Mother Knows Best | Don Ghermezian

Baruch Hashem, after the last video, a lot of people sort of stopped me on the street and one of the questions I get all the time was, How did you come across this Shmirat Einayim and what is it that makes it so important for you and stuff? This goes back several years. I came home one Erev Shabbat and I went to my wife and a couple of my cousins, and I said: Guys, Saturday night there's a big gathering in the city, and a lot of the brand CEOs of the luxury tenants were going to be there. It was a big gala event. I think it's important maybe we should go to this event. And I left it at that. On Shabbat Mincha, my mom comes to me, out of the blue. This is the first time my mother has ever done something like this. She never tells me where to go or what to do. She said: Oh, Don, I overheard you were speaking to your wife and some of the boys about a party that you need to go to. Do you think there's going to be people there dressed there that might not be appropriate for everybody? And I'm, like: Yeah, Mom. You know, I never really thought of that, but yeah, you could be right. So she said: Do you think Hashem really needs you to go to this kind of a place in order for you to sign deals? And I just remember that striking me and thinking to myself, She's right. Even though it's an opportunity to meet with all the brand CEOs and talk about the project, I probably don't need to be there. Anyways, I went upstairs to my apartment, between Mincha and Arvit, during Seudah Shelishit, and... there was this book, sitting on the table, the Pele Yoetz. And so I grabbed the book, and by the way, I never do this stuff, ever, and I'm like: Hmmm, you know what, Hashem? I'm going to open up this book, and maybe the book will tell me what the right thing to do is. And so I opened up the book and the subject is on mourning. A person should imagine that his mother, wearing sackcloth, is dressed in black and is screaming in a high, bitter voice like the cry of a dove. What does she say? I have nurtured sons and exalted them, yet they have rebelled against me. And I'm like, Okay, Hashem. That makes sense. My mother's not happy about it. I'm not going to go. If the story ended there, it'd be an awesome story, but I decided to read just a little bit further, and here's where the story just gets crazy. From this perspective, one can hear how bad and awful are the actions of some men and women who gather together for a social party on Motzei Shabbat or other nights, especially during the long winter nights. This was January. They engage in merriment of vanity, eating and drinking, playing music, and singing gentile songs. Woe unto them, woe upon them! Without a doubt their merriment will be transformed into grief, Chas v’Shalom, either in this world or the next, unless they repent. You know, I tell my kids all the time, Sometimes when somebody is doing something wrong, they know that it's wrong, Hashem, He loves you like a father, and He gives you a little nudge. Sometimes the nudge is enough. You realize that, Hey, I'm making mistakes. Something's wrong. Hashem’s not happy with it. Sometimes even smart kids, they don't listen to the nudge so much, and Hashem gives them a little bit more of a shove. Hurts a little bit more. Usually that should do the trick. The one thing you don't ever want to do is you don't ever want to get in the position where Hashem gives you a big right hook, because something is so right there in your face, and Hashem is telling you, Absolutely do not do that, you don't need that, and that's not how the world works. And for me, Baruch Hashem, this book was the nudge, the shove and the punch across the face, without actually getting hit, and I realized that mothers always know best, and obviously, we didn't go there. And so it was a remarkable story, it stuck with me my entire life, and one that I'm super happy to share with everybody else. Guard your eyes is a very, very important thing. All the Bracha in the world can come from that alone.