Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

There are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Drinking Advice #5 Cyle of Self-Deception

•             “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” — Proverbs 23:35

Some people live in a world of self-deception and drinking is the agent. Since I have never been drunk, I don’t know what it is like to wake up and not remember what happened the night before. Where did this black eye come from? Why am I in a stranger’s bed? When did I get that dent in my car? The next night the cycle starts all over again. Passing out is a way of life. Just “feeling no pain.” There are too many country songs to mention with this theme. The sad part is that many think it is cool to not know what you are doing when you are drunk. If you can’t remember what you did, then you don’t have to take responsibility for your actions. Some have used this as the defense in their trial.

Let’s call it what it is, self-deception. This is the worst form of deception. If I deceive you, you may figure it out and not fall for it again. If you fool yourself because you tell yourself the lie, then then it becomes a cycle. The more you lie, and believe it, the easier it gets to keep on believing it. This downward spiral into the abyss of deception is hard to escape. This is hardness of heart territory. This is why it is sometimes impossible to repent. Self-deception is being convinced that right is wrong and wrong is right. It flips morality, truth, and conscience on its head. It is hard enough to avoid self-deception without alcohol, but alcohol shoots deception directly into your bloodstream and to your brain.

Alcoholics can quit anytime they want to quit. They do it hundreds of times. They deny they have a drinking problem. The worst part of the problem occurs when the person is least able to see it. When they wake up, it doesn’t seem so bad, especially if someone is cleaning the mess up for them. People enable the self-deceived to stay deceived.

Parents should do everything within their power to save their children from this cruel fate. The loving thing to do is to let our children experience the pain of the wrong choices. This is compassionate. Stop cleaning up their messes. Let them see what their decision has caused. This is not to shame them, but to keep them from becoming deceived. Light is the greatest disinfectant. Deception thrives in the darkness. Alcohol and drugs are the accelerant that burns the house down, a fire set by the person who owns the house. Parents must be vigilant because THERE ARE ENOUGH FOOLS IN THE WORLD.