Author: Andrew Arthur Dawson

A teacher of meditation, a motivational speaker, a reader of numerology, and a writer by trade, Andrew Arthur Dawson is a spiritual man devoted to serving his Higher Power and bringing a lot more light and love into this world. This blog, www.thetwelfthstep.com is just one of those ways...

The Price Of Money

On my recent travels, I was grateful to have visited a handful of islands in the Caribbean. My trip began in Puerto Rico and continued onward from there to St. Croix, St. Kitts and Nevis Island, Dominica, Grenada, St. Thomas, and finally back to Puerto Rico. Each of those islands had its own unique differences but there was one thing I noticed they all had in common. Poverty. And a lot of it.

Growing up in a middle to upper class family, I never saw a lack of the basic necessities in life of food, water, or shelter. I never experienced not having a television, a radio, nice clothing, a phone or a car. And I spent all of my time around people like me who had a lot and didn’t know what it was like to have very little.

I found it interesting that on each of those islands, there were so many people begging for money or selling hand made items at very cheap costs. What I found even more interesting and sad too is how tourists treated those island natives. The homeless were vastly ignored as their hands were outstretched. And for those selling the trinkets, they were bargained down over and over again to amounts for their products that thinned out any ability to make any profit.

To even get on the cruise I was on, a person would have needed to spend at least $1000 or more. And for those that might have travelled directly to those islands, even more would have to be spent. During any vacation, people buy drinks that aren’t cheap from bottled waters to juices to alcohol. They might even go to the casinos and drop several hundred dollars a day. They will go to restaurants and spend over $100 on a meal. Yet, these same people see a product on a table of one of these poverty stricken people who are asking for a few dollars and they refuse to pay what is being asked, instead bargaining it downward to a much lower number. With change and single dollar bills rolling around in their pockets, these same people will walk by the islanders in tattered clothing asking for help and judge them.

Many if not most of these island people live in shacks and don’t have the abundance of what any of us will ever experience in our lifetimes. On this trip, I did something completely different. I gave more than what was being asked for in the few things that I did buy. I generally only buy necklaces made of shells, beads, or crystals when I travel. I have many from around the world and enjoy wearing them. On this trip, when just a few dollars was being asked, I gave a few dollars more. What I always found interesting, was the total look of surprise on these people and a smile of gratitude when I did that. A dollar goes much farther in these places then what it may go for in the continental United States. As for those that were begging, when I walked by, I gave a dollar or two and did not judge them on what it might be used for.

For most of my life, money in my pocket was spent as I wished. I ignored those with less, and did what I could to get more. I judged those who had less and said it was their fault and never reached out to help any of them. Seeing all of those people with next to nothing on these Caribbean islands brought out a level of compassion within me. If I can buy a bottle of water for $3 to $4, why can’t I spend an extra dollar on a trinket? If I can go on a lavish vacation and spend a considerable amount of money, why can’t I give an extra dollar to a homeless person?

I truly believe that the world’s poverty issues could be solved if everyone pooled their abundances together to help those less fortunate. Sadly, most don’t and most won’t. I know that my desire today is to serve God faithfully and do my part. I attempted to do just that on this vacation, and will continue to do what I can both when I’m on a vacation and when I’m not. What I have today in my life would be considered luxurious to so many. Poverty is everywhere, even close to home where I live. I want to do my part in sharing any abundance I have and it’s my hope that more and more people might do the same.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

A Life of Gratitude

It’s quite easy to be negative. Sometimes it seems that more and more people are becoming that way all around me. I feel it’s like a virus that slowly creeps upon me, ready to invade all the parts of me trying to stay as positive as I can with what I go through pain-wise everyday.

For most of my life I was a negative person. I saw the sky as always full of clouds regardless if it was a sunny day or not. The slightest thing would turn a great day into a horrible one. And I criticized just about everything in my daily conversations with anyone.

I’ve really worked hard on this, and I do my best today to keep my distance from those who are like I once was. I’ve learned that the more I spend time around those that are highly negative, the more I start to become like them as well. On my recent vacation, I was on a cruise where it was apparent to my partner and I that the ship had an abundance of negativity present. During a massage that I splurged for, the masseuse commented similarly saying that the rest of the spa practictioners were noticing it as well.

It’s hard for me to fathom why there was so much negativity present in the first place. Just being on a ship in the carribean with sunny 80 degree days, having meals served to me in several courses daily, and having a room steward to clean up after me is more than most people will ever experience in their lifetime. My cruise stopped at five different islands in the carribean. At each island, I spent time on some exotic beach while the rest of the people I knew back home were dealing with another 24 inches of snow dropping and freezing cold weather while they went to work.

With the transition I’m going through to become a more God-centered individual, I have tried on every level to remain grateful for what I have in my life. For most of my life prior to the past few years, I was probably like the vast majority of the complainers on the ship I just sailed on. Spending a lot of money on a vacation in the past would raise the bar level for me on what I felt like I deserved. My expectations became higher and at the same time so did my dissastisfactions. It made me wonder if that was what was happening on my cruise. During it,  I noticed that when I spent time talking to people around the ship that were criticizing it or anything else for that matter, that I slipped into my old behaviors and became just as critical.

I’ve had more in my life than what 90 percent of the world’s population may ever see. I’ve been to places most never will be able to afford to go to. I’ve dined out at many four and five star restaurants when so many are starving to death somewhere in the world.  I’ve lived in homes that many homeless people would dream of living in. I’ve owned possessions such as cars or other gadgets that are considered luxuries and unobtainable to most families. And up until a few years ago, I was completely and utterly ungrateful for what I had and what I was still able to do. Over the past year, I’ve prayed to God to become more grateful on every level and in every area of my life. I write every night in a journal at least nine things that I’m grateful for in the day that has just passed. And I thank God verbally each and every moment when I’m experiencing something that I know most people might never be able to see or do or buy or own, in their entire lifetime.

Being on a cruise and having gourmet meals, visiting beautiful islands, and even just being able to take a vacation like that is something I’m extremely grateful to God for today. While the ship may have been full of negative people, there was one who was doing his best to focus on what was good and wonderful, than what was lacking and frustrating. I had my downfalls at moments during my vacation, but all in all, I was more positive than negative than any other time I’ve travelled in the past. I only have God to thank for that. I know the more I strive to be a God-centered individual, the more I will remain grateful in my life for all of what I have and all of what I experience.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Kings Cream

I decided I wanted to write about a really wonderful place I found in my recent stay in Ponce, PR. Whenever I travel somewhere lately, I generally like to try something of local flair. With a few days to spend on my own, I decided that I would do some venturing out during that time. In a recent posting, I talked about how there are things that sometimes are right in front of us when we are looking for them. The subject of that posting was this specific night that I went into downtown Ponce. That evening I had planned to dine at a local Spanish restaurant, see a few sites within walking distance, and then have ice cream at a very well known place in all of Puerto Rico named Kings Cream. Thankfully I was able to find all three, especially Kings Cream, after spending time being lost.

In most cases, Kings Cream is a place that if one was driving down the street and saw the sign, they probably wouldn’t stop. Appearing essentially as a hole in the wall in a slightly run down section of the city, I parked and walked in to look at the flavors. Everything was in Spanish which I kicked myself for not knowing. I found the place on Trip Advisor, which I use often when I travel. It was rated by quite a number of people with close to five stars. What Kings Cream is known for is having unique flavors of ice cream that one probably wouldn’t find anywhere else. I recognized one word, “Coco” and ordered a medium cup of coconut ice cream. And it was amazing.

What’s funny is that the old me would never have ventured out alone to a place in an old city that primarily speaks a language I didn’t know. What’s even funnier is that I went back again another night and got a tropical fruit flavor named guanabana which was even better than the coconut. While I was there, I found out they even had passion fruit, corn, and pineapple as flavors. I had a sample of the corn ice cream which was definitely unique. Regardless, for a place that only charged a couple of bucks for a very large portion of their delectable ice cream, I was glad that I made the trip and am even more glad that I’m much open in my life to trusting in God to try new experiences.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson