This week I received calls from frightened people of all levels and ages regarding those addicted already to the Internet, expressing their reactions in naive denial. "I am able to watch over myself." "The nonsense doesn't begin to interest me." Nonetheless, these individuals need no more than two weeks [of exposure] to wipe out months and years of Torah, sanctity and wisdom.
Thirty years ago, a young man who was backsliding went through a process that involved 100 way stations. Along that road, he had 100 opportunities to repent. And at those 100 stations, we educators and observers had the opportunity to detect that he had a problem, and to find chances for us to help him do teshuva.
Today, with the Internet, he surfs and immediately disappears. He dissolves into a puff of smoke. He has crashed in his downward decline to the bottom of the chasm, like sinkholes in the Negev or the Hamas tunnels, and the screams pierce the heavens. From his family, his parents... but he is totally deaf to them! For his part, the world can go under. He is there, entrenched, and that is that.
What is the best Internet block in the world? The dreadful outcry: "I don't want to have anything to do with Internet." Meaning, that the block is not external but is part of the very inner soul.
And now we can go over to three practical stops: 1) Let us understand that we are incapable of blocking or relying upon our own selves. 2) Let us consult a rav who understands this area. 3) Let us seek the strongest, most effective block available.
Most important of all is to ascertain en route that no one in the world, including ourselves, is fooling anyone else. "Most of the world, most of the time, seeks to entertain themselves." But we must regard it as appealing as a telephone directory, that is, the most inane pastime in the world! Because on the day that we regard it as a outlet for entertainment, our house will turn into a caravan. No one puts his head willingly into a lion's mouth, surely not even if at the moment before it clamps its jaws upon his head it sounds very entertaining.
But we will prevail. Throughout history they fought against us but we were always victorious. We lost an occasional battle but always won the war, as the result proves - we are here, now! And our enemies? In the museums.
