These are some lyrics to a 39-line satire I wrote: AMERICA: Searching For Reality. A satire is to a degree negative by definition. But in these articles, I convert the negative lyrics into positive thoughts.



Gone are the days when a handshake was as good as gold! I remember these days, even among lawyers (I am one). I became a lawyer in 1971, building my practice by singing in nightclubs at night (guitar and vocal) - and passing out business cards. They called me ?the singing attorney.' Then you could trust what other lawyers said. But about 1985 this changed. A new ?mentality' was born. ?Fighting hard for selfish justice' describes this. It wasn't just a disease for lawyers. Our whole race became infected.

A selfish justice mentality comes from justifying everything we do. Psychologists call it ?rationalization.' The Bible has a verse that talks about us ?accusing or excusing each other.' This is the way most people function - finding reasons to condone or condemn ourselves and others.

There is a well known quote: ?the law and justice make strange bedfellows.' In other words, law and justice don't belong together. You can have one or the other, but often not both. And since our society is continually built on more and more law, justice often seems to be a thing of the past. As a Supreme Court Justice has said, ?We now have ten million laws - to enforce the ten commandments.' I once heard an angry judge say, ?The law isn't necessarily fair; the law is simply the law.'

Many things today aren't what they used to be. SELF-righteous living has replaced RIGHTEOUS living. Anytime the focus is on ?ourselves,' we usually don't do the 'just' thing. This country was established on the premise of the greatest good for the greatest number. With all of the factions and 'rights groups' today, this concept has long been forgotten.

We should ?get back to the basics' of truly living life in a sense rightness or justice. In truth, 'selfish justice' is a total contradiction in terms. It doesn't exist in truth, but it does in human experience. This should not be the case. To live life to the fullest, we need to erase the mentality that says, "Right or wrong, I want to WIN!" A quote I like says, ?How certain we mortals are of things even angels question.' We live in a world that preaches power, submission, and authority. Almost everyone is on the ?rights bandwagon' to some degree. Force is becoming a way of life. When we live thinking these thoughts, we become our thoughts. ?As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.' Our goal should be an inner life and power, more than an outer manifestation of our desires. There is a line in a country song: ?Sometimes God's greatest gift is unanswered prayer.' How true it is.

Maybe we should try crucifying our own interests instead of publishing them. Maybe we should seek to unite rather than divide and conquer. If we would simply ask if what we are about to say is true, kind, necessary, and helpful, it would substantially reduce the words we speak. Are we a builder in life, or a destroyer? Do we try to lift people to ?Higher Ground,' as John Denver's song says, or do we try to bury them?

None of us knows our own hearts, or what we are capable of, either good or bad. If we would learn to judge, and at times crucify, our own interests and desires, we would be stronger and better because of it. If we would seek a higher good, not just our own good, the immediate world around us would be a much better place to live in. We would see a beautiful difference in everyone we connect with.