Addiction results from a conscious decision, on several occasions, to sacrifice freedom (normalcy) to feel good.  The eventual slavery to feeling good gradually takes its toll on the person, and that is just what it is, slavery to alcohol, marijuana, drugs, sex—whatever makes the person “feel good.”

Of course there’s a price.  Drunken homicidal driving, homelessness, prostitution, being buried surreptitiously in the dunes on the South Shore, these are only a few that come to mind.  I think real life consists of occasionally sacrificing “feeling good” to being normal.  There is a higher good.

In the morning of his day, the ambitious Lothario finds that the girl of his dreams is just out of reach.  There’s the matter of income, there’s the ideal of accomplishment, there are parental and other people’s expectations.

As he approaches sunset, he comes to realize that the woman he finally married is the woman who brings him his supper to the wheelchair, who kissed him in the night, who bore him sons and daughters, who reverences his name before the crowd.

Mysterious are the ways of our Father, of life as he unfolds the chapters.  Praised be his ways forever.

I get a lot of help in accidental ways, like going to the clothes dryer and finding it empty for my load.  Every such coincidence I thank the Lord, because I am not grateful for a line at the supermarket.  Of course, I should be grateful that I’m walking erect and able to wait.

We take much of life for granted, and that is a sign we’re spoiled.  But isn’t that expected of the children of God?  Get over it and be appropriate, you’ve got a lot to do yet.  I do want to live responsibly and contribute to the overall welfare of society.  I do need that extra help.

Vladimir Putin bit off more than he can chew, and it looks like he’ll choke on his mouthful.  The whole world has turned against him, including the bravest of the Russian souls.  Putin may be the lone character who causes world-wide nuclear destruction.

As a sinner, he stands out, and as a human being he joins the league of the damned, among Lenin and Hitler and Attila, and he cannot say there was no way out of his self-imposed fate.  No sane school boy would want to be like him.

Countless men of the future, in examining their consciences, will ask themselves, “Am I being like the dastardly Putin, self-aggrandizing and self-centered?”  He had many opportunities to get out.  Had he only listened to the saintly members among the Orthodox.

Jesus often said he came to save what was lost from the House of Israel.  He was often accused of associating with sinners.  What would he do with the five West Point freshmen (plebes) who were caught unconscious on drugs?  Well, to begin, they’ve probably already been expelled, so He’d have to start there.

It would mean they’d have to start on their own power.  Christ doesn’t do that for you; He helps you do the miracle yourself.  It’s a matter of the soul, and that means character.  If you have a weak character, His grace helps you build one that’ll meet the adversity.  That’s done through prayer, self-discipline and good association.

Good luck, plebes!  You may have to start from the bottom.