The unpopular thing about sinkholes and the smoking gun

The unpopular thing about sinkholes and the smoking gun.

Being unpopular is easy. It’s being popular that’s hard. The responsibilities and obligations of popularity are extensive. And sometimes expensive. It’s a high energy experience. For those who appreciate that kind of experience it’s a fashionable life. But for anyone looking to fly in under the radar, it’s a no go. The funny thing about the radar, is how it works. It’s predictable, but fickle. Maybe not every object gets detected.

At this point it might seem like this article is about something other than sinkholes and smoking guns. That is hopefully a result of interesting content so far. This article is actually an opportunity to expand on a previous post on this site. The post can be found in this link here. The post is a short story. Sometimes short stories have happy endings. Sometimes they don’t. As in life, not every story turns out well.

However, that doesn’t mean that the experience should be wasted time. Especially if something can be learned from it. In the short story about the sinkhole, there is an underlying message. Once upon a time, there was a moral to most stories. For those who are not familiar with the moral idea, it’s very similar to a lesson. A lesson learned. Or not learned. But the lesson, or moral, presents itself in the story.

The Unpopular

The unpopular thing. In the story about the sinkhole, one might say that greed was a driving force. In fact, it was so close to being the perfect heist. If only that little unpopular internal voice, had won the day. However, that little voice seems to lose power, if the driving force is also self destructive. This is actually very easy to illustrate. I used to have this conversation with my son. We both struggled with quitting cigarettes. Cigarette addiction is one of the worst.

However, we came up with a solution. A real life what if scenario. The theory runs along the lines of how hard it is to quit cigarettes, because the addiction is two pronged. It’s physical addiction as well as a mental addiction. Both of those create an emotional dependency. Cigarettes are real boogers. The best way to beat them is to never smoke the first one. Furthermore, that is where many fall of the wagon when quitting. Smoking that one cigarette. It’s the path to the great addiction.

The Smoking Gun

With this in mind, if the consequences were immediate, the story might be a little different. For example, if a cigarette exploded the moment it was lit, the appeal of the cigarette might decline. Furthermore, since smoking allows for long term self destruction, its consequences are easy to overlook. One way to prevent this would be the lethal exploding cigarette. Make sure every pack of cigarettes has one, but there’s no way to tell which one it is. Chances are the smoking numbers would plummet.

That doesn’t mean the sinkhole analogy isn’t relevant. In fact, it has that underlying theme. The bank robber makes it into the safe. The bank robber grabs all the loot. What could possibly go wrong at that point? All he had to do was leave, when he felt that little voice giving the nudge. Even if the police were waiting outside the vault, it would have been a better outcome than what was waiting at the bottom of that sinkhole. Maybe.

The Sinkhole

Ultimately, the sinkhole in the bank vault, is the same as the exploding cigarette. An immediate consequence. In fact, there is more than one way to avoid the trap, but complacency can be a real tough opponent in every circumstance. Cigarettes take a long time to deliver their ruin. Therefore it’s easy to be complacent about getting away from them. The allure of riches can be addictive as well. Therefore, greed can have immediate consequences too.

Not every story has a moral. Likewise, not every moral has a story. The benefits of quitting smoking are real and proven. Similarly the value of not breaking into high security bank vaults is also real and proven. Indeed, the ratio of success versus fails should be the first clue. And in the struggles of everyday life the search for truth and goodness still yields the sweetest fruit. Thanks for reading.

New updates available in the main ebooks menu option. Audio book versions are now available. All e-books are in PDF format and some already have the audio version option available. Use this link to quickly find The Pawn Ticket: Redemption. Or this link for Turtles Wolf and Frog: Spirits. Audio and ebook versions available.

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