each event occurs.   

They also write code to tell applications what to do when events don’t happen.  

If a web page opens on a user’s computer screen and thirty seconds pass without an event done by the user, the code can tell the page to do something.   

If you send someone an email and they don’t reply after a day, you can tell an app to ping a text alert to the email recipient.   

Applications react to events where someone does something and to non-events where someone doesn’t do something.   

This also applies to the greatest application in existence: Your life.   

A non-action is an event. It is a choice.   

It is something Hashem will react to.   

We can commit both mitzvot and sins through non-action.   

If we continue sleeping instead of waking up 30 minutes before morning prayers, our non-action is a decision to refrain from praying. The non-event (not getting up) creates the event (skipping prayers).   

If we keep our mouths quiet when someone relays good news about someone we don’t like, we are guarding our tongue against speaking loshon hara. The non-event (not speaking) creates several events because the mitzvah of guarding your tongue includes several dozen mitzvot.  

Engaging The Fallacy  

The Gemara teaches that there is no tribulation without transgression.   

When something bad happens to us, our default introspection should be to ask ourselves, what did I do that resulted in Hashem sending me this tribulation?  

But what if it has nothing to do with our actions, and everything to do with our non-actions?   

What if we merely walked from our home to the local store to buy a carton of milk? There isn’t much to think about until we realize that someone asked for tzedakah (charity), and we ignored him.   

A non-event.   

What if we woke up on time, helped get the kids ready for school, then arrived at Beit Knesset on time for morning prayers. . .   

Yet we learned only half the amount of time we commited to learning Torah.   

A non-event, or in our case, a semi-event.   

Enduring a tribulation becomes a gift. It is a blessing of compassion from G-d. Even though our sin is by a non-event, or neglecting to act, His reaction is real. He blesses us with an event to help us correct our chronic non-events.   

As long as life is bearable, we see little reason to change. When Hashem sends us a tribulation, He manufactures enough pain to get us to make changes.   

What a kindness!  

For every event we do in this world, we merit a reward in the Next World beyond any desire we can have in our current physical state.   

Hashem answers our non-event with an event to get us into the Next World. To encourage us to merit coming back from the dead to live a long life in the ideal world we all dream of.  

The Barometer  

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”   

The best way to avoid tribulations is to correct yourself before Hashem decides you need a push to make changes.  

How do we know when we our soul is burdened with too many nonevents?  

The soul Hashem gives us has three major alarms:   

• Regret 
• Jealousy 
• Resentment 
  

Ever notice that there are some political leaders, sports stars, or celebrities that we especially hate? Out of all the people in this world with more money, power, and A-list contacts, we hate this one, yet aren’t bothered by the other thousand people we know of who enjoy the same status.  

It also applies to our friends, colleagues at work, neighbors, and even our enemies. Deep inside, there are some people among each group that we hate more than the others.   

Why?  

We see them succeeding by doing things we know we can do. They are benefiting from the events they do that we wish we did or did better.   

Even if it’s a complete lie. Celebrity A is popular for his wholesome look. He is famous for the personality traits he is known for. We wish we had those character traits in real life even as the private life his PR people desperately hide from public view is the exact opposite of what he represents.   

It’s still irrelevant to us.   

What’s real is how we feel about such a person and why. The jealousy can be your neshama screaming at the top of her lungs to start emulating for yourself those good qualities that you see in him.  

Hashem commands us in the Tenth Commandment not to desire what other people have. However, we can be jealous of what other people are. If someone doesn’t speak loshon hara, we can be jealous of them to encourage ourselves to not talk loshon hara.   

Jealousy is the non-feeling that answers the non-event. It sparks real events that lead to real mitzvot. 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, a high-tech center, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, the local camel. David’s Israeli startup, Center Stage Content, makes your business the star of the show by creating SEO optimized, ROI driven, easy to understand content.