My friend Cedric and I often joke about the times we are living in. Pretty much every conversation that comes up we tend to talk about any of the tragic current events happening around the world where inevitably one of us always laughingly reminds the other that, “Well, we are living in a fallen world!” But here’s the sad truth, it really does feel like we are nowadays.
All it takes to see this is to read any of the news headlines. I happen to glance at them last week and saw how quickly the Taliban terrorist group took over Afghanistan just as the U.S. troops were pulling out. Add in the ridiculously huge fires burning out of control. Massive droughts. Volcanoes erupting. Gun violence and mass shootings happening all the time. Political unrest. The pandemic of course and everyone yelling at each other at how it needs to be controlled. Then more local to home I notice how bad addiction has grown in the volunteer opportunities I do. People are dying from overdoses to alcohol and drugs more so now than ever before. And oddly enough, the strange weather patterns in my area have led to weird patterns like all the leaves coming down in droves this entire summer where it feels like I’m having to do fall cleanup every single day.
These are just some of the many things I notice seem off now in our world and I feel like everyone just keeps going on about their business hoping COVID will just go away and once it does, that life will return to some sense of normalcy. I question now whether it ever will. Because the one thing that doesn’t seem to be changing much is how we are treating each other through it all.
Yes, there are those out there who are doing their best to be selfless through these difficult times, who defy the “fallen world” concept and regularly help others from the kindness of their hearts. I’d like to believe I’m one of them, as I do try very hard to help others each day. I’m thankful when I hear stories of people doing Good Samaritan acts during these times, as I know it most definitely helps to reverse any “fallen world” trend.
My friend Steve told me how his partner Chris lost his wallet during a recent trip and didn’t have enough gas in his car to get home. A Good Samaritan filled his car fully up and then abruptly disappeared without asking for a single thing. I wish acts like this were the norm in our world. When the pandemic first hit, and people were forced to quarantine, I saw much of this happening. I saw many doing their part to defy the “fallen world” trend by paying it forward, like at many of the drive-thru’s I went through. I’m not sure what happened to all those good deeds people were doing on a daily basis, but if there is something we desperately need a lot more of in our “fallen world” right now, it’s people doing those Good Samaritan acts of kindness on a regular basis.
Look, people are frustrated. They’re tired. And they’re weary. The world feels more down than up these days to many of us. And loneliness seems to be one of the more common things I hear people suffering from, which I most assuredly can relate to. The best way to overcome all of this is to get out of ourselves and help another from the kindness of our hearts. Because the more we just take care of ourselves, focusing on our own selfish nature, the more our “fallen world” will only progress, and the more our world will continue to feel like it’s falling apart. But the more we do good unto others, asking nothing in return, the more we can reverse this trend and even shift the tide back towards the positive.
I really try every day to do something nice for another whether that’s with my partner Chris or with a sponsee from recovery or with a group I’m speaking to about addiction or with a total stranger in need. And I always feel better about myself and this world in general when I do. Today, I mowed a neighbor’s yard across the street just because I wanted to brighten their day and you know what, I saw the world in a far more positive light after I did, and at least in my own way, I feel like I helped to reverse the “fallen world”, even if for a moment.
When living in my former life of addiction on countless levels, I absolutely contributed to a “fallen world” on more days than not. Today, I do my best to live out the 12th Step to reverse that negative course of my addictive past, to help shift the present drama of the world around me, and make my own selfless mark upon society, something I desperately pray we all try doing far more of if we ever want to see the world no longer appearing “fallen”…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
