I gave a bachur a ride back to Yeshiva this afternoon and I took the route which most people take because it uses a main street. However, it also passes through/alongside a major college campus. Needless to say I think that I should start using the other route which I used to use when I was in Yeshiva and was looking for a "safer" route. Those were the days, when I really tried to avoid
hirhurim!
As we passed a huge group of girls
![](https://guardyoureyes.com/components/com_kunena/template/default/images/emoticons/new/sick.png)
he commented that at least school should be almost over for the summer. I told, "No way that we get off that easy with just a few warm days. The
Yetzer Hara has much more in store for us." (They have a summer semester.)
It reminds me of a thought I used to have all the time and now I realize how naive it was. When I was younger (pre by problem), I used to often get a ride with an older gentleman, in his fifties. I used to cringe when he did that thing where his head turned away from the road to watch the girls walking on the sidewalk as we road past them. He was (and still is
BA"H) happily married and yet he couldn't/wouldn't control this reflex. It used to really disgust/upset me because I had no appreciation for the
taivah and realized that he was controlled by it. At that time I decided that I would make sure that it didn't happen to me.
Years later, (maybe after my problem started,) I heard a tape from Rabbi Shaifer, of The Shmuz, entitled "The Master and the Slave", in which he explicitly outlined this issue and how weird/abhorrent/sad it is to watch someone who is a slave to their
Yetzer Hara.
That experience of seeing this addiction in someone else together with that
mussar shmuz really helped me in this area of
shmiras aynayim over the years. Throughout my addiction I have remained conscious of when my head turns while driving and although I can't say I always stopped it, I certainly stopped it more because of that consciousness.
Hatzlacha to us all and even to those who are not on this forum like that gentleman, who still suffers from this reflex/addiction in his mid sixties!
P.S. 27 days down. Hope to be over 30 before my next date.
P.P.S. I have seen others claim to be addicted to this forum. I happily join them!