12-1-02 Sunday Journal

Don't love them. Just honor them.

I am sure you know people who love their problems. So do I. Do you want to know why they love them? Since they have no dreams to cherish they would be lonesome without problems to wallow in.

In the eighties I made wacky personalized tapes for close friends. I recall that one of my funniest routines was on problems. I said, "Don't bring me your problems. When you take your problem and put it in my head, you double its power by putting it in two gourds instead of one."

So it's great to laugh about your problems. Every problem has an angle that is humorous. Find it and you pull its stinger.

Scott Peck shocked me in his famous "Road Less Traveled" by saying "It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning…Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually."

Why should something so self-evident shock me? Two reasons: (1) problems always have one or more painful sharp edges and (2) we think of that more than the humor and growth. It's a mindset thing.

My journal records a horrendous challenge I went through. I got fired. But that problem caused me to run for office. I never had any plans at all to run for office. But the situation required me to restore my good name. With no more money than you could raise at the National Convention of Misers, I ran.

In the ensuing six month campaign (primary and general election), I lost twenty pounds and shook so many hands my right hand stayed sore for weeks after the campaign was over.

Getting fired was a problem. It hurt. The memory is still painful. But the excitement of meeting thousands of people and defeating a Ph.D. in political science and then a millionaire was a large transfusion of spiritual strength.

It helps me to honor my problems as teachers or like a boxer might view an opponent's skills. And yes, you can see them this way and still find humor in them, Honor and humor always go together. Like honey and a hot biscuit.

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