In Search Of Heroes Spreads Good News About Everyday, Real-Life Heroes Who Deserve Recognition For Their Good Works

Ralph Zuranski: Will you experience service to others as a source of joy?

Willie Crawford: Absolutely. Absolutely. I have one friend who… one mentor who shared with me that his father, I won’t get too deep in this because somebody will mug me.

But he told me his father use to go into restaurants and pick out a young couple that looked like they were struggling and he would call the waiter over and say I want to pay for their meal anonymously.

And he would pay for their meal and you know the waiter and he’d leave before the meal was over with maybe. And the waiter would go up to them and say somebody paid for your meal already you know don’t worry about it.

I believe in service to others too that extent. I believe in giving anonymously. I come across people on the internet all the time that are struggling who need help and I give it to them.

And I again I am too accessible by phone. I need to fix that because there is people who don’t need too, don’t need access, don’t need me really, but they just tap into me because I am a valuable resource.

But there are others who really, really need me and won’t make it without me. And I don’t when I went through struggles and I ask myself so what’s this what’s life all about. Somebody convinced me it’s about serving my fellow human you know.

Helping out other people I mean I’m going to live I don’t know 80 years and I’m going to die. When I define why I’m here, part of it is to be of service to others. Connect to others is to love others, and so you have to, to me being of service to others is very important.

Ralph Zuranski: What place does the power of prayer have in your life?

Willie Crawford: Prayer connects me with my higher power. I’m again I make note of a Southern Baptist. My religious grounding is that’s what my parents believed in. So if they and the generation before them, and the generation before them, and the generation before them, and the generation before them all believed the same thing and it passed as least on to me. I can question that belief but I can’t believe I’m smarter that you know people who lived for ten thousand years before me you know.

There’s something wrong with thinking I’m smarter. And we all do think we are smarter. We think that you know well they were ignorant or whatever you know so I need to really look at this.

But prayer connects me with the person that is running it all. And it allows me to step back to allow energy and goodness and serenity and all those things just to flow to me.

You know, I mean throughout the day look for opportunities just too connect with… a God of my understanding see and that’s again my drug treatment days, where part of what you’re taught in rehabilitation is that a lot of us are out of kilter with our concept of God.

And if our concept with God isn’t working for us, there’s something wrong with that you know. You’ve got to feel that whatever your concept of this higher power is, cares about you and isn’t vindictive and loves you.

And so that’s why if you go to Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous or any of those treatment programs, they always use the term of God of your understanding.

You know I… I’ve spent to many years struggling with so what if you believe differently than I do. You know are you wrong and if your parents taught you differently than what my parents taught me, or you are wrong.

So I don’t even go there. But prayer allows me to connect with this higher power. Whatever created the universe and the world around me and that I feel every day of my life. I feel every day in my life and almost every minute of my life.

I mean I can be in the most horrendous environment I can be anywhere doing anything and I am at total peace with the world. And that is an incredible feeling. It’s to me the greatest power in the world is love.

I can be surrounded by people who completely hate my guts, and if I can try to understand them, and I try to love and appreciate them they’re disarmed. They’re not even a threat to me. It’s mind boggling if you really think about it. But the greatest power in the world is love.