The Clock is Ticking

You’re in a locked room, trapped with a large bomb that displays 16 seconds left on the timer. Now, it’s 15 seconds. Next to the bomb is a pair of wire cutters and a sheet of paper stating that if you cut one of the two exposed wires—one blue, one red—either the bomb will explode, or it will deactivate. If you do nothing, the bomb will explode when the time runs out—now 11 seconds.

What should you do?

You could think about it, but you’ve never defused a bomb and have no idea whatever about how they’re wired. So if you think about it, you’re dead.

You could do nothing, but then you’re dead.

You could run around the room incoherently screaming word fragments that might include similarities to the words bomb, dead, and various names for Deity. But then you’re dead.

Only one choice makes any sense: Cut a wire. Either one will do—blue or red—but cut one. Just act, at which point your chances of staying alive are 50%, as opposed to the certainty of death with any other course of action.

Most of us are walking a path in life that is headed toward certain emotional and spiritual death. To be sure, we might have longer to live than 16 seconds, but the clock is still ticking. Doing nothing guarantees failure. Simply thinking is almost always a matter of stirring around old lies and feelings—with predictably disastrous results. Screaming and yelling don’t help either.

If your life isn’t what you want it to be, DO SOMETHING. Cut a wire. Take a step. If you’re not certain, fine, do something anyway. If you’re not ready to take a giant leap, fine, take a step. It’s a beginning, and it’s almost always better than nothing.