As a teen I occasionally watched reruns of a TV show called ‘Get Smart’ (1965-1970). In this sitcom the central character is a bumbling secret agent known as Maxwell Smart who works for a Washington DC-based counterintelligence agency known as CONTROL. Their nemesis is a criminal organization known as Kaos (Chaos), and a spy known as Siegfried.
I remember clearly the closing scene from one episode where Maxwell Smart is finally about to catch Siegfried. He is cornered in a room on the top floor of a downtown high-rise building. Certain he has finally captured his arch enemy Maxwell states the obvious, you’re trapped. I’ve finally outsmarted you (pun intended I’m sure). To which Siegfried confidently replies that using his superior intellect he has made provision for this very situation. Boasting, he reveals that a large flatbed truck, piled high with mattresses, is parked on the street, dozens of floors below and directly beneath the open window he is standing in front of.
Smart rushes forward to apprehend Siegfried before he gets away, but alas he's too late. Siegfried has leapt out of the window and in so doing will surely escape yet again. Smart cautiously leans out the window and takes a long look. When he turns back to face the camera he shakes his head and says, “missed it by that much.”
Have you ever found yourself in the situation where you just fell short of an important goal, a grade, or score you needed on an exam. Perhaps you almost got the job, but were beat out by someone with slightly better credentials. Or you just missed qualifying for a promotion at work. We all have at one time or another ‘Missed It By That Much.’
How did it make you feel? Were you sad? Angry? Disappointed? Or mad? Did you later rack your brain over what you could have done differently? I know I have.
When I looked back on my own ‘Missed It By That Much’ experiences, I usually found that I was caught up in a time waster. Time wasters are activities which are not inherently bad, but they also accomplish little of lasting value. I will forgo making an exhaustive list since these time wasters are as varied as are our hobbies, entertainment and recreation. When these activities are repeated over and over again they become habits, and if not careful we may engage in them to excess. All the while, telling ourselves and anyone else who will listen, that we can walk away, give them up or quit any time. We fool ourselves into believing that there is an exit strategy in place. A way to escape from the ensnaring habit.
Common time wasters afflicting this generation include trends such as the obsessive use of social media, texting and gaming. All can rob their participants of valuable time, time needed to prepare for future challenges and opportunities. Games that encourage the creation of virtual identities and virtual relationships in a virtual reality are amongst the most colossal wasters of time.
Sadly, many today waste countless hours, postpone or forfeit vocational or academic achievement, and ultimately sacrifice cherished human relationships because of mind- and spirit-numbing video and online games. The Lord declared,
“Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment … : Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known”
A well-known comedian described it this way, “this past year in one popular online game millions and millions of acres of virtual farmland were planted and still virtually no one has been fed.”
You might ask, ‘who is this virtual no one?’ Or, ‘who has benefited from or been fed by virtual games?’ The answer; the creators, manufactures and peddlers of those games. But certainly not the players. After-all, their reality has been placed in a virtual holding pattern.
One thing I have learned from those who live in these virtual worlds is that the habit of repeatedly 'Missing It By That Much', often precedes becoming a no one in reality (the real world).
Failing to reach our full potential, our own personal genius, is a natural consequence of investing our time and talents in virtual realms where there can be no real charity, no real work, no real faith, no real families, no real satisfaction and therefore no real lasting happiness.
A new semester is about to start. A new opportunity or job may be just around the corner. Life is diverse and complex and so are your choices on how to use your free time. My advice is simple,
“BE REAL”