A three-pronged pitchfork

He lived a tragic life.

Such could be the epithet of far too many in this day and age.

While watching the myriad news accounts of Michael Jackson's death, all I could see was tragedy, in the life he lived and in the death he died.

I saw the same sorrowful image when Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007, under the same dark cloud of drug abuses and overdoses.

These tragedies don't just happen to the rich and famous. If the only requirement for the headline was "dead from drug/alcohol overdose" then our newspaper pages and television top spots would be an unending tape of reruns. Only the names would change. These tragedies are so common that if it hasn't happened in every family, at the very least, every family knows of someone impacted by this sad, tragic truth.

Where does this penchant for self-destruction come from? The human will to live is evident every day. Hospitals are filled with people enduring unspeakable agonies to capture one more breath, bearing testimony to their heroic struggles to overcome illness, disease or injury. The current health care crisis so much in the news today reveals our deep desire to live. We just need to figure out how to pay for the right to pursue that life through medical and scientific advances.

I'm certain that Jackson and Smith wanted very much to live. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, living had somehow become so painful they sought solace, perhaps just a moment of silence, or a sweet hour of slumber, in pharmacology. And the very drugs that gave momentary surcease ended up taking their lives.

No one purposely sets for themselves a life path with a set destination of drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, destitution or an early death. Why then are these ends so prevalent in our society?

Perhaps part of the reason is our strong sense of invincibility. Even though others have succumbed -- to addictions, sexual infidelities, the temptation to skim a little off the top because no one will notice -- it can't or won't happen to me.

Then there is our all-too-human ability to self-justify. The arguments are familiar to most -- "Just once won't hurt. I don't want to be a wet blanket. A little flirting is harmless. If only my husband showed me some affection. If only my wife weren't such a cold fish. As little as they pay me for the work I do, I deserve a little something extra, whether they think so or not."

And then there is our penchant for denial. As the old drinking joke says, "I don't have a drinking problem. I drink. I get drunk. I fall down. No problem."

Denial is undeniably a powerful state of mind. It also can be, and tragically often is, a deadly state of mind. A former neighbor in Brighton recently succumbed to the effects of alcohol poisoning. Apparently, no one was more surprised at his passing than he was. Denial was explained to me this way. "You always believe that you have control. You always believe that it (be it drugs, alcohol or disease) won't win."

Invincibility. Self-justification. Denial.

A three-pronged pitchfork guaranteed to bring tragedy to the headlines once again, if not on the national front, then certainly in the funeral home parlors and front rooms in Any (or Every) City, USA.

Perhaps it's time to try a little truth.

Invincible? Hardly. In fact, humans are more than vulnerable with every breath. Another headline story this year was the death of actress Natasha Richardson following what seemed to be a minor fall on a Canadian ski slope. Death frequently comes with little or no warning, whether from a hidden aneurysm or high speed crash. One moment we're on this side of life's doorway, and within the space of a breath we cross the threshold to the other side. We are anything but invincible.

"Man's life is but a breath." Psalm 39:5c

Justification? That would depend upon on your point of view. "If only" arguments fall apart as soon as any other person is affected.

If twice could hurt, then so could once and the "just once" argument is obliterated.

And those self-awarded bonuses? Well, as I told our children many years ago, "If you take something that doesn't belong to you, whether a stick of gum or a million dollars, you are a thief."

Justification only works when you're the only one affected. Human behavior always impacts others.

"So then each of us will give an account to God." Romans 14:12

Denial? This might be the most powerful tine in the pitchfork. Denial is so insidious that even when faced with brutal truths, individuals can and often will, continue to live in the fantasy they have constructed.

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8

As always, it comes down to choice. Will we continue in the lies of invincibility? Will we continue to pursue our seemingly inalienable rights at the expense of spouses, children, neighbors and friends? And will we continue to play the deadly game of denial?

Or will we choose truth?

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32