Maddie Gillel
When we were teenagers, and even younger, my brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends would go outside our small town in the winter and ice skate on ponds and small rivers. We did this often enough that we knew how to tell by looking at ice whether it would hold while we skated. Through the years I have learned that ice should be 4″ thick to hold several skaters. We were never skating where the water was deep- maybe only 2-3 feet at the most- but we did fall through the ice a few times on our way to ‘learning’.
Out on the prairie near where we lived, we would occasionally happen upon a rattlesnake. None of us were ever bitten, because, as you know, rattlesnakes warn you by shaking the rattles on the end of their tail as a warning. We always heeded that warning and left them alone.
There are so many instances in this life in which we are warned about what is dangerous, foolish, reckless, or downright fatal. This, thankfully, is often learned by observing human behavior and/or listening to parents, older siblings, and others in trusting leadership authority over us.
You might have read recently about a concert in New York where two young people died from drugs. Most in attendance were also taking drugs. Drugs have never yet had a happy/successful outcome. They bite users hard and many of those bites are fatal. For those who live and continue down their “bulletproof” life, a toll is still taken in lost opportunities, emotional immaturity, premature aging, health problems and death, broken relationships and marriages, and damaged offspring (drugs and sex are common companions).
When we were in Africa several years ago, we were warned about over the counter medicines and prescriptions. We were told to frequent only those pharmacies that were well known and trusted by the locals because there were knock off drugs from India and China with ingredients added that were not as advertised.
Apparently, some of the ecstasy that was consumed in New York City was not ‘pure.’ Spice and other dangerous ingredients had been added and were from other countries. WOW!!! Someone made something dangerous, even more so? What!? The rattlesnake promised he wouldn’t bite you? You saw people falling through the thin ice, but skated over the same spot anyway
Have you heard that there is an antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea now? I would ask the same questions as above: have you never been told or observed that pre-marital and extra-marital sex are dangerous, foolish, and will cause emotional problems? Or that sex causes babies and the woman will either get an abortion, which will cause further psychological/emotional problems, or she may elect to have the child, become an unwed mother, and unfortunately, these problems then become generational.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are separating. She is 25 years younger than he. Douglas is a year or two older than Zeta-Jones’ father. Douglas, by many accounts, is a drunk and a philanderer. He’s wealthy and famous. She is young and so beautiful. They were probably quite happy for 3-4 years, maybe a few more- but then he had cancer, lost his middle- aged good looks, caused her public embarrassment, and she’s bi-polar. He is living with the effects of his age and a wild life and she is still young enough to attract admirers and suitors. Now was all this known to them as they entered into this union? I’ll bet there were several red flags.
Ladies and gentlemen: rich (or poor), drinking, famous (or not), arrogant, philanderers are not a good choice for a spouse and a happy marriage, let alone as the father of your children. A woman who will buy in to this ‘charm’ has probably earned the heartbreak, humiliation and pain that follows. A man who thinks he is too hot to cool down is guaranteed to make a fool of himself and hurt those around him.
Thin ice and rattlesnakes.
Only fools think they’re exempt.