By Marvin A. McMickle
Some people are obsessed with the quest for happiness. They want to find that time and place in life where there will always be a smile on their face and no tears in their eyes. They want to live in Disney World all the time, forgetting that Disney World is the greatest of all illusions as life for the executives and employees of the Disney Corporation reveal every day. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). In our hearts we know that to be true, but still we behave like the lyrics of the song by The Rolling Stones; I tried – and I tried – and I tried – and I tried, but I can’t get no happiness, because happiness does not and cannot last.
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Sometimes, after we discover that happiness does not last, we try something else and that next thing might be thrills. There is an obsession in this country with thrills. It is why we buy cars that can be driven faster than any highway in America would allow us to drive. It is why we jump out or airplanes and free-fall from thousands of feet in the atmosphere. It is why some people want to bungee jump, or go plunging down the steeps and twisting hills of roller coasters. We want that adrenalin rush. We want that sensation of living dangerously. We want what some people call “the rush” that comes when we live close to the edge of death itself. The richest among us buy themselves a seat on the Space Shuttle, not because they care one iota about science or space research; it is the ultimate thrill.
For other people the thrill is linked to gambling of one kind or another. Here in Cleveland the mayor has come out in favor of casino gambling, because she wants the money that Clevelanders in particular and Ohioans in general are freely spending in the neighboring states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia to be spent here at home. How many people have lost their rent or mortgage money as they got caught up in the thrill that the next roll of the dice or the next pull of the lever of the slot machine might bring a big payday. People go into casinos knowing that “the house always wins,” and yet they are willing to risk their paycheck on a game of chance. It is not a rational decision; it is the mark of a society that has embraced the thrill as a way to approach how they will live their lives.
However, just like happiness, people soon discover that thrills cannot satisfy because they cannot be made to last. They come and they go with equal suddenness. The blues singer, B.B. King is world famous primarily for the lyrics of his song that says, “The thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away.” Of course, what happens to a thrill seeker when the present thrill is gone? Like the song says, they just try something else. There are many in our society whose lives are driven by the pursuit of satisfaction and they try one thing after another in pursuit of that goal.