Dangerous Self-Deception

When we refuse to admit our powerlessness we are deceiving ourselves.
The lies we tell ourselves and others are familiar: "I can do this on my own", "I'm in control", and the famous "I can stop at any time". No matter what the addiction, without us being honest with ourselves we are closer into disaster.

"Myself" by Edgar A. Guest

I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eyes;
I don't want to stand, with the setting sun,
And hate mysel for the things I have done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf,
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man/woman that I really am;
I don't want to dress up myself in a sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve everyones' respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know,
I'm bluster and bluff and empty and slow.

I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may not see;
I know what others may not know,
I never can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens I want to be,
Self-respecting and conscience free.

"We admitted we were powerless..."

I've been introducing this modest little town that I now call home, (Metropolis, Illinois) "the home of Superman". So what does this have to do with what my blog is meant to be about? Well for those who have recovered or is in the reocovery process the expression, "geographical change" is quite familiar. We have all thought of it at one time or another,"If I move to another state, job, house, etc. things will be different."
Sometimes we are "powerless" because of our stations in life. We may be in a situation where other people have power over us. We may feel trapped by the demands of others and that there is no way to please them all. Its a double bind: To please one is to disappoint another. Sometimes when we feel stuck and frustrated with our relationships or where we are, we look for control by escaping through our addictive behaviors, eating, drinking, drugs,people,and even continuing to roll around in the trauma that . So what do we do? We run, that geographical change, and we find out that we take ourselves with us! We have to learn to express ourselves, our pain, instead of running from it.

Flying High

Out of respect for all of the Christopher Reeve fans I should clear up any misunderstandings from Wednesdays' blog. Christopher was awesome in the 1978 remake of "Superman". When I spoke of no action packed movies in the twentienth century I was speaking about movies that this generation saw as action packed. It seems that charachters like Harry Potter held the box office for ever! But old Harry isn't a super hero either.
To excuse my humor of the title "So What Superman" that was only a title. If you drive our town circle you will see most of the people that are photographing the "Super" statue arre in the age group of forty and above.

Sammy my dependent

My days begin with making sure that "Sammy" my resident squrril has enough food. The food supply used to last him a couple of days until he annouced to his friends and family that a new "Sucker" had moved into town!

Before I bore you with how I ended up in this tranquil little town let's talk about the man.....

""SUPERMAN". Yes you are veiwing the statue that was erected in the town circle here in Metropolis, Illinois after being given authorization by the National Periodical Publications ( D.C. Comics ) to become the adopted "Home of Superman". This was on January 21, 1972 that the state of Illinois also recognizedMetropolis as the "Home of Superman" by passing House Resolution #572. Superman himself was designated a "Distinguished Son of Metropolis", the only so-named city in the United States. The Metropolis Chamber of Commerce then set into motion a promotional program to use Superman in a non-profit manner to promote the general welfare of the Metropolis Community.

"The Planet"

Starting a new life, on a new planet! Moving from Southern Indiana to Southern Illinois is like being on a new planet.
The people are different in a good way, more laid back, with not a care in the world it seems.
Metropolis the home of "Superman" for real. The town even has a 50ft statue of the cosmic hero in the town circle. The city newspaper is titled "The Planet", and if you cruise the downtown streets long enough you might even observe Lois Lane shopping in one of the many consignment shops that line our downtown streets. But you have to catch it before 5:00pm or you might just have to wait til the next day!
Ahhh... life in the big city, what I've always lived for.