Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

There are a few things that really remind me of my father, Glenn Miller being definitely one of them and thanks to the Glenn Miller Orchestra performing in Tiffin, Ohio last Friday night, I was able to spend a few hours fondly remembering my Dad.

When I was growing up, my father regularly played Glenn Miller’s music in our home, all on vinyl. And whenever he did, he would tend to wave his finger and bop his head to the tunes, usually leading me to the incessant rolling of my eyes, wondering how anyone could like the Big Band sound. You see, at the time I was mostly into hip hop and rap music, so the idea of listening to the swing melodies of something like “In The Mood” or “Pennsylvania 6-5000” totally bored the heck out of me. Yet, years after my father’s passing, I began to notice that anytime I’d hear Glenn Miller’s music anywhere, like in a store, a restaurant, at a friend’s house, in a movie, or on a television show, I’d frequently smile and wave my finger and bop my head to it, just like my Dad once did. And that’s precisely why a guy like me, who usually listens these days to nothing but electronica and house music, found myself utterly excited when I saw that the Glenn Miller Orchestra was actually coming to Tiffin, Ohio, just an hour away from my home in the middle of May. But, even better was when my close friend Frank, who’s actually from Tiffin, informed me I didn’t have to buy tickets to it, as he was given four of them as a gift from someone he knew. It’s then I wondered if maybe I was in alignment with the Universe for a brief moment, given how far off I’ve felt lately from the Divine alignment of things.

Regardless, when the night of the concert finally arrived, I decided to invite my father’s Spirit to join me that evening, as I couldn’t imagine him not being present with me for such an event. And in all honesty, I couldn’t remember if my father ever got to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra during his lifetime, so for me this was a special occasion that I really wanted my Father’s Spirit to somehow be with me.

Not too long after that silent prayer and invite, I took my seat in The Ritz theater in Tiffin, along with my partner Chris, Frank, and another friend I invited named Kyle. As we all looked down upon the stage, I saw the setup just like it appeared on some of the Glenn Miller vinyl albums I inherited from my father and felt my heart flutter a little. I also experienced some goose bumps at the same time and for a swift moment, I felt as if I was probably making my father proud for going to see and hear something he once loved so much.

When the concert began shortly thereafter, it started with a song titled “Moonlight Serenade”, which was one that my father loved to slow dance to with my mother. From there it picked up quickly into many of the tunes that my father used to play oh so often. And while I might have cringed over and over again in my younger years during all those moments when the needle on those records played Glenn Miller’s songs throughout our house, I instead smiled in my balcony seat and felt a few tears well up in my eyes, as I experienced a fond remembrance of my father.

And for the course of almost two hours that evening, I waved my finger and bopped my head just like my Dad once did and could almost see him sitting there next to me doing the same. But you know what, I actually think he heard my silent prayer and invite that night because I truly believe he was there that evening, as my heart went home that night feeling quite full of love for someone I truly miss and will always love…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Why don’t uplifting and spiritual-based TV shows last very long on the air these days? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself ever since another one of them got cancelled recently that I was loyally following and is now on the dead pile of many others I watched in years prior.

The show was “Kevin (Probably) Saves The World” on ABC and I was extremely disappointed when I learned it got cancelled because it was one of those that truly could make a person feel better by the end of each and every episode. Several times in fact, I found myself feeling tears of joy drop from my eyes while watching it and that’s a rare thing indeed in my life as of late.

Nevertheless, shows like this usually don’t make it past their first season and if somehow they do, they rarely make it beyond subsequent ones. I’ve seen this happen time and time again with many other inspiring shows in years past like “Eli Stone”, “Joan of Arcadia”, “Tru Calling”, “Early Edition”, and “Wonderfalls”. Each attempted to draw in audiences through spiritual elements that tended to deal with the nature of God, yet none ever garnered enough Nielsen ratings to keep them on the air for very long.

Instead, people seem far more interested in content during the past decade that only mimics everything one could see in the news.  In other words, the majority of television has mostly focused on reality shows or content that was centered around crime, violence, bloodshed, adultery, deception, murder, war, raciness, and well you get the point.

Yet, there are people just like me who keep clamoring for more uplifting and spiritual-based shows that people of all ages could enjoy. Shows that teach good values and positive principles. Honestly, I miss those years when I was growing up when the majority of programming on the air was more about that than bloodshed and sex.

But television tends to mirror where our culture is at in any given point in history and thus right now it’s far more common to see shows focusing on violent and edgy content, rather than shows focusing on something like a guy named Kevin who’s tasked by God to help find the remaining righteous souls on the planet to help save it from becoming a faithless society.

Regardless, I truly miss those days when I was growing up where more spiritual shows like this were on the air including “Touched By An Angel” and “Highway To Heaven” or even those good-natured and positive-message-filled shows like “The Facts Of Life”, “Silver Spoon”, “Different Strokes”, “Three’s Company”, “Happy Days”, “The Love Boat”, “Fantasy Island”, and more. I remember content back then being far less violent and racy, and I learned a lot about the spiritual principles I now try to live by today because of many of them.

So, as I ponder the loss of yet another spiritual-minded and positive-feeling television show like “Kevin (Probably) Saves The World”, I’ve come to the acceptance that this trend is only going to continue so long as people keep tuning into shows that mimic the negative actions of our current society. Hopefully one day, programming will become a lot more uplifting and spiritual-based and will merely reflect a better society that we all are finally living in…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

I’ve been a fan of the television show “Mom” since it debuted in the fall of 2013, mostly because it has dealt with a light-hearted take on people in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. But recently I watched an episode that really pissed me off, so much so, that I felt the need to write about it.

Oddly, the title of this episode was called “Esta Loca and a Little Klingon”, which for the life of me I’m not sure why. Regardless, one of the main characters, Jill (Jamie Pressley) was in a chronic relapse mode and constantly drunk dialing her sponsor Christy (Anna Faris) and Christy’s mother Bonnie (Allison Janney). While that’s actually something that occasionally happens in the recovery from addiction realm, it’s how one responds to those types of calls that makes all the difference.

In the episode, Christy and Bonnie proceeded to immediately drop anything they were doing every time Jill called or texted drunk. In fact, at one point, when Jill’s housekeeper called and told Christy that Jill was at her own home totally inebriated, Christy was out celebrating with her boyfriend Patrick’s for his birthday at a nice restaurant. It was also not the first time that Jill had done this to Christy and Patrick and it was at this point in the episode, that I got truly irritated at how the show was portraying the way one should deal with a person in a chronic relapse mode.

From what I’ve learned over the years, through Al Anon, sponsors, and people who’ve been around a long time in recovery, one NEVER, EVER, caters to someone who is choosing to keep getting drunk. I remember being told by my first sponsor and a number of other long-time sober people that if someone was to ever call in that state, you simply telling them “Call me back when you’re sober.” Because frankly, a person who’s inebriated or high on any substance, is not going to be receptive to anything that a sober person has to offer them. Rather, they usually only want people to feel sorry for them, to cater to them, and to baby them, which isn’t healthy at all for either them or the person attempting to come to their rescue.

In my past, there was a guy from my own life who I used to run over to his home every time he picked alcohol back up, hoping that my action might somehow help him eventually choose sobriety again. But, all it turned out to be in the long run through that repetitive action, was me care-taking and building up codependency within me, and him as well.

The harsh reality is that no one can save a drunk or an addict. NO ONE. And coming to a drunk’s or addict’s beckon call every time they pick up is only going to enable them to keep on doing it, over and over and over again. Sometimes, the best action is to just let them “sit in their shit”. And I mean that literally. Trying to “save” someone in the midst of their relapse can often act the very opposite on what one is trying to achieve. It can keep a person in their addiction for far longer.

So, yes, an episode of Mom showed what so many people in this world often try to do when someone they love gets in a perpetual state of alcoholism and drug addiction. It showed people rescuing, care-taking, and doing very codependent behaviors that aren’t healthy at all, not for the people who are sober and not for the people who are in a relapse mode.

While I may entertain a phone call at a special event, a birthday meal, or anything of the sort, by a person I’m sponsoring in recovery, if I discover during that call that they are actively engaged in their addiction, I will tell them I love them, I care about them, but I won’t talk to them anymore until they choose to sober up. Yet, on the contrary, if one of them ever called me up and were stone-cold sober, and said they were about to relapse and needed my help, then and only then, would I leave what I’m in the middle of doing, to go help them. Because that indeed is how a healthy program of recovery is meant to work, at least from the perspective I’ve learned.

Nevertheless, hopefully the TV show “Mom” may show in a future episode how unhealthy it ultimately is to care-take, babysit, coddle, or rescue any person who’s choosing to chronically relapse, because the reality is that nothing anyone does can ever help them remain sober until they choose to practice Step One in entirety themselves. And quite frankly, that often tends to come when a drunk or addict is left utterly alone to “sit in their shit.””

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson