True Indepenence Days

July 04. Hello my many friends & I am so grateful there are many of you today. Happy & safe celebration of Independence Day. As most of the work world has Monday off some will do a little more partying than celebrating, I know because I was one of them for many years. The important part is that nobody gets hurt & everyone is safe & urges eachother to not drive if they were intoxicated. With the best of wishes for all, I'd love to share my day. I started the morning heading to work like any other Sunday, we fought as vendors to keep the market open because management wanted the day off. A day off can mean the difference of scraping by or staying ahead for some of us. I was already twirling thoughts around from the previous day & conditions in my life that I am to say the least "confused" about. All I knew was that I was inspired as it was Independence Day & I had the choice to keep pushing forward in my life. I did just that & the day turned out to be twice as good as it was yesterday, in the end we were proven right to fight to keep the market open. After a still long morning & afternoon it finally reached 2 o'clock & I had to close up before the lights were shut off. Out the door I went for a coffee & to think a little while, trying to make a decision I was holding off on & at the same time remain grateful.

I got home & had a quiet house, say for the occasional boom or report from a rocket going off. While in that quiet contemplation I got to consider all things independence. Here it was, Independence Day, the day of celebrating freedom & I was holding myself prison to a decision which only my higher power knew the outcome anyway. It finally dawned on me that the decision could wait, there was a life right now to enjoy & take advantage of its fullest promises. I was sober still afterall & growing every day in my spiritual life. Looking back at the sick & shell of a man that I was when in my active addiction, I was in fact the most free I have ever been in my life to date. Some would argue that I lived in America, home of the free since birth & that I was always free, their vision is too narrow. As a young child I was bound by carelessness & a carefree lack of understanding & scope. In my later childhood I was already accustomed to doing drugs & getting drunk as a form of dealing with problems, celebrating milestones in life, and having what I equated to as fun. The ability of chemicals to give me a case of the "F__K It's" or to give me back that carefree attitude I knew as a child was actually creating a prison around me, one brick & steel bar at a time.

Like people trapped by a dictator or terrorist nation, I was told by someone else how to live my life. The only difference was that the commander in my case was alcohol & drugs, it's ability to rule me was flawless for reasons I may never know. Vulnerable I was, and I did not know another way. People of certain nations & kingdoms are alot like I was still today, they do not know what FREEDOM is like & they cannot hunger for it without having ever experienced it. They only know what they know & that is not Independence for them & it certainly was not for me either. Thankfully though, like the epic battle & miracles in the stories told of the Revolutionary War, with the help of a power greater than myself I have gained my INDEPENDENCE from drugs & alcohol. Just as America was still America after that war, I am still me, a drug addict & alcoholic. But after that war, after much pain & suffering, sacrifice & learning, fighting for life itself, America was Free & so I am. I get a daily relief from my alcoholism today thanks to the 12 Steps & it's fellowships. Without them I would have fought a war with no guns, no soldiers, no spirit, & no faith. My higher power has somehow guided me through every battlefield & given me the strength to survive also the burials I have had to leave behind. Parts of me that used to exist & many other things & people lost along the way.

Independence Day only comes once a year, so the recognition of the great existance that is Freedom is very limited at times. That does not mean that we cannot recognize our own Liberties & Freedom today though, from whatever used to rule over us. Make every day YOUR INDEPENDENCE DAY, no matter if you are free from drugs & alcohol, a terrible marraige, a failing career, the rule of another country or king, the desire to smoke cigarettes, or any such thing that has at one time made your life less than it is now. BE FREE & CELEBRATE, all of us can & should, we all have something to be grateful for. Through spirituality we can show our gratitude by helping others & being the best possible person we can be.. which is alot easier when we have & recognize our Independence. Happy Holiday. God Bless America & All Free Nations!!! Let Freedom Ring In Everyone's Life!!! Good Night.. Good Morning.. <3 Jimmy