Rats Don’t Wear Boots
“Go and sin no more.” Famous words—hard, but famous. They have shown up in various forms, but the implication remains the same: with forgiveness comes the expectation that we simply stop sinning. Bob Newhart echoed a similar sentiment on MadTV as he comically told a woman to simply stop being afraid of being buried alive. Chantix would also like you to know that you can simply stop smoking with the use of their products. It seems like the adage of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is still thriving. You and your own gumption are enough to conquer your issues. The rats, however, have a different opinion.
In her book, Original Blessing, Danielle Shroyer reports a scientific study of addiction in rats. A single rat is placed in a cage with two water bottles, one with cocaine. Time after time, each rat choses the cocaine water until they overdose. Perhaps they lack gumption and bootstraps, or perhaps bootstraps are not enough. Eventually, the study broadens by adding multiple rats in the same environment simultaneously; still two water bottles, one with cocaine, but many rats together. Not a single rat died of an overdose in this setting. Not one.
Similarly, she reports on research by Johann Hari in her work, Chasing the Scream, in which she noticed that of the Vietnam veterans that became addicted to heroin during the war, 95% of them stopped using when they came home. The catalyst for stopping heroin use wasn’t simply treatments or bootstraps, but the reuniting with family and friends. Johann and Danielle conclude that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but human connection.
Groups like AA, NA, and Celebrate Recovery seem to know this intuitively. There is a real value in combating our struggles in community rather than in isolation. Whether we are talking about addictions in a clinical sense that have been learned or passed down genetically, or bad habits, or external forces working against you, or sin—the actual scientific truth is that community encourages health and success.
Go and sin no more. But when you go, go to your family, friends, and church for support. Quit smoking or drinking or whatever has taken control of your life, but with the help of those who love you. Struggle with yourself, your addictions, your sin, your issues, but not by yourself. Rats don’t have bootstraps, but even if they did, they wouldn’t be trying to pull themselves up in isolation. Stop trying to do everything by yourself; learn from the rats and struggle in community.
