One of the many "shtusi" ["nonsense" in Dutch] things I have in my mind from my youth, are the lyrics in a Billy Joel song:
"It's better to laugh with the sinners than die with the saints,
the sinners have much more fun,
only the good die young".
Really? Sinners have much more fun? Sinners cheat on their wives which ultimately costs them loads of money, heartache, losing their children, house etc. etc. Is that fun?
Sinners get addicted to drugs and alcohol until it destroys their lives and often kills them. Is that fun?
Sinners steal or violate other laws, usually get caught and find themselves behind bars. Is that fun?
Sinners have fractured relationships [because that is what bad middos creates], live empty lives, often get caught in a maze of lies, have multiple wives [I liked the rhyme...], often feel anxious and depressed because they hate themselves and their dreadful existence.
I think of a billionaire who owned an Island [!!], an airplane, a huge mansion on the Upper East Side in addition to other residences, was well connected with the most powerful, famous and wealthy people around, lying dead in his jail cell because he hated himself so much that he killed himself [suicide is violence against oneself]. He thought that the only escape was to kill himself, but where he is now, he finds out the truth. One can't do so much evil and get away with it. There are almost always harsh consequences in this world and ALWAYS severe consequences for eternity. He was a sick hedonist whose entire existence centered around his often perverse physical desires and he gave himself what he deserved. Sadly. I would MUCH RATHER had he done teshuva. [I think of his great grandparents who were surely pious Jews].
Sinning is sometimes fun in the moment but in the long term is anything but fun. It is not only death in the next world but early death [sometimes physical, always spiritual] in this world. רשעים בחייהם קרויים מתים.
Being a "saint" a tzadik, might not be classified as "fun" but is definitely more fulfilling, self-empowering, relationship enhancing, calm and serenity inducing and a sure-fire recipe for eternal bliss.
Sorry, Billy. You have it ALLLLL wrong.
