Category: Words To Live By

Rosenburg. Charleston, Isla Vista,. Ft. Hood, Washington, D.C. Santa Monica, Newton, Brookfield, Minneapolis, Oak Creek, Aurora, each city is where a mass shooting occurred over the past three years. In total, they have accounted for close to 100 innocent deaths. Analysts continue to argue there’s not an increasing trend to this mass violence, yet it seems like every time I look at the front page of USA Today, an outbreak of one has taken place again.

Just last week at North Arizona University in fact, another person was dead and three injured because of one of these shooting rampages.

And when each of these rampages take place, it only leads people to argue for greater gun control, while the opposing forces argue back for the continued right to bear arms and protect themselves. But nothing ever seems to get accomplished in that debate.

So what’s the solution then?

Sadly, I’m not sure if I have that answer. But what I do know is that America is glorifying violence more and more every single day. It’s in our movies. It’s in our television shows. It’s in our video games. It’s in our sports. It’s in our music. It’s everywhere. And I don’t see it going away anytime soon because people keep on gravitating towards it. In other words, the more violent something appears, the more it seems to bring in greater dollars.

And even worse, our newspapers and media continue to glorify it as well, pasting pictures of each mass killer all over the news and profiling their entire lives for days and weeks beyond every single tragedy. I often wonder if this only propels someone who’s a budding mass murder to actually go forward with their crime, especially when they feel they are a nobody and want to become a somebody.

Thus I feel the only solution I can safely come up with is to start eliminating the glorification of violence in everything. I know that’s a big undertaking, but to get there, it means each of us having to stop supporting it as well.

I’ve backed away tremendously these days from going to movies that are mega-violent because I never feel good after watching them. Occasionally, when I’ve gone against that principle and seen an Academy Award potential that had too much violence in it, I’ve left feeling charged up and full of anger.

Maybe that’s what happens to those that eventually become mass murderers? Maybe they have allowed themselves to plug into the violence in our culture over and over again, so much so that they have become de-sensitized to it and instead become charged up, angry people all the time, which is nothing more than just a ticking time bomb.

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why anyone could ever pick up a bunch of guns and then kill a ton of innocent people. But arguing for gun control or the right to bear arms is just sticking us in a perpetual pattern of debate and really doing nothing about the problem. Maybe if we stop supporting the growth of violence in our country instead, maybe if we stop paying to see more of it, maybe if we stop glorifying it in the news, then things might begin to change.

The bottom line is that it comes down to each and every one of us. We each need to be the ones to make this change, not the government. This is why I don’t gravitate towards violent-anything these days and why I choose to support expressions of unconditional peace and love to all instead. I only hope that one day we all might be doing this, because until then, I’m afraid we’re only going to keep on having to endure many more innocent deaths of God’s children in these mass shootings, which is truly a tragedy indeed…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Do you ever find yourself looking at a car’s vanity plates? I do and even have one of them on my own vehicle. While there are a ton of reasons why someone might get a vanity plate, for the car I drive regularly, my using one is quite specific.

Currently, mine says “DNTJDGE”, which of course is “Don’t Judge” and I’m sure many probably think when they see it, that it’s me pointing the finger at everyone else. While it is as much my wish that none of us judged anyone or anything in this world, I actually have this plate on my car as a constant reminder for myself because I’m not innocent either. There have been times when I’ve been doing exactly the opposite of what my plate says when suddenly someone has casually pointed to the seven letters stamped on it.

On the other side of the coin, I’d like to also say that having this plate has come in handy for others on their own spiritual journeys in life too. Take for example a truck that pulled up beside me one day where its driver yelled over and said, “Thanks for the great reminder!” When I asked what he was referring to, he said my vanity plate, because he had been getting irritated at another driver a short bit earlier. So I’ve come to appreciate having my license plate say what it does, not only because it seems to be helping me, but it seems to be helping others as well.

Prior to having this plate, I should also mention I’ve had “PSLM23”, “BURSLF”, and a few others on my cars over the years as well. All were important reminders of lessons I was trying to learn in life at the times they were on my vehicle. And as an added bonus, it’s helped some others along the way too.

While I know there are plenty out there who probably use vanity plates on their daily vehicles specifically for that, vanity, I’ve chosen to have a message on my own day-to-day car that can help me on my spiritual journey. And while I’m sure at some point I’ll get a new vanity plate down the road, I know in the meantime there’s still some work for me to do on myself when it comes to judging, which is exactly why my plate says “DNTJDGE”.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

If there was one thing I would like to have in life right now it’s a few more close friends and lately, I haven’t had much success in bringing that to fruition. I know I’ve discussed this very topic quite recently in fact, but given an incident that took place about a week ago with someone I thought I was closer to than I actually was, I felt it was rather important to revisit it again.

The reminder of this lack of closeness in my friendships came lately when a friend arrived in town that I had been talking to over the phone for most days over the past year. I was very excited to finally get some face-to-face time with him after such a prolonged period of so many in-depth phone conversations. When I inquired about whether I could have a few hours of alone time with him, apart from his family and partner, I was told he’d see what he could do and I was given a specific day to set aside. Unfortunately, he never did get back to me about those few hours I requested and when that day arrived I had set aside, I found myself feeling a little sad and hurt that we weren’t going to have any alone time. After telling him how I felt, he did put some time aside later that evening to meet with me and it was then I discovered once again that I was feeling far closer to another person than they were with me.

Sadly, this is such a repeated pattern of behavior with me over the years. I’ve honestly found myself feeling closer to a number of individuals plenty of times that I had spent considerable effort getting to know. But inevitably that has always seemed to be one-sided, meaning I’ve felt that way with them, but not them with me. It’s hard because I usually have seen the potential closeness I could have with them, yet most of the time I’m the only one doing the bulk of the work in trying to grow that friendship. And what I have at most with them instead has actually been just a casual friendship.

The fact is I think I’m likable guy and I do my absolute best these days to be there more for the needs of my friends than for myself. Unfortunately, that still hasn’t been enough to cultivate any new close friendships in recent years, which has led to a very lonely existence at times for me. Sure, I know a ton of people in the rooms of recovery from addiction and am friendly with all of them. But, what I’m looking for is something much deeper than casual friendliness.

I long to have a few connections with those who go out of there way to spend time with me, like I do with them, who treasure a spiritual connection, who maintain integrity, and are ok with truly being open and vulnerable when we hang out or communicate with each other over the phone.

Regardless, I’m still grateful for my spiritual teacher, my long standing friend from Massachusetts, and my partner, who each continue to go out of their way to really show they are there for me more than not. So while I long for having more of that with a few others in life as well, I’m going to continue trusting in God that maybe right now the only close friendships I’m meant to be working on are the ones I already have, which of course does include myself and my Higher Power… J

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson