This I believe

I had an epiphany when I heard this "This I Believe."

If you've never heard of "This I Believe" you're missing out. It started as a five minute radio program founded by my boy Edward R. Murrow for CBS.

Every week the program featured famous people and ordinary citizens alike reading their essays about their core principles and guiding philosophies.

Now understand, "This I Believe" was not started as a platform for people to espouse the dogma of any one organization to which they belonged. It was a place for them to state their beliefs in the most personal of ways.

This essay, written and recorded by the Bostonian journalist and WWII veteran John Davis Drummey is by far the best I've ever heard. When I was listening to it was like the clouds parted and I heard the voice of God say, "Dominick, listen carefully, this is EXACTLY what you believe too."

And it is.

Just this one sentence, " I believe the more people you understand, the more you understand God," strikes a chord deep within my soul.

I love when he says: "I feel sorry for those poor souls who must go through life not knowing their neighbors, not participating in groups or being active in causes, and when I meet persons who are not interested in people who are different — and of course, that’s everyone."

He says, "I like people because they are the key to the great human values: love, charity, friendship, sacrifice, and brotherhood."

Notice he didn't say because they are "the keys to the great human values: money, fame, sex, power and rock hard abs."

It's engaging in humanity that makes us human. Paying attention to more than ourselves, our own wants and desires, allows us to truly find our humanity. But that requires taking our iPod ear buds out, making eye-contact with someone and establishing relationships.

Something, at present, I fear we do not have the ability to do.

He speaks for both us when he says: "To sum up my credo in a sentence: The farther away I get from myself, the nearer I get to God. Most of my troubles came when I was obsessed with my own petty concerns and trivial details."

You can listen to the podcast of John Davis Drummey's "This I Believe" here.