Griffin Speaks

IT'S ALL GOOD

Today is December 25, 2005. It is Christmas and I am taking a few moments to reflect on this year. It has been a wonderful year even though there has been some heartaches and pain. To describe this last year, I adopt a phrase that my lunch buddy and friend, Todd Russell, Division Planning Director and General Counsel for the Alabama Department of Senior Services uses all the time: “IT’S ALL GOOD!” 

It is a common experience to meet people today who are miserable and ungrateful because they have encountered a few bumps in the road. They try to understand why things are not going the way they believe they should go. What they should focus on is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.” 

Whatever happens in the life of those who love the Lord and keep his commandments work together for good. This last year has been extraordinary. I have lost loved ones, friends, and co-workers. I have experienced betrayal, I have been talked about, criticized and rebuked, but I can truly say, “IT’S ALL GOOD!” 

The adoption of the phrase “IT’S ALL GOOD” by upper- middle-class white people does confirm that phrase’s omnipresence in the contemporary lexicon. When I hear people use the phrase I wonder if they really mean it or are they just repeating a popular phrase. The expression received a huge boost when it was used on “Survivor: The Australian Outback”, by Alicia Calaway. She informed twenty-eight million Americans that, even though she had not won a million dollars, her experience had indeed been all good. 

Can you imagine what a boost the phrase would have received if the last words of convicted death row inmate “Tookie” Williams had been: “IT’S ALL GOOD!” 

In the words of my dad, “If you don’t have money at least have class.”

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com