Imagine walking into a gym. In one corner, you see a man dressed in his business clothes. He is picking up small weights that are about 10 pounds each. We’ll call this person Ruvain.

On the other side of the gym, is a man who comes in gym clothes. He is lying his back and is bench pressing a few hundred pounds. We’ll call this person Shimon.

Suddenly, the trainer walks in. Who does the trainer walk over to?

I would think he should go to Ruvain because Ruvain definitely needs more help than Shimon. The answer, though, is the trainer walks over to Shimon. Why? Because the trainer will do more benefit for Shimon.

Ruvain is a “lost cause”. There is no reason for the trainer to spend any time with Shimon because Shimon has no desire to get better. He is not serious about weight lifting.

Shimon, on the other hand, is very serious and wants to get better. Shimon wants to grow. Therefore, the trainer spends time with Shimon because that is who he will be able to help most.

This example is a metaphor for life. If a person does not care about making herself better, G-d is going to ignore her. To put it in human terms, G-d does not want to waste His own time.

On the other hand, G-d is very happy to spend time with those who want to grow and get better.

But let’s take this one step further. Who is the one who suffers more in the weight room? Ruvain barely breaks a sweat. Ruvain is living an easy life. Shimon, on the other hand, has to work hard. Shimon is suffering and feels pain as he lifts the hundreds of pounds on the bench press bar.

But who ends up greater? Shimon, of course. Shimon wants to grow, therefore, the trainer gives him extra time. This makes Shimon work extra hard and sweat a lot more than everyone else in the gym. But at the end of the day, Shimon turns out to be the greatest.

We never wish anyone to go through suffering and going through a hard time is certainly not easy. But that moment of suffering is for our ultimate good. It is like Shimon in the weight room – although he is the one who is sweating, he is the one who is going to turn out greater. He is the one who is going to rise to greatness.

In 1996, the Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta. The US women’s gymnastic team had a chance to win the team gold medal for the first time ever. It came down to the last participant in the last event. If a Jewish woman named Kerri Strug did an average vault, the Americans would win. She walked up, jumped, flipped over the vault, and then fell down when she landed and twisted her ankle. Imagine the suffering. Here was America’s first chance to win the team gold and she fell down.

She had another chance though as each gymnast is given two chances. She could barely walk but she decided she would try to jump again. She ran down the mat, jumped, and landed on both feet… and then collapsed in a tremendous amount of pain.

Imagine all of the suffering Kerri Strug went through when she fell down. Imagine how much pain she had. But Kerri Strug is now a “star”. Kerri Strug is known as one of the greatest Olympic stories of all time.

Imagine if she did an average vault on her first attempt and landed normally. US would have won the gold and today very few people would know Kerri’s name. But now, she is famous. It was only because of her “fall” that she became great.

We choose how to respond when we fall and we have two ways to respond. We can give up. But this is not why G-d brought this suffering upon you. It is because He knows that you can handle this suffering. It is sometimes hard to believe, especially when you are going through a very difficult time, but G-d believes in you. G-d knows that you are great and that you are worth spending time with. You are not a “lost cause”. G-d loves you very much and wants you to grow from this experience. So, the other way to respond is to try to grow from the experience.

G-d already knows how great you are. Now it is time to show the world!

By Rabbi Yaakov Ephraim Seltzer
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