Category: Words To Live By

I often think that the main problem in our world is how many of us focus vast quantities of negative energy on some issue that’s “out there”, rather than working on the source of all that negative energy, which is ultimately within us.

Lately, it seems as if everywhere I go, everyone has a negative opinion about this pandemic, especially when it comes to the vaccinated versus unvaccinated. At the gym the other day, I overheard a guy angrily talking about one of his wife’s family members who wasn’t following the same path he was when it came to how the virus was being handled. He spent at least 30 minutes bashing this other person who wasn’t even present to defend themselves. Last year this negative energy was focused on the Biden versus Trump and Democrats versus Republicans ordeal. Just prior to that when the pandemic began, it was the masked versus maskless. And before that was how people viewed the “MeToo” movement and so on. All of this has left me wondering why we keep on focusing on what’s wrong with the world, rather than looking within at the source of all this negativity.

I love what Bill Wilson once wrote about this very thing in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous so long ago now. He said, “Our actor is self-centered, ego-centric, as people like it to call it nowadays. He is like the retired businessman who lolls in the Florida sunshine in the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation; the minister who sighs over the sins of the twentieth century; politician and reformers who are sure all would be Utopia if the rest of the world would only behave; the outlaw safe cracker who thinks society has wronged him; and the alcoholic who has lost all and is locked up. Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity? Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.”

Look, I’m not innocent in any of this and am just as guilty. I can easily get caught up in the latest drama in the world and how I think it should be handled better. But, in all reality, does any of my negative opinion surrounding some issue make any bit of a difference. The reality is no.

Buddhism talks much about this, that the world will always look imbalanced to us for so long as the world within us remains imbalanced. 12 Step recovery says it slightly different in that every resentment and every bit of negativity we feel towards someone or something is really about ourselves and some selfish, self-seeking, dishonest or fear-based thing within. In light of that, at the core, here’s the harsh reality I’ve come to learn as the truth in my own life.

Even if this pandemic went completely away right now, in the blink of an eye, something else is going to take its place that will annoy me, where I’ll want to channel my negativity energy towards, talking about it to anyone who’ll listen, expelling it outward, even going so far as to share it in one negative posting after another on social media, thinking it will somehow make a difference in how I feel. It never does, as doing so only expands the negative energy we feel. I’ve experienced this quite well when my health gets the best of me and I start sending that negative energy outward towards some issue I see in the world I don’t like, when it’s really my pain that I don’t like.

Nevertheless, at some point, this pandemic will end and when it does, are you just going to shift your negative energy about it onto the next thing in life? Maybe it’s time for all of us to really take a hard look within and see why we are being negative in the first place about one issue after another in this world. I know from personal experience that doing so does a far better job of dispelling that negative energy, just as much as I know that continuing to share it outwardly is going to do nothing but make it grow even stronger within us…

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

2,443 people and 2 trillion dollars. That’s the number of service members who died from oversees duty in Afghanistan and the amount of money that was spent by the United States on all the war efforts we had there over 20 years of time.

As I sit here and reflect on those numbers and the sudden Taliban takeover of Afghanistan just over a week or so ago now, I am extremely saddened. Saddened for the people still there who don’t want to be there anymore. Saddened for all those who can’t escape. Saddened for all those lives lost over there. Saddened for all the families affected by those lives lost. And saddened for each of those who returned home and have PTSD now, have become homeless, are addicted to drugs, or worse. I’ve met several of them.

People continue to compare what happened in Afghanistan to what happened in Vietnam. I wasn’t alive for the majority of the Vietnam War and was only three years old when it finally ended, so I can’t comment on any potential comparison. What I do know is that the $300 million that was spent per day in Afghanistan for 20 consecutive years could have changed countless lives for the better here within our own borders, through any number of programs. From hunger to homelessness, health care to addiction, and everything in between, I struggle to fathom all the financial waste our country put into the Afghanistan war and many other wars as well.

I’m sure there are many veterans who served in Afghanistan struggling right now to understand why they were even over there given the Taliban now have full control of the country. I personally have worked in the 12 Step recovery field with a few veterans of this war myself, who are mentally and emotionally unstable now, living with massive PTSD because of their time served there. The struggles they’ve had using drugs to cope with it all seems like it was so unnecessary and shouldn’t have ever happened in the first place.

Why our country must always put ourselves into the affairs of other countries when we have countless struggles going on here that are desperate for help, I have no idea. I’m not a fan of war, or violence, and have lived long enough now to know that much of our country’s money is spent on military efforts outside our borders.

I’m sure many of the veterans of this war itself believed in what they were doing for their years served. But seeing how none of it matters now, I can’t even fathom what they must be feeling, especially those who lost limbs, sight, hearing, or became disabled in some other way from their time over there.

I also feel sorrow for every single person living in our country who has family in Afghanistan still. I know of one person going through this presently and how deeply it’s affecting them, how powerless, and helpless they feel over it all and my heart reaches out to them and others just like them.

While I’m all for protecting our borders for any threats that may hit our soil, I’m definitely not in support of putting our countries interests in the affairs of other countries, because it always seems to come at the expense of our soldiers and many of our citizens as well.

That’s why I pray that the U.S. will one day stop spending so much money on military efforts and instead work more on bringing peace amongst ourselves here in our own borders, as there are countless people in need in every city, of every state, and probably even on the very street you live on.

Nevertheless, my prayers go out to all those who have been affected by the war in Afghanistan, who are presently experiencing the pain and brokenness of it all. May you each be comforted in knowing I care and may you all receive blessings in your efforts to heal and come to a place of  peace within.

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

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 12^th 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