In the world of Shazam (the superhero formerly known as Captain Marvel), those vices are the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man.
They are based on the list of cardinal sins from centuries ago in Christian ethics: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. This catalog of vices was popularized in the 1995 thriller "Se7en," starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Both lists include some pretty bad stuff. Wrath or hatred. Pride. Envy. Greed. Injustice. Lust. Even gluttony. All of these cause problems for people.
How in the world, though, did sloth or laziness make the cut for being a deadly sin or deadly enemy of man?
Does my penchant for binge-watching "West Wing" really pose a threat to humanity? If so, does that make the love of Netflix the root of all evil?
All kidding aside, while it may not seem as dangerous as the other vices on those lists, sloth or laziness does indeed pose a threat.
Many a college freshman has been tossed out of school as a result of laziness.
People lose jobs because of sloth.
Marriages are ruined because of it.
Sloth or laziness is really the refusal to fulfill one's responsibilities, to do one's job. That job might be cracking the books, producing for the boss, or taking out the trash. Failure to do things such as these can wreak havoc in a person's life.
The Book of Proverbs, one of the Old Testament wisdom books, warns against being what it calls a sluggard.
"How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -- and poverty will come on you like a bandit, and scarcity like an armed man" (Proverbs 6:9-11; repeated in Proverbs 24:33-34).
All of us wrestle with each of the items on those lists of vices. Every one of them poses a threat.
Maybe it's the one that appears benign that can prove the most malignant.
And maybe I wrote this blog, my first in four months, to warn myself of the vice that likes to sabotage me the most.
