My name is William Simpson. I’m the author of the newly released book: “Living in the Hope of My Imagination”. The books story line is a narrative non-fiction account of the moral decline of American culture, and the events that helped me to realize my purpose in life. I believe that what I’ve written about is a much needed dialogue, and that the issues I address will capture your emotions.
There are so many things that are so very wrong in America today. And few have been willing to address these issues in fear of both the political and the social consequences of confronting the immoral behavior of another person. Those who were elected to the offices of federal, state and local governments, have, over my lifetime, raped the American people of the virtues that had once made this nation great. And what is even worse, is the compromise of many leaders among the evangelical church of our time, who have made religion an enterprise rather than being the voice of moral accountability. America has lost all sense of identity, and we are now a people despised by our very own. My book was written to awaken the person who is ready to hear the truth, and just maybe, as lives are changed, we can once again believe in hope and help those who are willing, to realize their purpose in life.
My life’s story compels me to address the injustices we have all had to endure. I was a child of rape. For the first 3 ½ years of my life, there were things done to me that should never be done to a child. I was taken from my mother and eventually adopted. My new family life proved to be no different. There was abuse and neglect, and when I was 8 years old, I was raped by a pedophile. Being scarred emotionally robbed me of all sense of purpose and I grew up angry. In the environment that I grew up around, alcohol and drugs were readily available, and by the age of 10, I was getting high or drunk almost every day to hide from that shame. No one ever took the time to ask why I was so angry, and it seemed as though everyone took their shots at me. I was 13 when a drug overdose nearly took my life. I was expelled from every school I ever attended and at the age of 14, I was sentenced to juvenile life in prison. For the 7 years of my incarceration, I was harassed, beaten and stabbed multiple times defending myself from the many attempted rapes. I had been angry all of my young life, but it was in this environment that I learned how to hate. After I was released from prison, my family would have nothing to do with me and I ended up being homeless. While living on the streets, I ate out of dumpsters, and I did whatever I had to in order to survive. I know what it’s like to be abused by life and forgotten. I had come to believe that what I had experienced in life would be all I would ever know and at the age of 24, I attempted suicide by driving my car off of a mountain cliff. The car landed in a tree, and I walked away, unhurt. It angered that even death evade me. And like so many people today, I lived at the bottom of a liquor bottle to not have to deal with the person I had become.
If what I have just described brings to mind the events of your life or someone you know, you know what I’m saying is true. We’ve all had experiences in life that shaped our perception of other people, and of ourselves. How we have been made to think has greatly influenced American culture today, and if something is not done to instill in each of us moral values and a genuine concern for the welfare of other people, then the America of tomorrow will be a scary place.
Life is hard, but I refuse to allow what other people have done to me, to determine the outcome of my life. This victim mentality is propagated by education, entertainment and media, and the many special interests of morally corrupt people to instill the ideal that moral relativism is what is right for each person. Regardless of how an individuals behavior might affect the life of that person, and the lives of other people. How you conduct yourself in your personal life is not just a private matter. What you do in private is who you really are, and if you were to take notice of those around you, it would be impossible to not see that what a person thinks of themself is how they treat other people. Hurt people, hurt people! What one person thinks is morally relative is offensive to a lot of other people, and yet those who practice whatever lifestyle they choose to live, believe it’s within their right to impose that behavior upon everyone else. And will even dare anyone to speak in opposition of or criticize their behavior. This attitude proves what is the real motive of individual and group causes, who claim tolerance as the only acceptable virtue. I have seen the ugliness of people all of my life, and I refuse to allow the few, who are motivated by the ideals of political and cultural correctness, to determine the lives of everyone else. It’s time for truth to stand up against the flow of humanity.
Because of what happened to me as a child and its influence upon the lifestyle I chose to live, my potential was never realized. I lived a hard life, and only in the last few years did I realize that a gift had been given to me. I can articulate thoughts into words that have the potential to help you see what is really behind the culture war of ideals affecting every aspect of our lives today. What I’ve written about is raw and it’s real. And my life’s experience gives me the right to say what I do. I know why you feel the way you do, what you think of yourself and the lie you are living. A naïve person can be fooled, but when I look at someone who knows pain, your life is an open book. I see it in the faces of people every day, I hear it in the words you say and I can smell it on you. Ignorance of who you really are is rampant, and misery attracts its own. And only when you, like I did, are willing to sever all ties to what is in your past by surrounding yourself with the true source of where all goodness comes from, will your life’s experiences become meaningful and the healing process begins.
It’s my intent to challenge the way you think and the witness of your life’s expression. If I can overcome a lifetime of anger, substance abuse and regret, to finally realize what I had always imagined life could be like, there is no excuse for you! You can argue with me in disagreement to try to justify why you live the way you do, but the evidence of my life’s transformation and the debth of my conviction is greater than the weakness and the compromise that has defined yours! I am now sober and drug free. I’m married to my beautiful wife, Shannon, and we have recently become legal guardians of two young girls who were abandoned by their mother. I have now been given the opportunity to do for a child what was never done for me, through my wife and me giving to these still impressionable young girls, the love and stability I never had. What you do with your life’s experience reveals true character and this is what defines who you are.
Never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that I could be so at peace, and of all things, be a published author. Don’t allow life to rob you of the song your life’s witness is meant to sing. My book is available in bookstores nation wide. And should you choose to read it, I hope that what I’ve written gives you pause for thought.
