“One side of the street is a church the other side is a liquor store, both of ‘em keeping us poor.”

Chuck D (Public Enemy)
1 Million Bottle Bags
Apocalypse ‘91

The first CD I ever bought was Apocalypse ’91 I didn’t even have a CD player at the time but I was a volunteer at KHNS and I knew there was no music that demanded to be played more than PE’s.

When I heard this song I was like, “That’s right, that’s right I don’t drink and I’m for damn sure not going to church, Chuck knows his shit.”

Sneaking up on 20 years later I still don’t drink or go to church and I’m still certain that both are VERY sound decisions but I’m no longer certain that Chuck was only talking about literal churches and liquor stores. We all hear the message we need to hear at the time we need to hear it and the same Public Enemy that helped to raise me is still informing my thinking.

Here’s how I break it down now. Churches represent superstition, prejudice and not thinking for one’s self and liquor stores represent escapism and gradual suicide neither of which I can recommend anymore than Chuck D did in 1991.

The thing is it’s easy to avoid literal churches and liquor stores since they usually advertise themselves as such. Sure they sometimes come knocking at our door but we can always hide in the hallway, the real trick is finding the churches and liquor stores we aren’t aware of.

We can find the subtle ways in which we limit our own thinking and turn a blind eye to the world, we can also find our own forms of unhealthy escape we simply have to start looking. Once we find these “churches” and “liquor stores” we have to evaluate their positives and negatives in our own lives.

Some forms of ignorance or prejudice are relatively harmless like my general disinterest in reggaeton. Maybe it’s great music and I just haven’t listened to enough to know but certainly there is a wealth of great music that I already listen to, music that informs and engages me. There is even more that I want to listen to, so much so that it makes little difference if I ever listen to reggaeton; I have enough music for the next 100 years or more.

In the same way some forms of escapism are a lot of fun and bring little negative impact. Others are profoundly damaging, sapping many different forms of energy and dulling our intellect. I struggle to keep my Facebook account in the field of healthy diversion but with all the inane games and gossip it can easily become a massive waste of time and energy for me.

What constitutes a “church” or a “liquor store” will be slightly different for each of us as will the way in which we evaluate them what should not differ is the amount of benefit we receive when we remove them from our lives.

When I remember not to go to the church of complaining about and being limited by my student loan I’m happier instantly. After the instance improvement in mood comes a gentle opening of possibilities and a deep appreciation of my good fortune.

I’m a measurably happier, friendlier and more dynamic person when I just pay my loan and don’t waste energy being mad about it and this is only one “church” that I’m learning not to attend. The more “churches” and “liquor stores” we remove from our lives the freer we are, the better off we are and being freer better off people is what this whole full disclosure idea is about.

Best of luck identifying and shutting down the churches and liquor stores in your life.