Alcoholics Anonymous Blog/Video August 30 DonInLondon Step 8 "Amends And Willing"
August 30, 2013: "in the moment of now, if our emotions fit with what is going on, no matter whether it is good bad or ugly, it is the best that this moment can be." And how often can we say that our emotions fit with the moment? Does something happen right now which triggers a memory, which triggers a desire, which triggers something which makes us very uncomfortable in the moment of now. When we feel our gut wrench, our feelings rise up, what are we going to do?
I feel like the world is in a state of outrage about what we know is happening in various countries. And the world lives on a knife edge some of the time, when feelings run high, and all the thinking goes into stopping something or starting something without knowing what the outcome will be. And although we know in the UK that crimes against humanity have been carried out, and there is an obvious target, politicians have said no to military intervention without facts which are beyond refute. And there are very strong feelings, that whatever the outcome of enquiry and judicial reviews, a rogue state continues to wreak havoc. Two wrongs don't make a right, and the world cannot agree on what needs to be done. And yet, something will be done. Not by me, and not in my name. And the reason I say this, when other conflicts have led into years and years of horror, retribution can serve little purpose, no matter what is done if there is no freedom of choice, a revolution of some sort is always the outcome.
And I don't know the answers to the world and what it is doing. And when we say there's a problem when good men or women do nothing, we are looking outwards at those with notional power to do something. Learning right and wrong starts in our own hearts, the feelings we have and the actions we take. In recovery, when feelings start to really matter and guide actions, there can be quite a delay when feelings are at extremes, simply because we learn to think about the consequences of our actions, not only the consequences for ourselves, we learn about the consequences for other people around us. It is a double-edged sword, extreme feelings, lead to extreme actions and we don't know sometimes what the consequences will be if we do not think hard enough about our motives, and what happens next. Sometimes extreme situations, there needs to be an immediate and extreme reaction to stop further harm.
In the last few days the remembrance of a speech: "I have a dream…" About equality and judging people by their actions and their conduct and not prejudice about their colour or creed. All embracing within the international articles of human rights. When we look closely to home in any country, how often do those in power undermine basic human rights? Some say get your own house in order first and then look outwards. And of course in a complicated world we do not live alone, and we do not live alone as countries. Something has to start somewhere, and we have to find a way forward. I'm very lucky, with the help of many, balance has been restored as well as sanity one day at a time.
If only people could all be restored to sanity one day at a time? They are! Unfortunately not always on the same day. So the best we can do most of the time is examine our conscience, our personal conduct today and how it will be: even though life will be difficult, it could be good difficult, but difficult and ugly difficult. Unity and principles and purpose have taught me how to get out of the madness of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And so in a very good way I have learned and continue to learn how to be a good citizen and part of something bigger than me.
We all have a voice to the good, we all have the opportunity to say how we feel and make a statement which serves to good conscience. And we have the right to vote for and against what we believe to be the best path. If we choose apathy, even if we are good people, we have no voice. Strangely and peculiarly our UK Parliament seems to have developed some moral fibre. Of course that is a personal opinion, and not one shared by all. In the face of an obvious evil, obvious truth about the evil, there is yet to be a proven way forward agreeable to everyone. No one in their right mind wants evil to continue? It is very hard to judge the motives, the reasons, the politics, the global picture, when global peacekeepers allow evil on their watch to occur.
Statesmen, those who are real statesman are above politics, above self-interest, see the vision with clarity, see the big picture with clarity about the common good. A crime against humanity is against the common good as outlined in "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948." This declaration applies to each individual who draws breath on this planet. We need some real statesman, not just potentates and temporary leaders, we need some real statesman or this world will crumble far faster than nature might destroy it. Indeed we all live in the moment of now, some live responsively, some live reactively and most politicians with self-interest and self aggrandisement at their core. And the problem of the moment, when it comes to politics, there is expectation of action when no action might be the correct path in the short-term. And so in the vision of the big picture when evil grows because good men do nothing, there could be a greater evil growing when good men do not know what they are doing.
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