A call for wisdom and faith

It seems like every time we look up, some thug on TV is running full tilt, an old bedstead in hand, at a store window. Rioting and demonstrations have been frequent occurrences, and the media, attracted to “shiny objects,” have given them a ton of coverage glorifying their behaviors.

“If it bleeds, it leads” still applies in newsrooms.

Lost in the mayhem are decent law abiding citizens trying to make a living, raise children or enjoy retirement in the midst of mindless destruction. It’s time the media focused more on the victim’s side of the story and gave more support to law enforcement.

Over the years, I have worked for newspapers as a reporter, owned newspapers myself, and taught classes for corporate clients at an ad agency on how to thwart newspapers. I know about the media, and I agree that there is a liberal bias. It’s a fact, and doesn’t seem likely to change.

Dr. Robert Lewis, one of three founders of Little Rock’s Fellowship Bible Church in 1977 and the international Men’s fraternity program in 1982 (I attended the first class in Little Rock) supplies insights in his Men’s Fraternity Bible on four popular but flawed assumptions about what is wrong with us-both men and women:

1. Poor self esteem. This theory explains humanity’s problems along these lines: “The problem with people is not that they are bad but that they think badly of themselves.”
2. Others are to blame. The problem isn’t me, its you.
3. Lack of education. Somewhere in the past we began to assume that if we were all educated enough our society’s problems would be eliminated. The facts do not support such a claim.
4. Defective genes. In this view our problems can be raced to genetic issues. These destructive impulses are in my genes make me do these things.”

There is another international organization that would not tolerate these four excuses. I refer to Alcoholics Anonymous. My old friend in recovery, Don G.  wrote a book several years ago titled “Off the Walls” containing more than 5,000 sayings culled from AA meeting rooms around the world. Here are just 35 samples:

 Acquiring wisdom

1. I had to realize I wasn’t going to change my thinking with my thinking.
2. For the longest time I thought I had been in a rut. Then my sponsor told me that when you can’t see out of either side, it’s deeper than a rut.
3. If I stay sober, then I will always have a purpose in my life. That will be to help carry this message.
4. Adversity does not suppress character, it reveals it.
5. I thank God for helping me find AA, and I thank AA for helping me find God.
6. It’s so much easier to be caring about people than it is to be judgmental about them.
7. Surrender is great, but it doesn’t mean much without obedience.
8. Nothing was ever taken away from me. In my alcoholism, I either tore it up, ran it off or threw it away.
9. We’re climbing a mountain that has no summit, which is better than sliding down a valley that has no bottom.
10. I’m not going to say that I’ll never drink again. If I say that, then I won’t need to go to a meeting.
11. I didn’t know anything about character defects except those I saw in other people.
12. It says, self-seeking will “slip away.” It doesn’t say it will get up and run.
13. The truth will set you free, but the messenger might tick you off.
14. We are not “old timers.” We are “long timers” in the program. If you live one day at a time, you’re never old.
15. Since coming to the program, every morning is a birthday. So, Happy Birthday, everyone.
16. “Figure it out” is not an AA slogan for a good reason.

Love

1. Tough love is harder for me to do than it is for you to take. But today I’d rather step on your toes than stand on your grave.

Gratitude

1. A man asked me if I was proud of how long I had been sober. I said, “No. I’m grateful.”

Change

1. At first I thought that anything I accepted I had to like or agree with. Finally I found out that isn’t so.
2. It’s tough growing up in public.
3. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.
4. I used to believe that the louder I got the righter I was.
5. I used to have bad days. Today I have bad moments.

Friendship

1. I’d rather walk in the dark with a friend than in the light alone.

Resentment

1. Expectations are premeditated resentments.

Humor

1. I realized I’d finally hit bottom when I found myself in treatment trying to eat a pork chop with a plastic spoon.