The topic In These Rooms this morning was Seeing Around Corners. How in the hell does one See Around the Corner? What the hell does that shit even mean? Alice, a 38-year-old black woman who was homeless from her alcoholic life but is now a practicing registered nurse and mother of a teenage son, who, she is proud to share, is an honor student, says “…I saw recovery was not going to be my own. It comes from and belongs In These Rooms…” Damn, I thought, that shit Is messed up. Why doesn’t it belong to her? But hell, she saw something and her shit Is working out. Real talk.
Cornelius was this cat from high school. His family owned a funeral home. He came from a family of morticians. We had Drivers Ed together in high school. When Cornelius got his license, he was different from the rest of us. We were speed demons; we couldn’t drive fast enough. Everywhere he went, Cornelius would drive far to the right and slow, sometimes holding up traffic because of how slow he was driving. We didn’t get that Cornelius was practicing for that funeral hearse he would one day drive. Cornelius drove slow because he could See Around the Corner; he could see into his future. He could see what he would one day become. Today, Cornelius still drives slow and today he drives that hearse he always saw himself driving.
“…I’m not no damn Cornelius. I ain’t necessarily down with this Seeing Around Corners shit. Corners don’t mean shit to me, never have. Though I barely finished high school and probably wouldn’t have gotten into college if my old man weren’t on the faculty, I’ve been determined to be somebody and make something of myself since I came from the womb and by any and every means at my damn disposal. I liked drugs, alcohol and the honnies from grade school and I’ve always been down with gettin my hustle on. Like I told Kirk, that professional, priest shit is cool if we’s scoring and fucking getting paid. That for me is fucking Seeing Around Corners and how I see being somebody. If we ain’t making major moves or scores, hell we ain’t arrived; we ain’t doing shit. I’ve seen big shit in my future from the gitty…”
Fr. Esteban
The 12 Step Recovery Book In These Rooms speaks of a spiritual awakening. After 62 years, and the addictions of alcoholism, pornography and loving me some grand theft auto, Seeing Around Corners looks like the story of my mess for His Message. Seeing Around Corners isn’t any psychic shit. It is stories that give others strength in the face of despair and hope in the face of darkness. Seeing Around Corners can be a beautiful thing that transforms “in spite of.”
“…Hey, given my drinking issues, I’m probably not the best one to speak on Seeing Around Corners. If I could See Around Corners, I would have seen my drinking problem coming before it knocked me on my ass. Hello. Surfing the TV Channels one night, I stumbled across the famous singer Dionne Warwick hosting a psychic hotline channel. I recall reading months prior of her being in financial distress to the point of bankruptcy. There’s nothing to be ashamed of about filing for bankruptcy. Hell, in life shit happens. Been there and done that. I’m dealing with the financial repercussions of that shit to this day. But, in seeing her on that psychic channel, my mind went to the question “…if she is so psychic, why didn’t she see that damn bankruptcy coming?” Just saying.
“Today, I see a powerful work ahead in my life helping people tell the disruptively heroic stories of their authentic lived truth. Yea, I’m rolling with that. Put me down for Seeing Around those Corners if that’s the hell we’re up to…”
Hunter
Read more about Fr. Esteban and Hunter and tell your story. Listen to Hunter’s Podcast. All on wreckedamerica.com. In Wrecked America, #SeeingAroundCornersMatters
The Struggle Continues….
