THRILL SEEKERS Why the Fatal Attraction?

Why Do They Do It?

Many sports extremist defend their participation in death-defying stunts as an escape from boredom. Bored by routine jobs, some have left their work and have pursued a new career in the world of extreme sports.  "I started to use bungee jumping as a drug, as  way to clean my slate." said one.  "I would jump and I'd be like, 'Problems? what problems?' "   He is a veteran of 456 jumps, including leaps from Yosemite's El Capitan, the San Francisco Bay Bridge , and the world's highest tram in France," a magazine reported.   

Declared another extreme sports participant:  "Time stands still. You couldn't care less about what's going on in the world."   Another said:  "What we do for kicks [which for many includes a monetary reward], most people wouldn't do if you held a gun to their heads."  Newsweek magazine commented:   "All of them are hellbent for thrills. " 

Note: Well, time will definitely stand still for them if they get killed. They may think it is their idea, but it is just Satan putting that idea in their heads because he knows that Jehovah God is totally disapproving of those death-defying activities. They are testing God in that and He does not like it at all!)

Some psychologists have done extensive research into thrill seeking. One categorizes  thrill seekers as type T personality.  'The T stands for  "thrills" - Risk taking stimulation seeking, excitement seeking, and arousal seeking.' He says: "There are some people who hold on to the handrails of life-the rules, the traditions.  The Type T let go of the handrails. They create their own life." (Yeah, and God can take that life away just as well.) "Accidents  are the leading cause of death among teenagers, often because they put themselves in a dangerous position from need for thrills.  (The teenagers' problem is, that they think they are infallible-that nothing can hurt or kill them.   That is worse thing that they say or feel, because when you feel you can make no mistakes, that nothing can happen to you because you think you are too good at it, that is when your luck will run out.)

Scientists and psychologists admit that it is unnatural for anyone to seek out sports that have a high-level fatal risk factor.  The fact that many have suffered serious, life-threatening injuries, only to recover after long stays in  hospitals and rehabilitation centers and then continue in their death-defying pursuit, indicates that all is not well with their thinking ability. Yet, often these may be highly intelligent people.  (I don't think so, more like idiots. And these life-threatening accidents could be someone above is trying to tell you something and if you refuse to listen, that could not turn out well at all.) 

Experts are not sure what draws the thrill seekers to risk life and limb. the answers they suggest, may lie in the brain.  "You are not going to stop that thrill -seeking," they say,  "but you try to prevent them from taking lethal risks. At the very least, you want them to avoid putting other people at risk."   

Next time: THRILL SEEKERS Why the Fatal Attraction?/The Christian View

From the Awake! magazine