"The Runner"

"....let us also lay aside every encumbrance.... let us run with endurance the race that is set before us... -Hebrew 12:1

The above words are very pertinent in the times in which we find ourselves. Though the financial situation is not even remotely close to what we would expect, we still have to go about the business of providing for ourselves and our families. Doing this, however, is no small task indeed. Many times it requires longer hours, fewer hours of sleep, and increase anxiety.

Yet the caption texts holds a key to being able to survive these difficult times. Laying aside all the unnecessary hindrances, burdens or surmounting obstacles that we may have hesitated to handle will allow us to endure.

The fitness I refer to here is a complete one. One example would be where a person takes the time to make sure that their physical bodies are in good shape. Namely, because more will be expected in a physical way in this economy. Being healthy and fit will help the body to remain energized and ward off fatigue during the increased hours we have to devote to work. Not to mention that during these daily workouts, the body releases endorphins which serve to relieve stress and anxiety.

Another example is one of mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Being balanced emotionally will free one from unnecessary worry. I am a strong believer in the fact that emotional or mental problems should be professionally treated. Just lately, the medical community has changed its outlook in regards to depression and other anxiety based diseases. These conditions should be treated. Moreover, having the spiritual reassurance that the way one lives his or her life is pleasing to a Higher Power, is also a strong impetus to continue and endure whatever life has to offer.

I can only speak from my experience. Putting all these factors together will not ensure that one will not become disturbed by difficult situations, but it will ensure that those situations can be navigated successfully. We all need to train for life as if we were runners because the better the overall fitness is of an individual, the better he or she can deal with life's problems. One will be faced with obstacles and look to "hurdle" them instead of allowing them to prevent positive progress.

Picture taken from: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~wbower/athletes.html

"Hard Work"

Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I believe that work is a necessary part of existence. One who just haphazardly leaves his or her life to follow an unknown course, cannot rightly complain if his or her life is not where it needs to be. Work is based on having a defined direction. You see that defined path or direction will eventually give way to obstacles and if these obstacles are to be overcome, more work is needed. So then it is a constant cycle. A certain goal leads to a defined path, that path will be lined with obstacles, and the surmounting of those obstacles leads to progression. Whether long-term or short-term, many find progression in the form of setting minor goals to attain that one primary goal.

This too calls for focus. The difference between a focused person and one who lacks this quality is the fact that a focused person, when met with an obstacle, will ponder how best to overcome it; while a person who is not fully focused will simply turn back. Those without focus can never know the joy of accomplishment, of looking at what has been achieved and what obstacles had to be hurled as a result.

As a community, African Americans would do well to refine its focus. Could we be more of an asset to ourselves and our neighbors if we had a positive focus? A focus that caused us to temper what we do, say, and think toward positive progression. Could it be that the only hindrance to our leaving a bright future for the next generation is the ability to persevere in a positive fashion? Something to think about....

"The New Slavery"

Without being overly philosophical, I will explain the term "slavery" in its modern day application:

Before our kidnapping and subsequent delivery to America, African men used bartering as a means of acquiring the needs of their family. The reputation of a man was enough to either give him either admiration or disdain. Moreover, his reputation will either give him access to free trade among his kinsmen or either make him a commercial outcast. Theft was severely punished, and depravity was viewed as a community concern. They helped one another to do well and the good deeds that were done were supposed to be passed on in the future.

In the present day, the bartering system has been replaced by credit scores and the reputation of a man is replaced by a set of numbers that rate your ability to pay or not pay. To be unable to provide for one's family due to the fact that a person had a bad experience with paying of some debt, is absolutely mind blowing. This is surely the case now given the economy. Credit in the African American community is used as an extension of wealth instead of emergency funds. Thus, families amass large debt just to be able to stay afloat. Given the finance charges and late fees that accompany this debt, they become enslaved. Trapped in a never ending cycle just to survive. "The borrower is subject to the lender."

An offshot of this system comes in the form of disobedience to laws. Like it or not, some feel that this is the only way to provide for themselves and their loved ones. The African American community is plagued by this disease because for the most part we have become materialistic. What someone else has and is able to obtain should not be the basis of how we rate our lifestyle. So many times the wealthy showcase their lifestyle to shun those less fortunate. The result is a leaning toward acquiring wealth no matter the cost. Whether through theft or selling of contraband, some of our brothers feel that this is acceptable because they want to have a good life for their kids. They throw caution to the wind and put themselves in danger, as well as their communities by introducing deadly substances. Though I strongly disagree with their line of action, I can most assuredly agree with their reasons. Drastic measures would be needed if all of my four children faced a dismal future and I was ill equipped to change it. The African American community has not be acclumated to the ways of this land in which they live. Knowing that we are not indigenous brings about a new collection of issues that the new generation must face and overcome if they are to be successful. But that is another topic all in itself.

After wantonly breaking the law, many of our misled brothers face punishment by the same laws that they had a hand in breaking. Factually, more than one million African American men are in prison or in jail. That in itself is slavery. Not upon the inmates only but by those of the African American community that are law abiding taxpayers. We both suffer due to being placed in a system that is foreign to us. A system based on accumulated wealth passed down from generation to generation. A system that promotes the mind set that if you aren't wealthy or reaching out to be wealth that you were strange. A system that says the latest and the greatest at whatever cost, even if the lives of innocents have to taken.

Now think for a moment and ask yourself, "What wealth would an uneducated, unaccepted, and unappreciated African slave have to pass on to the next generation?" Though he would have no physical wealth, he would have an abundance of wisdom, dignity, and pride to teach his offspring. How did we throw away that heritage just to aspire to live as White America?

Shots out to Kevin A. Williams for the above picture. You can find more of his wonderful art at The Black Art Depot at http://www.blackartdepot.com/wak-art.htm. Support your family!

Expendability....

With the U.S. and world economy teetering on the brink of disaster, one cannot help but to notice the apparent instability on the employment front. Many however, seem to believe that this trend is simply not applicable to them. Many continue on about life as if this dilemma will never be one that has to be faced. If its one thing that must be gathered from this whole situation it is this: "Live within your means." The unemployment rate is skyrocketing. Among the individuals that are unemployed are professionals. Teachers, accountants, and not to mention the countless blue collar employees who rose early only to find a chain on the gates of their factory. Whether white or blue collar, there is a need to be cognizant of the fact that nothing nowadays is secure, especially not anyone's job. But on another note, the fact that we now know that we are expendable serves to make us more ferocious. Meaning that if you know that you are under a microscope, you will make you actions more pronounced and better yet more precise. You work hard and smart all at the same time. But at the same time this also breeds competition. This means that the worst in some come out in plain view. They step on others to secure their position. They achieve the financial ruin of another only to delay their own. Honestly, they behave as if their conduct will never come back to knock at their own door. Moreover, employers become more hostile toward those whom they employ. Demanding the extraordinary. More hours, more work, and less pay. Living in the world the way it is today will call for patience, endurance, and precision.

I wish I...

The problem with most people is that they have a lot of regrets about things from their past. Yet, at the moment that an individual has to make a decision, he or she knows whether or not that will be a decision that will be one to regret or one that can be comfortably endured. Instead of taking the time to think about a situation, they would rather pick the easiest avenue, which is most assuredly the worst in the long run, than endure some obstacles in the present so that they can have the benefits in the future. Short-term bliss always ends in long-term disaster. One most obvious case of that is the decision to live as "The Jones". People spend their whole lives trying to amass riches. They sacrifice their families, friends, and even their health, just to be able to say they are wealthy. In the long-term, the riches of having a loving family and friends to confide in slips through their fingers. These individuals either in up in tremendous debt or completely alone in a world of billions. Just something to think about....

“So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done.”
-Marian Wright Edelman

Not mine but a good friend shared this with me. We swap out from time to time.

This weekend, as I looked at my oldest daughter (1 yr. old) and my youngest daughter (4 days and counting), I realized that life is a very precious thing that is mostly taken for granted. Everywhere you look you see death and destruction. A dj on the radio this morning asked. "who was ruling the world?" A question that certainly makes one think about the future. My girls will never know all that their father has had to do so that they could be safe. But, that's what a father is supposed to do: "Provide no matter the cost!"

"Though not always easy to take, its always fair!"

Here I speak nothing but the truth, even if its a hard truth....