People say "I don't have the time".
That is really misleading. We ALL have time. Exactly the SAME amount. 24 hours a day and seven days every week.
The question is how we prioritize our time. Some people are so busy working that they have no time to learn. Others are so busy learning that they have no time to work.... We decide how to use our time. Use it wisely.
People say "I couldn't make it".
Yes you could. You just chose not to. Which is fine. We don't have to attend every event and can't do so even if we want to. But "couldn't"? We CHOOSE whether to come or not to come.
According to the Halacha one may appoint a shaliach to marry his wife on his behalf. Have you ever been to such a wedding??? The husband was in the Beis Medrash learning with his chavrusa or li-havdil at a basketball game and he asked his buddy to stand in for him at the wedding. Not. Why? B/c nobody want to miss their wedding so they make sure to be there.
We are not slaves, Baruch Hashem. The first mitzva given to the Jewish people was קידוש החודש - sanctifying time. Now that we were being freed from slavery we were finally in charge of our time. The message was - make it holy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
