“Selma” and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Journey To Equality

Thomas Jefferson once said, “All men are created equal” and placed those very words in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. But sadly, in the 238 years that has passed since then, so many have had to fight for this very justice time and time again here in the United States. Watching the movie “Selma” was a great reminder of this and how racism, bigotry, and fear still to this day continue to stand in the way of fully achieving this very principle.

“Selma” chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s (David Oyelowo) nonviolent journey to attain equal voting rights for black people, which culminated in an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. A good portion of “Selma” centers on Dr. King’s relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) and his repeated attempts to sway the President into passing legislation to achieve those rights. Unfortunately, as it always seems to be with the government, there were more pressing issues at the time to focus on instead, such as poverty, which is exactly why Dr. King led his people to take a stand in Selma.

Like the “Eyes On The Prize” series and other Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. content I’ve seen over the years, the film highlights a number of the atrocities that took place back then by so many white men, women, and children who were filled with such an incredible amount of hate. The majority of them wanted nothing to do with equality with blacks on any level, especially when it came to voting rights. Thus they resorted to brutal beatings, killing innocent people, and verbal slander to preserve their racism and bigotry. But Dr. King’s nonviolence persevered over it all, even in Selma, and the movie itself truly does do a fantastic job showing each of the painful hurdles that he and his people had to go through to get there.

As I sit back now and reflect upon this movie, I see how a lot has changed in our country since then, but I see how a lot hasn’t changed either. There are still quite a number of racist and bigoted people here who try to oppress women, non-whites, and homosexuals on a daily basis, just to name a few. And every time I take a look at the latest news headlines, there seems to be another act of racism and bigotry that’s taken place, such as the recent events of Ferguson, Missouri.

All of this really makes me wonder on most days what it’s going to take to achieve full equality for every individual in our country, and really in this world as well. What I do know is that any violence will only ever bring forth more violence, which is what Dr. King knew down to his very core.

So I have a lot of gratitude for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and movies such as “Selma” because both remind me of the work I know I must keep on doing to uphold what I believe was the true intention of Jefferson’s words long ago.

All people are created equal.

All people…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

And PS – Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! 🙂

“What Another Thinks About You…”

“…is none of your business.”

This was one of the earliest things I was told by my first sponsor in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It stemmed from me having become overly concerned with what former sponsees, friends, and various other people were saying about me when I wasn’t around. I was reminded of this invaluable lesson once again by several individuals due to insecurities that had arisen within me recently.

I know I still have a few of them to work through and most often they’ve arisen when I’ve placed my heart and soul into a connection that ended up dissipating. Over the past few months, I’ve gone through this very thing with a long-standing friend, as well as with a handful of sponsees I had helped for a good number of months in AA. In each case, I allowed my insecurities to get the best of me, which in turn led me at random times to ask others if those people had been saying anything about me. In some cases, they hadn’t, but in others they had, and it wasn’t necessarily the greatest of things being said either. In all honesty, the only good thing that came out of me doing this behavior was in guiding me right back to that lesson of “what another thinks about you is none of your business.”

The fact is everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion of another. I know there are plenty of people out there who probably wouldn’t have the nicest of things to say about me. But I also know there are plenty out there who probably would. Except me trying to find out what someone is saying about me when I’m not around only ever leads me to being more insecure and less peaceful and serene in life. That’s a pretty lousy tradeoff just to find out what someone thinks about me now isn’t it?

So as I sit here and reflect on those words my original sponsor once told me, I believe the core issue is really in my need to simply reaffirm my belief that I’m doing the best I can in all of my connections with others. In the case of this former long-standing friend, I did everything I could to be the best of one to him and then some. And in regards to each of those former sponsees, I went above and beyond, time and time again, to help them in the 12 Steps and strengthen their recovery.

The reality is that maybe it was just time for each of those connections to end as they did and when they did. I mustn’t beat myself up over these losses because I know I truly did do the best I could with each of them. And whether they have negative things to say about me or not shouldn’t really matter, because what matters is that I am a good person with a good heart who’s doing my best in everything I put myself in nowadays. If they can’t see that, that’s on them and so is their opinions of me, which I really don’t want or need to know…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

A Structured Recovery

I’ve been asked quite a bit lately if maybe I’m just a little too structured in my recovery from addictions, including the way I sponsor someone. I have a really simple answer for whenever I’m asked this now. When I wasn’t structured in my recovery, I hardly had any recovery at all and when I wasn’t structured in the way I sponsored someone, my sponsees hardly had any of that either.

If you have no idea what I mean about structure in regards to a life of recovery, it’s probably best that I state a common fact amongst those who become addicted to anything. There’s never any structure at all for the life of an addict. Instead, the majority of their life becomes completely geared towards chasing after the substance of their addiction itself. Therefore work, plans, commitments, etc., are always secondary to seeking their addiction and often get derailed because of it.

But when a person finds a program of recovery for their addiction, most notably the 12 Steps, their life frequently resembles that of a restless canine who constantly chases one thing after another. Early on in recovery is especially when structure becomes crucial for gaining a successful recovery because without it, many generally find themselves drifting back into unhealthy behaviors and eventually their addiction itself. As for sponsorship, when there’s no structure guiding a newcomer through the 12 Steps, there’s a tendency for them to drift away, relapse, goof off, or become nothing more than a casual friend to their sponsor.

Through a tremendous amount of trial and error over the years, I’ve been able to discover that at least for me, having an unstructured recovery in any way, shape, or form, wasn’t productive or healthy for myself. That’s why I plan my days and weeks now around my recovery and not my recovery around my days and weeks. That’s why I always know where I’m going to be on most days, specifically when it comes to recovery meetings, or sponsee appointments, and the like. That’s why I always do a number of spiritual activities such as meditation and prayer each and every day without fail. And that’s why I have a week-by-week breakdown these days of the work I do with each of my sponsees as well.

So while my structured approach to recovery may not work for everyone, including those seeking sponsorship, it has worked for me, to keep me sane, sober, healthy, and spiritually centered for years. In all honesty, I think I prefer this life a lot better than the one where I was just like that restless canine seeking “treats” or “things to interest myself” on a constant basis. I never had much of a great recovery when I did. Thus I’m very grateful for my structured recovery today and for each person I sponsor who ends up discovering a structured recovery is far better than an unstructured one…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson