May 2

INTEGRITY MONTH: DAY 2: “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” – Bob Marley

This is a hard concept for most of us to grasp and live with or live by. Our focus on wealth and work and capitalism in this culture fosters a belief system based on monetary value, rather than spiritual value. We look at those who are wealthy and successful financially as being more worthy, somehow, of adulation and reverence. Celebrity in this culture is an astonishing phenomenon. We view those who are able to gain some kind of regular recognition in the media as being more important than those who work to do those things we truly value; such as teachers who are responsible for the education of our children, nurses and doctors who are given the responsibility of the health and care of our loved ones, farmers who grow our food, carpenters who build our homes, those who build the cars we count on to transport us safely, firemen and police officers who protect our lives and safety in our neighborhoods or in times of distress; the list is long. Why is it that we do this? We could use a shuffling of this value system to include those who inspire and uplift, those who work to clean up our ailing planet and restore the health of our ecosystem and protect and save animal species from being eliminated, those who comfort and aid the sick and dying, kind strangers who help at the scene of an accident or incident; why are these forgotten and not recognized on the evening news. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were to focus on those news stories that truly inspire us to be better people? I would love to launch the network where there is nothing but rescues and kindness and compassion reported. As we focus on those things that are abhorrent and wrong and harmful to others, their impact on people increases. We find more depression, more hopelessness, increasing addiction to those values and increasing incidence of those events. If we only reported the good and wonderful things people are doing to be of service, to help others, to uplift and inspire, I believe it could have the same benefit. To increase our awareness of, and incidence of, those acts. What if we paid millions of dollars to those who do good work with homelessness, poverty and helping feed the hungry, those who help the elderly live well in their final years and days, kind and generous acts, instead of those who can run down a field for a touchdown or those who can make a movie. Granted, many may enjoy watching these feats, but few are inspired and uplifted as they could be and would be if they were given the opportunity to learn, first-hand, the intrinsic benefits of being kind and compassionate, of doing something of service to another soul with whom they interact for only a few moments. These things are what I have come to learn by working these steps and learning to be of service and finding new and wonderful value in the things I most want to do with my sober life.