I Like Quitters
Because of some travels, I have seen it a number of times in recent months. The first time I saw it, it just made me angry. In the times since, it has continued to do so, but has also made me sad.
Now, it is just a billboard, but it is infuriating to me. Frankly, it is offensive to me.
Before I tell you what the billboard is for, let me share the tagline, or motto. It states, “No one likes a quitter.”
You might think that would be a decent tagline for something like a stay in school campaign. Or, maybe it would be something humorous (but possibly ill-received) even from a church.
So, why does that tagline bother me so much? Because the billboard is for a liquor store.
No one likes a quitter…drinking?
I can think of a pretty significant number of people who not only like quitters, but who wish and pray that someone they know would quit (or, maybe even more tragically, would have quit).
- What about the wife who has to wear long sleeves because her drunk husband hits her in his anger? Do you think she likes quitters?
- What about the kids who see their mom throwing dishes across the room out of frustration when she is drunk? Don’t you think they would like her quit?
- What about the family burying their little child because someone couldn’t “hold their drink” after the ballgame and crashed into them on the highway? Don’t you think they wish he’d have quit?
- What about the man who has tried to stop his addiction to alcohol, but just keeps falling back into it? He wants to quit, but his “friends” just draw him back in.
- What about the college student who has had to talk her roommate out of taking her own life after a drunken sorority party? Don’t you think she wishes that sweet girl would quit?
I know of very, very few lives that have not been impacted negatively by alcohol. And, yet, we see it as just part of being an adult. We see it as a way to unwind. We see it as being an adult.
We need to quit.
Lives are destroyed. Relationships are ruined. Souls are lost.
Quit.
Please, quit.
I like quitters.
AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
