Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

Hazing has often been used as a rite of passage tool for membership into many organizations throughout history, especially Greek fraternities and sororities. And although it’s definitely diminished in recent years due to increased regulations being instituted on many college campuses, hazing still goes on underground and “Burning Sands” is a great Netflix movie that depicts this quite well.

“Burning Sands” primarily revolves around the life of a pledge named Zurich (Trevor Jackson) who’s desperately trying to overcome that which his father never accomplished, that being to become a member of a black fraternity named “Lambda Lambda Phi.” The film begins during the final week of pledging, which for all purposes is called Hell Week, and showcases how Zurich’s academic and personal life get totally thrown to the side during it. Instead, his world becomes one where he allows himself to regularly be humiliated, degraded, taunted, paddled, and disciplined again and again, by a number of already initiated brothers, all for the sake of achieving his dream to become a Lambda Lambda Phi.

Watching “Burning Sands” reminded me so much of a life I lived 25 years ago when I myself pledged a fraternity. While I may not have gone through any physical beatings during any of that process, I did experience an incredible amount of mental and emotional torture that often led me to profusely cry. Having weekly line-ups in severely overheated rooms, sometimes for as long as three hours, where my pledge class had to answer trivia questions about initiated brothers, and being screamed at when we didn’t know the answers, was probably the hardest hazing I ever went through. But add in a night where I had to drink the quantities of a bunch of shot glasses where the contents were unknown and another where I had to consume a six-pack of warm beer as fast as I could, throwing up profusely over and over again in the process, made for some hellish hazing memories I’ll never forget. Yet through it all, I wanted to become a brother so bad that I was willing to do just about anything, just like my friend did who got his arm broken during his pledging process of another fraternity, most likely from paddling, yet continued forward till he finally became a brother.

That’s how come I could relate so much to why Zurich allowed himself to endure what he did in his own pledging process in “Burning Sands”. You see, by the time an individual gets to the final week of pledging, their mind tends to become willing to do just about anything to cross over and become a brother. But sadly, as I reflected on this movie and on my own pledging process, I realized that hazing is not only incredibly dangerous and potentially deadly, it’s also something that only continues to live on because those who get hazed only become the hazers once they get in, attempting to enact their “revenge” on those pledging next, thus becoming a vicious cycle that never ends.

Thankfully, my fraternity isn’t one of them anymore, as they put an end to it some time ago. Gone are all hazing tactics, which were replaced by a pledge process that involves much healthier principles to shape a person into a future brother. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with many other fraternities, sororities, and other organizations though who still buy into the idea that hazing is ok and just a part of the rite of passage. Hence why there is always at least one death each year on a college campus somewhere due to this practice and it’s usually where alcohol was consumed to toxic levels. And there are many other hazing tools as well that are just as deadly, none of which ever really help a pledge become a better person or a better brother.

And it should be mentioned as well, that another reason why hazing, like in “Burning Sands”, continues to live on is because of the fear that’s instilled into pledges along the way. Fear that scares a person so much that they are afraid to tell anyone what they’re going through, just like what a person experiences in an abusive relationship from their abuser.

So, while I became willing to do whatever it took, including living in constant fear, just as Zurich did in “Burning Sands”, simply to become a brother, it was truly an eye-opening experience to watch this Netflix film and be reminded quite well of why hazing needs to be completely done away before any more injuries, PTSD, or deaths ever occur.

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

The only reality show I enjoying watching these days is America’s Got Talent (AGT) and although I’m usually quite amazed at the many gifted people who perform on the show, I sometimes feel a little down after watching each week’s episode simply because I don’t currently have a single talent that I could ever take onto that stage.

Yet, even though I’m not a magician, a comedian, a dancer, a singer, a dare artist, a ventriloquist, or any of the other types of acts that tend to make it past the first round on AGT, I do have a talent to communicate pretty well in life through both my speech and written word. Unfortunately, that’s not something that would ever get me anywhere in the largest talent show in our country.

So why is my lack of an AGT-type talent getting me so down?

It all comes down to my ego, as it keeps trying to convince me that to matter in this world, I need to become recognized for something.

And you know what?

That’s total bullshit, excuse my French.

I matter in this world, and so do you, not because we have some talent that puts us on the map. We matter because we each have a special uniqueness that was given to us by something Greater.

And while that special uniqueness may not ever be the “something” that makes us famous, it is “something” that still does serve a very special purpose, one that I believe God brought us here to do.

Case in point, I have personally witnessed how my words, both written and verbal, have helped others to heal from deep wounds, to seek recovery from addiction, to make peace within themselves, to find forgiveness, and so much more. And I give all that credit to God for giving me a talent that continues to grow.

So, while that may never be a talent I could ever take onto the AGT stage in front of Simon Cowell, Mel B., Heidi Klum, and Howie Mandel, it is something I feel I’m taking onto a much greater stage every single day in life, and that’s God stage, which is always all around me.

There, I perform to the best of my ability in each article I write, in every moment I share in a recovery meeting, and all the other times I share my experience, strength, and hope with others.

But, if you’re like me, and tend to still find yourself feeling from time to time that you don’t matter, especially when you start comparing yourself to the many gifted and talent people in the world who are stepping onto stages like AGT, remember, you too have special skills that are making a difference in this world and just as important to God.

It may be the ability to raise a child well.

It may be the ability to soothe people.

It may be the ability to organize things.

It may be the ability to light up any room you walk into.

It may be the ability to teach.

Or it may be something else.

Regardless of what it is, I truly believe we each have gifts and a uniqueness that makes us special in God’s eyes, ones I also believe we “perform” on God’s stage every day, and ones that God never, ever, buzzes us off of. In fact, it’s probably quite the opposite, as ultimately, to God, I think we’re all winners, and that’s why I know I matter, even if I never appear on America’s Got Talent…

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

While there are some who end up getting confined to their homes due to house arrest, there are others who must do the same because of serious health issues and that’s precisely the premise of the movie “Everything, Everything”.

“Everything, Everything” is about a 17-year old girl named Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) who has something called Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disorder (SCID), which in simple terms is a rare condition where one’s antibodies are not able to property fight off infection. Because of this, for as far back as she can remember, Maddy has been restricted to the safe confines of her sterile home where her companions have only ever been her mother Pauline (Anika Noni Rose), her nurse Carla (Ana de la Reguera) and Carla’s daughter Rosa (Danube Hermosillo). And other than an online support group that she occasionally chats with, Maddy has no one else to occupy her life with except her creative architecture projects. That all changes though when she stares out her bedroom window one day and catches the eye of her new neighbor, Olly Bright (Nick Robinson), as he’s moving in. Later that day, Olly attempts to visit her by bringing a gift in the form of a Bundt cake, which both he and the gift are promptly turned away by Pauline, who makes it abundantly clear that she wants no one else to be a part of Maddy’s life. Yet fate has another plan, as one evening when Maddy stares over into the window across from hers, she realizes it’s Olly’s room when he suddenly appears, smiles, and waves at her. He then proceeds to show her his sense of humor by doing some funny things to the failed Bundt cake gift and soon they begin to connect more and more after he writes his cell phone number on his bedroom window. Before long, Maddy begins to feel something she’s never quite felt before and that’s a longing to live life to its fullest, no matter what the cost and this is something I truly could relate to.

Living life to its fullest is something I’ve haven’t been able to do much of in recent years due to my own health issues. And while I don’t know exactly what it would feel like to spend over 16 years of my life living in my house like Maddy had to, never once being able to step foot outside, I still could relate, as I’ve had to watch much of the world go on around me, engaging in plenty of things I haven’t been able to do, ever since my health physically declined a number of years ago. So even though I’ve been free to walk out of my house every single day without potential consequences unlike Maddy, it still has felt like I’ve been in a prison of sorts like her home was to her in the film.

Yet, at the same time, after watching this movie, I had a lot more gratitude in life with the realization there are people just like Maddy in the real world, who are permanently stuck in their homes or in hospital beds due to their own health issues, as thankfully I’m currently not one of them. There are days though when I do wake up and struggle to get out of bed due to the level of pain I feel, but I always push myself to still get up and eventually walk out my front door to participate in life, because I know that tomorrow may never come and I too want to live life to its fullest and choosing to remain home is not doing that at all.

So, although I may not be able to do various things yet that I long to do again, like rock climb, hike, and go to amusement parks, I have a spiritual drive within me just like Maddy did, that keeps me going. And while Olly’s unconditional love for Maddy became the spark she needed to eventually break free from her prison and begin living life more to its fullest, God’s unconditional love of me is that which continues to drive me to do the same.

The bottom line is that I truly believe unconditional love, no matter where it comes from, is strong enough to overcome anything, just like it was for Maddy in the movie “Everything, Everything” and like it will be with me in life one day too…

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