Last night I was watching a documentary on Discovery Health called the ¬? ton man.

This is an amazing story of a man that literally had to be cut out of the side of his bed room and taken to a hospital to lose weight. One of the side stories here is that he ate exclusively McDonald’s burgers for a good part of the last year before he was removed. Someone had to get them for him and here in lies the title of this post. Why would someone continue to bring this to him even though he was over 1000 pounds and couldn’t move?

To do this someone needed to be an enabler in order to (excuse the pun) “feed the addiction”. Someone knowing that this was killing him continued to do more harm by getting the next Big Mac. Could any of you in this same situation do the same? We collectively share our heads at something like this and proclaim that we couldn’t possibly do something like this. Yet are we as free from this type of behavior to feel we can pass judgment?

How may of us buy a bottle of alcohol for a spouse, parent or significant other simply because the drunkenness is better than the fight? How about the woman that takes the next beating and doesn’t turn the abuser in? How about the loved one of a gambler that works 2 jobs so that they can support this habit? Or maybe the person that gives some money to somebody in debt and knows that they have a shopping problem. A mother that buys the candy for the child just so the whining doesn’t continue.

Do you act as an enabler? Do you give in even when you know the consequences may be bad? Do you do it just because you’re tired of the fight? Hey this could be as simple as giving the family dog some scraps from the table or an extra treat since you know taught him to whine for it in the first place. Do you know someone that enables? Drop a comment here if you have an experience from trying to do the right thing or know someone that does this.