....Everybody sits in their own individual car on top of a hill on a road that runs down to a cliff. None of the cars have engines....but most of the cars do have handbrakes that work, However in the cars belonging to Compulsive Gamblers, the handbrakes don't work.
While most people can simply apply the handbrake and enjoy life, we Compulsive Gamblers have to remember to keep our foot on the brake pedal to stop us heading for the edge of a cliff. No matter where, on the road down to the cliff, we end up putting our foot on the brake, our lives can be as good in many ways as those who sit in cars with their handbrakes on on top of the hill. Maybe we don't have the same quality of view over the surrounding area, but a view isn't everything anyway.
It can be a temptation to try and take the foot off the brake in an attempt to get the car to go back up the hill. But cars on a hill without engines and brakes applied will generally only go one way. Some of us will have passengers with us. For some of us the passengers will have chosen to leave our car and seek a safer car to be in. We have no choice....we have to stay in our car with our foot on the brake. And if we occasionally take our foot off the brake we have to get it back on there before we run out of slope.
The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.....
Hey Soak.
Forgive my completion and mind boggling completion of this post:
You forgot to say the Car was on HP and the bills not paid and pushing the car was thousands of bailifs etc, there were many others who were trying to push the car, the "greedy" bookie..,
All I needed was a quick fix...a helicopter to pick me up and put me on the straight road above the cliff....but i was still on the slope.....I would see the edge and apply the brakes and pull myself up the slope a bit more...
But I couldnt cope with the normal road at the top and all its pressure and I would slide down again...a constant battle to avoid the edge.....
Then one day I went off the edge and fortunately and found myself sat on the rocks asking why....I looked around and to my suprise there was a rope held by a group of people who had come together to help one another and I believed I could pull myself back up...I couldnt believe I was not dead, I couldnt see these people, they didnt know me but they knew why I was down on the rocks.
So I pulled myslelf back up and balanced on the edge of the cliff...I walked along and found a bike...it served its purpose to ride a little daily and slowly get up the slope...then I found a pot of gold and instead of waste this pot of gold or think i could use this gold to get more gold I bought a new car..complete with brakes..daily I drove and after many long days and nights I found myself back up on a straight road...
The straight road was very bumpy and often my mind would think about the smooth grass..the excitement of sliding up and down or the escapism of the bushes on the slope I could hide within. But instead I decided the bumpy road will be enough it will get me somewhere...After a while I forgot the slope was there I found myself driving along at a nice steady speed ignoring the bumps and occasionally stopping to throw a rope over the edge to see if there was anyone else I could in fact pull up from the rocks.
I found a few that rope went to and they climbed back up also but some just jumped back down, some just ran off to find someone to burden to pull them up and some the fortunate some looked at my example and the example of the others just driving along the straight bumpy road.
Sometimes the slope next to the road was very steep and my memory will remember going off that edge...sometimes there will be a voice that says the grass looks nice to drive along and less bumpy...sometimes the greedy booky will jump out in front of me and say this way please....but Just for today I prefer the bumpy straight road....
Im sorry for my post but I drive this road daily now and although my car has suffered the knocks and bruises of the bumpy road at least I can see that if I continue there will be a garage where I can stop and say "give me a new one please" as my journey is a long one...
"God Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference"
My name is Barrie and in the last 5yrs I have been on the grass for three days....its truly a terrible place.
The morals of this story is " We can throw you a rope of friendship but when you back on the edge of that cliff its up to YOU which path you take, because after a while no ropes will apprear"
"You cannot fix the car with no handbrake today, but by doing things one day at a time you will have that new car in the end"
Maverick,
I believe that Mercedes developed a system where by if the car in front is to close the brake are applied automatically so why should we not introduce a system where by should your car turn towards a bookies, arcade casino then the car steers the other way.
Unfortunately this is one optional extra I asked for but they could not supply.
So instead the only thing that can veer me in the right direction is my thinking, my integrated satalite navigation system and I wont allow myself to go on cruise control as that may lead me back to where I was before.
I re-iterate myself when I say I am a compulsive gambler, I always will be, the rope was thrown to me and I took it, Im not waisting that opportunity to drive the right road, yes there will be crashes, but ill quickly fix the car and fixing the car comes from fixing my thinking.
I will throw that rope to anyone who seeks. I will ask that they take it and try to pull themselves up and in turn I will only suggest that my car is better because I cannot make them drive my car.
Keep strong all....
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
My name is Barrie and for whatever reason I became a compulsive gambler and always will be but just for today I did not gamble.
TC
Barrie