Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Ignore This and Die

At first glance the title of this post might seem harsh. But what if you were traveling down a highway at 80 miles an hour and the road was washed out just a mile ahead. You're headed toward a deep gully that, should you fall into it, will most certainly kill you. In that case, a posted sign with the words "IGNORE THIS AND DIE" might be seen as a welcome warning.

What if you were headed for an intersection and someone could see a car coming that was, without a doubt, going to run the stop sign and plow into your car on the driver's side killing you for sure. You'd be thrilled if that person held up a sign saying "DANGEROUS INTERSECTION AHEAD, IGNORE THIS AND DIE."

Let's say you're at your computer late one night and across the screen scrolls the following message, "THE CHEST PAINS YOU'RE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE ARE THE FIRST SIGN OF A FATAL HEART ATTACK. IGNORE THIS AND DIE!"

Who wouldn't want to be warned if they were on their way to a certain, excruciating end? The truth is all addicts are on the road to emotional, spiritual, relational and, eventually, physical death. Oddly enough when friends or family or coworkers flag them down with a sign that says "IGNORE THIS AND DIE" the reaction isn't usually relief or gratitude. No, we addicts are offended, hurt or angry that someone might have the nerve to tell us we're on a self-destructive path and should stop what we're doing and seek recovery. How insane is that?

Isn't it time to jump off the train to oblivion that is your addicted life? IGNORE THIS AND DIE!

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