The Whole Nine Yards
With the NFL playoffs in high gear I thought it apropos to share a sobering lesson we can all learn from one pro football player, Lance Kendricks, a tight end for the L.A. Rams.
Most people outside of L.A. have probably never heard of Lance Kendricks. Until a couple of weeks ago I never heard of him either but then someone sent me the following clip – “The agony of incentives: Rams Tight End Lance Kendricks needed 500 yards to earn a $250,000 incentive this year. He finished with 499.”
One yard short.
Imagine that! Had he been able to move a ball forward a grand total of THREE FEET even one time over the course of 17 games he would have made an additional $250,000! That’s $6,944 per inch. But because he fell that one yard short he lost out on all that money.
When I saw that stat I began to imagine what must have gone through his mind when he found out that one yard cost him a quarter of a million dollars. He probably thought back to every catch he had the entire season and must have agonized over each one, wishing with all his heart that he had just pushed and fought just one time to get one measly yard. But alas, all the wishing and remorse would be pointless – it is too late to change the facts.
While the story may just seem like an interesting and unfortunate anecdote I believe it has a powerful message for us.
We move through life and experience millions of opportunities over a lifetime to make a choice between doing a mitzvah or an aveirah - to keep a commandment from the Torah or not. No one is immune from the challenge; it is a struggle everyone engages in many times over the course of a day.
While many times we make the right choice, all too often we do not. If we would stop and think about our actions we might even feel a pang of guilt before we do the wrong thing. “It’s ok,” we may reassure our inner conscience. “Life is long; there will be plenty of time to do the right thing.”
The Talmud teaches us that before we make any decisions as to whether to do a mitzvah or a sin we should pause and make a simple reflection. We should view ourselves as being someone who has exactly the same amount of mitzvos as he does aveiros. Thus, if he now chooses to do a mitzvah he becomes someone who is “mostly righteous” while if he does the sin he is “mostly a sinner.” This is an important consideration as one is rewarded with eternal reward after leaving this world in a state of being righteous.
Imagine if you will, one who leaves this world and comes up to the Heavenly Court. Every single action of his lifetime is recalled. The total amounts of good deeds are tallied as are the bad ones. When the final counting takes place he is but one mitzvah short of being found to be righteous! Can we imagine the agony? He will painstakingly recall all the opportunities to just gain ONE mitzvah! One more blessing or prayer! One more time putting on tefillin! One act of kindness! And the list goes on. But alas, it will be too late at that point. Eternity will be lost by coming up just one mitzvah short.
Losing out on $250,000 when it is just out of reach pales in comparison to losing out on an eternal reward in paradise.
So the next time you are about to do something remember to push yourself to go the extra yard and do the right thing. Lets remember the message of Lance Kendricks.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Koval
