Lurkers! Beware of the 'Escalating Commitment' Trap!

by metatron 10 Replies latest jw experiences

  • metatron
    metatron

    Once upon a time, the U.S. got involved in Vietnam. Since American lives were lost, more lives and money had to

    be invested to avoid confronting defeat. This went on painfully for years until a face-saving exit could be found.

    In the world of business management, this is called 'escalating commitment'. A company gets trapped into deeper and

    deeper trouble because they can't admit that their capital is lost and so must keep investing in a bad idea.

    This is how things like Enron or WorldCom develop....

    BUT it's also how cult religions entrap people.

    You invest time in preaching and peddling magazines door to door. You sacrifice a promising career and a university

    education. You withdraw from 'worldly' relatives and old friends at work. You attend five meetings week after week.

    You do this for a year ........ two years ......... five years........ ten years ......... thirty years.

    You develop diabetes and your hair turns gray. You sit in a nursing home and tell what rare Witness visitors you receive

    that "Armageddon must be very close now" .................................. just like your grandfather did.

    The tragedy here is a life not really lived

    because the victim could not face the fact

    that he invested the precious currency of his life

    in a hope that is always "soon" ---- but never fufilled.

    If I were God, I would never treat people like this.

    Maybe that's what you should conclude, too.

    metatron

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    Brilliant, Metatron.

    A testimony to a wasted life.

  • JamesThomas
    JamesThomas

    Well said. So true. So sad.

    JamesT

    (not to be confused with the one and only JT )

  • Witch Child
    Witch Child

    ouch. yeah. this is the sad reality. So hard to leave the cult and admit you were wrong... that pride... that fear. I'm so glad to be out and be able to say I "only" wasted 6 years in the cult. 6 years I could have spent more time with my Great Gramma and my friend Lynne who both died within a few years of my getting out. ~Witch

  • cruzanheart
    cruzanheart
    The tragedy here is a life not really lived

    I like the way you put that, metatron.

    Nina

  • Satanus
    Satanus

    This is also true of christianity before protestantism, waiting for jesus to come back to fix things. Although it did change a lot after john calvin invented capitalism.

    SS

  • Outaservice
    Outaservice

    There is a Proverb that says...."Expectation postponed makes the heart sick!".

    Must be a lot of 'sick' JW's out there!

    Outaservice ( who's starting to feel a little better! )

  • DanTheMan
    DanTheMan

    excellent analogy

  • Dansk
    Dansk

    YEP!

  • Sentinel
    Sentinel

    Excellent.

    Marriage can be like that as well. Counting the years, as if additional years of misery will make everything alright. That's how the fourteen years of my first marriage was, along with the last ten years that I "stayed in" the organization.

    And, where did it get me? No where!! Best to make a sound decision and follow through. Listen to the heart. It really does say the right things. Change is never easy. Sometimes, it is absolutely necessary.

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