Hunker Down and Dig In: The Long Haul Syndrome

Tooth and Nail:  To fight vigorously with all available resources.  (Ed. Note: Interestingly enough, this aphorism refers to the human fingernail and the human tooth.  I always thought the "nail" part was suggestive of the kind of nail that you pound into a board.  This phrase was first noted in the 16th century making me glad I didn't get into a fight back then when apparently there was a lot of scratching and biting and eyeball-digging.)

This is my new - or my current - slogan, courtesy of Massachusetts Dave: "Hunker Down and Dig In."  It's all about the Long Haul.  My Washington DC guy had me and had me big with "Embrace the Boredom" for a while - or "E The B!"  Such a phrase is an example of the way Earth People say things like "Easy Does It."  It's an affirmation that there are things - big things, many things, most things - that are out of our control.  I can fight them tooth and nail or I can sit back and go with the flow.  The trick, as always, is to determine when to fight and when to float.

I continue to have a lot of discussions with absent A.A. members about why I'm doing what I'm doing and why what they're doing is wrong.  I'm unsure what the payoff is for me in arguing with people who aren't there.  If they were there I wouldn't expend the energy to argue with them.  It's a weird conundrum.  Very weird and quite persistent in its ability to annoy me.  For, the fact is, I don't miss them very much.

Gossip:  Casual or unconstrained conversation about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true; idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others.

A perverse person stirs up conflict,
and a gossip separates close friends.  Proverbs 16:28  

Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips
and spreads slander is a fool.  Proverbs 10:18

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  Ephesians 4:29

I did not verify these passages but they're pretty good and if someone takes the time to put together a web site with Bible verses grouped under a certain topic and then lies about them . . . well . . . I'm going to gossip about that person.

Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.  Psalm 34:13

I've got a simple rule about any comments I make about another person - if I wouldn't say it with that person standing right next to me I don't say it.  I haven't had anyone come up to me in a long time and accuse me of saying this or that about them.  The things I share are a part of the relationship with that person and are thus well-known and unsurprising.  I do, from time to time, burn off some irritation with my spouse or a couple of close friends in A.A. - I'm only human and prone to the same interpersonal frustration that afflicts all of us.