Category: Uncategorized
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Happy All the Time
Dear Hope Nation, It’s Sunday and, although the days slip one into another in these days, it’s still Sunday. For some of us, that means a time of worship, prayer and reflection. For some of us, a day of rest. For some, a day of football. For me? Sunday is a day for stories. The…
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Victim of a self-mutiny
Dear Hope Nation, “It’s a funny thing about humility/As soon as you know you’re being humble/You’re no longer humble.” T Bone Burnett I have a similar-with-a-twist experience with depression. That is, when I’m truly depressed, it’s tough to find the energy to describe my situation. Even tougher is believing anyone else cares enough to read what I’ve…
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Squirrels & mindfulness
Dear Hope Nation, I’ve never been through a contemporary rehab for drugs or alcohol, so most of my knowledge comes second-hand from folks who have. (In the previous sentence, I used the word “modern” because I did complete a 60’s-holdover program in Landstuhl, Germany. Because it focused on a discredited form of “scream therapy” and had a barely non-zero…
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Three months until serenity, and other milestones
December 17, 2020 Dear Hope Nation, Recovery is filled with milestones, figuratively at least. Milestones, of course, are carved rocks set up beside a road to mark the number of miles to a place. They tell us how far we have to go to arrive at, for instance, Dover or Pittsburg or Keene. Since I…
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A thought experiment of sorts
Dear Hope Nation, Imagine a world where you are the smartest, most attractive, funniest, most insightful person in history. Sages come to you for advice, children are named after you and all respect your opinion in all things. Because of your greatness, all your desires are immediately fulfilled. If you want a snack of grapes…
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Wanting more than mere survival
Dear Hope Nation, Emptiness is at the center of my addiction. Whether addiction is environmental or genetic or some complex interplay between the two, my disease is like a black hole at my core, a vacuum that draws in all other parts of me. Drugs and alcohol were a way to avoid not just the…
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“The evil that men do lives after them . . .”
Dear Hope Nation, “I never intended this, of course.”—first sentence of What Trouble Looks Like, my first, unpublished novel. Yesterday I wrote about Mary Jordan, and how her perhaps unfounded faith in me led to a positive outcome. Today I move to the darker side of life and write about Scott Davis, and how his faith in…
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A chance encounter
Dear Hope Nation, A few days ago, I wrote about two incidents that demonstrated faith. In one, the belief in a man paid off; in the other, I didn’t get a roast beef sandwich. Since I spent five hours driving Friday, going to Berlin to visit a nonprofit and spend time with an old friend,…
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Reverberations of faith
Dear Hope Nation, “None of us truly knows the good we do, or, more important, the evil we prevent by our actions. Like Kierkegaard, we must leap, hopeful and filled with faith that our works matter. They do.” –Quote from my old office wall, which I think I wrote, but who can be sure? I…
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This Ain’t No Perfect World
Dear Hope Nation, I had two experiences today that demonstrate opposite poles in my life philosophy. Let me explain. I sat down with an old friend I’ll call Larry at lunchtime just to catch up and talk. I first met Larry in a previous life—not literally exactly, but close to it. I was director of…
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If you’d be willing
Dear Hope Nation, Most of you know me as either a pompous clown or a mystical nitwit, either of which applies. Oddly, I also have other roles, different parts to play in this glorious medley of extemporanea we call life. Without any effort on my part, life occasionally places me as chair of this or…
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Quietly Screaming
Dear Hope Nation, There’s a quiz at the end of this letter, but first, there’s a bit of background. Hollow, that’s how Jonah felt. Hollow with an interior of sludge. Hollow with an interior of sludge and a ringing in his ears that combined dread, horror and an intense wail of joyous pain, minus the…
Tiny White Box--Thoughts on Life, Death, Recovery, and Other Mundane Topics 