Humanity Undone

On a recent trip I took, I had several hours in a hotel room to watch some tv. I don't own a tv, so this was an opportunity to channel surf and explore. I was honestly blown away by two different shows that I saw. I can't tell you the last time I felt something so strongly after watching a tv program. Maybe it could be compared to the feeling I had walking out of the movie theater after watching The Passion of Christ - dumbstruck, silent, amazed. But this time for very different reasons.

The two shows I watched were Hoarders and Half Ton Dad. I guess I always knew in my mind, and realized from personal experience, that humanity is lost and, left to our own, prone to self-destructive behavior. But there were limits to my imagination. Yes, there is Mardi Gras and all the debauchery you can think of with passions gone wild. But these two shows exposed the more subtle, almost benign means by which people can actually destroy their lives.

Considering that there are almost 3 million people classified as "Hoarders" and almost 7 million Americans are considered "Morbidly Obese", it is difficult to wrap my brain around these obsessions/compulsions. To watch the stories of a man who played football in high school, had 4 kids, and lived a fairly normal life balloon up to 1000 lbs in 7 years after his divorce is truly shocking. To say it is a sin is to miss the point. To say it is demonic is probably closer in that the enemy of our souls is known to seek every avenue to steal, kill, and destroy. He will do it "by any means necessary", including eating ourselves to death! At a point this surpasses the concept of gluttony, for sure. It is simply unexplainable to me. It all gave me a great sense of sadness at the lostness of people in our world.