I had an embarrassing day on Monday. Don't worry, it's not so bad.
On Monday, I was supposed to speak in a bungalow colony in the mountains, and I got someone to drive me because I was tired. They gave us the address: 52 Silver Lake Road. They told me to come at 11 o'clock. I'm a little bit known to be a little late, but, like, 10 minutes late.
So we arrive at 52 Silver Lake Road at 1110. I'm doing great. I look outside, and there's some—I don't know—a camp or something. I'm like, “Doesn't sound like the bungalow colony.” So we call them up. They said, “We're on 52 Silver Lake. Can you tell us where to turn to go down the road?” I said, “Are you sure?” They said, “I think so.” They said, “What do you see?” I said, “We see a camp. I don't know. They're playing ball, boys, girls. I don't know.” They're like, “Where are you?” “52 Silver Lake.” I said, “Rabbi, where are you?” I said, “52 Silver Lake.” I asked the driver, “Where are we?” He says, “52 Silver Lake Road in Swan Lake.” They're like, “Rabbi, it's 52 Silver Lake in Woodridge. You're 40 minutes away.”
So I was so mortified. A room of, like, I don't know, 400 people waited until 12 o'clock for me to show up. So the whole time there, I'm like, “Joe, you can't be late anymore. You cannot be late. It's not okay. Like, you can't, you can't. It's not respectful. It's not nice. It's not appropriate. You can't be late.”
So the next day, Tuesday, I was supposed to go to the mountains again. On the way back home Monday afternoon, I called the people in the mountains. I said, “Please tell me what time I'm supposed to be there.” They said, “Rabbi, you need to be here at 1230.” I got the same man to drive me. I said, “Sir, we have to get to the mountains at 1215. We're going to be on time.”
So sure enough, we leave real early in the morning. We get to the mountains at 1215. We pull up, and there's nobody there. So I called the guy. I'm like, “What's going on?” He says, “We heard how late you came yesterday. So we really meant 1.30, but we told you 12.30, hoping you get there 1.30.” So it's a true story. I sat and waited for, like, an hour and a half or so until I got... wow.
The point is, when the world sees, you change. When the world can't see, you don't change. So a lot of us have a lot about ourselves that needs to change, but we don't work on it because the world's not talking about it. And we're just completely preoccupied with the show. And we're completely preoccupied with the things the world can see, and the things that the people in the chairs can judge, and the things that the people around us are talking about. And because of this, we almost live distorted lives—a life where we're so worried about how it's going to look, how it's going to come off, and how it's going to be presented, and not thinking enough about how we're living, who we are, what kind of person I am...