Be Prepared--Not

I was catching up on some reading and came across an article in the 8/28/06 issue of Time entitled, "Why We Don't Prepare." The author, Amanda Ripley, was referring to our national proclivity not to prepare for catastrophes like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. She writes, "...a review of the past year in disaster history suggests that modern Americans are particularly, mysteriously bad at protecting themselves from guaranteed threats. We know more than we ever did about the dangers we face. But it turns out that in times of crisis, our greatest enemy is rarely the storm, the quake or the surge itself. More often, it is ourselves." In psychological terms this pattern of behavior is referred to as denial. Denial is a powerful way of protecting ourselves from the truth because we fear that the truth is too painful to accept. Clearly denial operates at all levels: from the personal through small groups, through larger groups, to whole nations. Have you ever taken time to reflect on how much denial might be at work in your own life?