Mount St. Helens, May 18, 1980
USGS Photo by Austin Post

If you’ve ever seen a lava flow, you’ll never forget it. Watching red-hot molten rock flow down a mountain side consuming everything in its path is a terrible spectacle – and that’s watching it from a safe distance. I can’t even imagine what it would be like for anyone in harm’s way.

Some volcanoes sputter away for weeks before finally exploding into full-blown eruption. While these can be devastating, there is usually little loss of life. The really dangerous ones are those that hold all of their pent-up energy in deceptive stillness before bursting out with lethal force.

Volcanoes aren’t the only dangers which can lurk unnoticed for years before killing the unsuspecting. Many substances which are dangerously addictive give users the sense that they are in control and that any fear is alarmist. Then, suddenly, it’s too late. The unstoppable wheels of destruction are in motion before the victim is even aware.

Sometimes, of course, there are danger signs and we just refuse to pay attention. If anything, that makes us out to be even more pathetic than if we belong to the first group. Yet each day, preventable deaths will occur simply because someone didn’t take the warning signs seriously or thought they could beat the odds.

For Reflection:

• Think about your own life. Do you engage in risky behaviours without calculating the potential harm to yourself?
• What kind of inducements do you think would need to be offered to help someone change their extreme behaviour?