If you want to jump out of an airplane, who am I to stop you?
After all, it's your life. You're an adult. And if you think you can fly; that parachutes aren't necessary, that's your prerogative.
Just don't hate me for telling you otherwise.
The fall may be exhilarating. But don't be so foolish as to deny the consequences of your leap.
 Morton Downey, Jr. was a member of the National Smokers Alliance until he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died prematurely of his illness in 2001. |
I vaguely remember a newsreel in which executives from tobacco companies were called before Congress. One by one, with yellowed fingers and plumes of smoke whirling about their heads, they denied under oath that smoking caused cancer.
That was the position assumed by Morton Downey, Jr. The popular conservative talk show host openly jeered at such politically correct nonsense. It was mindless alarmism, according to Downey. He raged at the folly of those who disagreed.
Then he contracted lung cancer. And he changed his tune.
Downey invested the last years of his life smoke-free and wiser. He lost a lung to cancer in 1996 and in March, 2001, he paid the ultimate price for living in denial.
Abuse alcohol and risk damaging your liver. Cemeteries are full of those who thought they were exempt. The truth always wins out.
On the Health Page segment of this site you will find the beginning of a series of links to articles relating the homosexual lifestyle to serious illness. The evidence is overwhelming.
It's your life.
If you wish to jump from a plane, be my guest. I encourage you not to be so foolish, but — if you insist — at least be honest with yourself. Acknowledge the free fall has its consequences.
And don't couch yourself in the comfort of group dynamics. Remember what every parent asks every child: If your friends were to jump out of an airplane, would you jump with them?
