The Temptations

The other night I watched a performance of selections from John Milton's "Paradise Lost". The long and short of the story is an in-depth look at the interactions among Adam, Eve, God, and Satan, in the Garden of Eden set within the Biblical context. Basically the moral of the story is that temptation is a cruel beast of burden that we all must face, and that by giving in to temptation, you are forced to deal with the consequences that follow.
Temptation surrounds all of us, from that billboard with the hot strippers to that last brownie that is just calling your name, and the problem that we all face is that it is so easy just to let yourself slip that first time. That first time you decided to go about five over the speed limit, because there was nobody in front of you and it would save you time, was a choice and you may have made it without giving it much thought. The next time you drive, though, there's going to be a little extra pick-up in your motion, because you were able to get away with it so easily, and maybe it payed off by getting you somewhere faster or giving you a slight thrill, and before you know it, you're driving forty-five in a thirty, getting irritated at the people in front of you, because you HAVE to pick up your Starbucks and your dry cleaning before your favorite TV show starts. No matter how it happened, the line has been crossed, the threshold breached, and the temptation given in to, and you are letting a new force control a small part of your life.

This is an easy principle to grasp, yet one that is surely missed as we take it for granted so often. In this world, where temptations are made less known as temptations, they become easy choices to make, and in some cases, easy traps to fall into. But the temptations are still there, from the pleasures of the flesh to the sweet, sweet taste of alcohol. The key to disciplining oneself on the avoidance of temptations is to remember that sometimes giving in to that temptation too many times can lead to an addiction, or a disease, or some other unfortunate side effect.
The thrill of giving in to a temptation could probably be mostly regarded as being short-term, but it could be the best thing you could do in your life. The possibilities are endless, and the amount of temptations that are out there outnumber the stars in the sky. Since we don't live in the Garden of Eden, though, it is necessary to put checks on ourselves, via laws or conservative people, so that we don't end up losing our own paradise.