So what's the count up to now? 13 women? Tiger seemed to be busy in 2009. I can guarantee he wasn't alone. In fact, just months ago, Steve McNair was killed by his alleged ex-girlfriend with whom he openly spent time. Let's not mention Tye Tribbett and Da T.R.U.T.H., two gospel music artists. And not to keep politics out, South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford and Sen. John Ensign of Nevada all had their exotic rendezvous this year. Even David Letterman made 'shocking' confessions of sleeping with various women who work for him. And these are just a few of the illicit affairs...
We can continue by talking about the boy in the balloon...or not in the balloon. Baltimore Mayor Shiela Dixon was convicted of embezzlement. There were six major abductions/disappearances (none of them brown) that covered the screen. Nas, the singer was ordered to pay more than %51,000 in alimony and child support to Kelis. Chris Henry died after falling off the back of a pickup truck. The Colts are (to date) undefeated but were joined for 13 weeks by the Saints. The Yankees won the World Series. Oprah going to retire from her media empire in a matter of months.Let's not forget Kanye West's disgusting display at the music awards. Jon and Kate plus Eight minus one...And of course, Obama's every move displayed for the public.
While these stories are, for some, entertaining, they are no where near the most important stories of the year. They are overly sensationalized as a means to distract us from the most important stories. I mean, what else could we possibly talk about? How could we function without an average of 7.8 hours a day being devoted to Obama and the economic recession, with an average of 4.6 hours being used to find him at fault for it's enduring presence. Tiger Woods almost caught up in the last month coming in second place for media coverage.
Lobbyist and the GOP spent more than $100 million dollars to thwart Democratic efforts...the Democrats spent almost as much to recover from the political punches and to throw some of their own. But the public schools got no more money (because of the recession), the US lowered it's UNICEF contributions (because of the recession), the military is downsizing (because of the recession) while simultaneously increasing the number of service members in Iraq (now that one is because of the terrorists).
I guess all of this is to say: What in the world is happening here? Where are our priorities? Will things change? Will parents wake up and spend time with their children? Will they monitor them on the internet; what they watch on television? Will we get off our butts and actually exercise? At least exercise our minds? No one at home, judging the rest of the world is free from fault. None is without his or her own transgressions. But, we live in a society that is full of stones to throw at others.
Let me just put this out there...how many people reading this post have ever cheated on a significant other? How many have hated on someone else's accomplishments? How many have lied, cheated, or stolen to get something they wanted? Before we judge others, consider what we have contributed to the problem. If the news ratings didn't soar when people made mistakes, they wouldn't keep them on the air so long. No one is without sin. No one is free from temptations. That's life; not news.
Let 2010 be the year that we put family first; the year that we focus on healthy habits; the year that we read and research, not perpetuate unfounded gossip. Let's let 2010 be the year that America grows up.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Criticisms of Obama...
Lately, I have listened to debates over how effective the Obama administration has been. I have heard harsh criticisms of his progress and his ability to lead. Until now, I seldom respond. I usually just resign to allowing people to have their own opinions, no matter how different our perspectives are. However, being that the end of 2009 is near and Obama is leaning toward a year in office. I decided to put forth my two cents.
First, I must say that no one person in Washington, DC controls America. No one person is that powerful. To this end, the successes and failures of Washington DC cannot ever be attributed to one person, even if he is the President of the United States. There are many who blame Obama for the economic crisis, the war in Afghanistan, and every other world dilemma. The allegations have proven themselves to be unfair and largely unfounded. Yet they continue to pour in. Aside from the blatant ignorance of some people, there are reasons for the perpetuation of disregard for the President and his administration.
Racism. There are some people who have been very vocal about their disdain for a person of color in a position of power. They have challenged his loyalties, challenged his nationality, his religion, his identity. This doesn't come from just one group. There are prominent African Americans who say that he isn't doing enough for Blacks in America. Should he be doing something in particular to build just Black people? His response has been that he is doing things for the greater good of everybody, regardless of race and ethnic orgin.
Inpatience. People elected Obama in hopes of change. To date, a lot has changed. However, it is difficult to see the smaller things as they are overshadowed by the larger consequences of the economic crisis and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. People expected that on 21 Jan 09, the world would automatically be different. Contrary to popular belief, we didn't fall into an economic depression, a war in Afghanistan and Iraq, or disrespected by most of the world over night. Things will take time to show drastic improvements.
Noncooperation. Time and cooperation are essential for change. When Obama campaigned his slogan was not "Yes I Can!" it was "Yes WE Can!" His campaign was based on the premise that everyone had to do their part to make things work. We have right now, the "Party of No" who just refute anything the President tries to do. They vote against common sense legislation, the debate and push obstacles in the way for every change. People, like Danny Glover, complain that companies need to lend more money to Black people. The stimulus aimed to help banks lend to people...not just Black people. But, according to a survey conducted by Consumer Digest, the average credit score for an African American? 536. For Latinos? 511. Has it occured to anyone that credit ratings are still a factor for lending?
For all of the money spent by networks, lobbyists, and the GOP to thwart Obama's efforts, we could have seen much more change. The progressive attitude of the administration may not be appreciated for a long time. But the effects of health care reform, the effects of the war in Afghanistan, the effects of this economic depression, will be felt for generations to come.
Instead of adding to the problem, we need to step up and be part of the solution. Stop fearing change. Stop arguing for things you haven't researched. Work together, build this country together. Fight the fight together... and we will all win.
First, I must say that no one person in Washington, DC controls America. No one person is that powerful. To this end, the successes and failures of Washington DC cannot ever be attributed to one person, even if he is the President of the United States. There are many who blame Obama for the economic crisis, the war in Afghanistan, and every other world dilemma. The allegations have proven themselves to be unfair and largely unfounded. Yet they continue to pour in. Aside from the blatant ignorance of some people, there are reasons for the perpetuation of disregard for the President and his administration.
Racism. There are some people who have been very vocal about their disdain for a person of color in a position of power. They have challenged his loyalties, challenged his nationality, his religion, his identity. This doesn't come from just one group. There are prominent African Americans who say that he isn't doing enough for Blacks in America. Should he be doing something in particular to build just Black people? His response has been that he is doing things for the greater good of everybody, regardless of race and ethnic orgin.
Inpatience. People elected Obama in hopes of change. To date, a lot has changed. However, it is difficult to see the smaller things as they are overshadowed by the larger consequences of the economic crisis and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. People expected that on 21 Jan 09, the world would automatically be different. Contrary to popular belief, we didn't fall into an economic depression, a war in Afghanistan and Iraq, or disrespected by most of the world over night. Things will take time to show drastic improvements.
Noncooperation. Time and cooperation are essential for change. When Obama campaigned his slogan was not "Yes I Can!" it was "Yes WE Can!" His campaign was based on the premise that everyone had to do their part to make things work. We have right now, the "Party of No" who just refute anything the President tries to do. They vote against common sense legislation, the debate and push obstacles in the way for every change. People, like Danny Glover, complain that companies need to lend more money to Black people. The stimulus aimed to help banks lend to people...not just Black people. But, according to a survey conducted by Consumer Digest, the average credit score for an African American? 536. For Latinos? 511. Has it occured to anyone that credit ratings are still a factor for lending?
For all of the money spent by networks, lobbyists, and the GOP to thwart Obama's efforts, we could have seen much more change. The progressive attitude of the administration may not be appreciated for a long time. But the effects of health care reform, the effects of the war in Afghanistan, the effects of this economic depression, will be felt for generations to come.
Instead of adding to the problem, we need to step up and be part of the solution. Stop fearing change. Stop arguing for things you haven't researched. Work together, build this country together. Fight the fight together... and we will all win.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Fantasy Football
(from the ball's perspective)
It’s Sunday Morning, time to impress
Everyone’s looking, I have to do my best.
Do I have enough air? Are my seals closed tight?
I wouldn’t want to be lonely on Sunday night.
The day starts early with many inspections.
The team manager looks at all of us, and makes his selections.
He chooses the one that feels the best.
And look at that! I feel better than the rest!
Oh, I am looking good today, ready to play.
The final inspections before I get my say.
These are the hardest because these guys are the ones
Who are going to hold me, caress me, and squeeze my buns!
Well Good Morning Peyton! How do you do?
I am so lucky to be starting for you.
I’ve always dreamed of being in your hands.
All of your wishes today are my command.
I love how you squeeze me from head to toe,
Placing your fingers firmly between each row.
You tell the manager you like my shape.
You say I feel lucky, inside it makes me go ape!
You toss me aside and pick up the next
And do the same until you get a text
It’s the coach wanting to see you soon
I just wait patiently until game time, around noon.
When everyone’s gone, the football babe gossip begins.
They tell me how things are for all of my friends.
How they got treated, where they worked and where they’ve been.
This week has been tough, it’s a shame and a sin.
One friend got picked for the Patriots game last Sunday night.
Got her ass kicked up and down the field, just isn’t right.
She begged to be handled sweetly, licked and tossed,
She longed for another chance with Randy Moss.
Another was selected to play with the Bills.
Hhh~ Another boring night with no spectacular frills.
Yes, T.O. is on the team, but that’s no big pop
Because every time she touches his hands, she ends up dropped.
My girl was chosen to play with Romo.
What she’s expected to do, she doesn’t know.
She tried to explain that she can’t perform miracles.
His plays are not planned, rather completely lyrical.
“Poor girls!” I say as we continue to talk through the walls.
Thinking how it’s better to be us than other types of balls.
The other kinds of balls have it much worse than we do.
They often don’t return to talk and laugh and see another day through.
Although we may get our asses kicked from time to time,
Their Daddys try to kill them and send them flying.
We’ve got golf balls, hit with clubs across a huge course.
We’ve got baseballs hit with bats, can’t say what’s worse.
They there are the basketballs, slammed to the floor.
When the players get mad, they slam them into the doors.
Like us they are handled by the best of millionaires.
Man I miss the touch passes by Steve McNair.
Hhh back to us I now return.
Thinking of how my body yearns
To be felt, grabbed, tossed and kicked.
Collie, Wayne, don’t let me get picked.
At this time, I’ll take a quick break
Don’t want to look tired cuz I tried to stay awake.
“See you soon Peyton dear” I whisper before going to sleep.
I dream about him holding me tight just before going deep.
Doriannicole Standish
8 Nov 09
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I know your name...
You know, the world may not see your game.
You may never be shrouded in shame.
But I know your name.
You may try to move on with your life.
You may lie to your families, your wives.
But I know your name.
You can follow me from place to place.
Your actions you may have tried to erase.
But I know your name.
You think you lucked out, you got away.
I am here to tell you that there will come a day.
And I know your name. God knows your name.
You may never be shrouded in shame.
But I know your name.
You may try to move on with your life.
You may lie to your families, your wives.
But I know your name.
You can follow me from place to place.
Your actions you may have tried to erase.
But I know your name.
You think you lucked out, you got away.
I am here to tell you that there will come a day.
And I know your name. God knows your name.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Have you ever....
Have you ever found yourself in a valley so low, you were drowning in water? playing in black oil? or looking Satan right in his eyes?
Have you ever found youself crying so hard you forgot to breathe? your heart hurting so bad your body begin to ache?
Have you ever been surrounded by people, yet felt completely alone? Felt like trust for others was an unattainable feat?
Have you ever felt so worthless, so devoid of value, that killing yourself gave more effort that you deserved?
Have you ever feared so much that your mind refused to sleep? felt so much anxiety that you couldn't digest food?
Have you ever hated yourself for hating others? Have you ever tried to forgive but couldn't make your heart comply?
Have you ever prayed hoping to find faith again? Have you ever hoped for the ability to pray from the heart again?
Have you ever been murdered? Raped? Beaten? Criticized? Ridiculed? Persecuted? Tortured? Drugged?
Have you ever wondered about the world we live in? Questioned how people could be so cold? So callous? So selfish?
Have you been so estranged from God that the idea of church brings a fitful burst of tears and weeping?
Have you ever wondered what is below hell because you've already reached there?
Have you ever found youself crying so hard you forgot to breathe? your heart hurting so bad your body begin to ache?
Have you ever been surrounded by people, yet felt completely alone? Felt like trust for others was an unattainable feat?
Have you ever felt so worthless, so devoid of value, that killing yourself gave more effort that you deserved?
Have you ever feared so much that your mind refused to sleep? felt so much anxiety that you couldn't digest food?
Have you ever hated yourself for hating others? Have you ever tried to forgive but couldn't make your heart comply?
Have you ever prayed hoping to find faith again? Have you ever hoped for the ability to pray from the heart again?
Have you ever been murdered? Raped? Beaten? Criticized? Ridiculed? Persecuted? Tortured? Drugged?
Have you ever wondered about the world we live in? Questioned how people could be so cold? So callous? So selfish?
Have you been so estranged from God that the idea of church brings a fitful burst of tears and weeping?
Have you ever wondered what is below hell because you've already reached there?
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Were you there?
A testament of faith...
So, how does it happen? How was I left alone to fight for my life? At church, they still tell me that God was there. Really? Was He? I am no longer asking my family, the pastors, my friends, the Bible. I am asking HIM:
Were You there...
...when they decided to take what didn't belong to them?
...when they beat me, spit on me, cursed at me?
...when they lied on me?
...when they tried to kill me?
...when they abandoned me?
...when they told me I wasn't going to make it?
...when they turned on me?
Were You...
...holding my hand while they raped me?
...carrying me when they threw me in a ditch?
...watching while they laughed and made fun of me?
...protecting me while they destroyed my dreams?
...with me when they killed my baby?
...there when they took my loved ones away?
...lying by my side when I woke up from nightmares?
The one thing I hadn't expected happened...He put me in such a place this week that not only would I call to Him, but the pain kept me still so I could hear him...
He responded; His voice spoke delicately yet with firm resolve. He said to me:
My child, you ask me whether or not I was there, yet here you stand. I was there, taking your pain, protecting you from the ultimate loss. I was there making sure that all that you endured was never more than you could bear. I was there, moving things, making sure that what you live through will ultimately build you and bring glory to my name. I heard you cry out my name, and I answered. I wiped away your tears. I am mending your broken spirit. Do you know, my child, the beauty of a broken spirit? It is similar to a broken bone. Once broken and healed, it is extraordinarily difficult to break it in the same place again. The mended bone is much stronger than the never before injured bone. Like a broken bone, it hurts and it takes time to heal.
There was never a moment of shame for you. You acted in my grace. You did what I asked you to do. You did what your heart told you to do. Do you remember how they treated Jesus? Do you remember how they beat him, lied on him, abandoned and tried to kill him? Do you remember how Jesus wept? He wept for you. He wept for the pain that you are feeling right now. But, while his body died, his spirit remained alive, indomitable.
The pain you feel now resides in your inability to focus. Focus on me, not that pain, and it will disappear. The more you give it, the more it will take from you. My commitment to you is unwavering, you are my child. No matter your perceived flaws, your mistakes, your emotions, you are mine and I made you exactly how I want and need you to be. You do my work everyday, humbling yourself, maintaining peace, and giving to others that which you barely yourself have. And even when they attempt to steal from your happiness, you radiate with joy. Your very presence literally lights a room. It is not because of your greatness, but because of mine that resides in you.
This week, I found myself in the Emergency Room twice. The first was scary enough, the latter, damn near took my life. I have spent the entire week in bed, in pain, in and out of sleep. I kept thinking that things happen because I speak my mind... LOL. I published my last blog and spoke about the anger and rage I felt toward God for letting me hurt so much. And, then, this week when my body was screaming with pain, the frustration just became deeper... why me?
So, how does it happen? How was I left alone to fight for my life? At church, they still tell me that God was there. Really? Was He? I am no longer asking my family, the pastors, my friends, the Bible. I am asking HIM:
Were You there...
...when they decided to take what didn't belong to them?
...when they beat me, spit on me, cursed at me?
...when they lied on me?
...when they tried to kill me?
...when they abandoned me?
...when they told me I wasn't going to make it?
...when they turned on me?
Were You...
...holding my hand while they raped me?
...carrying me when they threw me in a ditch?
...watching while they laughed and made fun of me?
...protecting me while they destroyed my dreams?
...with me when they killed my baby?
...there when they took my loved ones away?
...lying by my side when I woke up from nightmares?
Were you there...
...through all of the treatments, the needles, the pain?
...when migraines controlled my life?
...when my family doubted me and some turned their backs to me?
...when my body almost lost life..again?
The one thing I hadn't expected happened...He put me in such a place this week that not only would I call to Him, but the pain kept me still so I could hear him...
He responded; His voice spoke delicately yet with firm resolve. He said to me:
My child, you ask me whether or not I was there, yet here you stand. I was there, taking your pain, protecting you from the ultimate loss. I was there making sure that all that you endured was never more than you could bear. I was there, moving things, making sure that what you live through will ultimately build you and bring glory to my name. I heard you cry out my name, and I answered. I wiped away your tears. I am mending your broken spirit. Do you know, my child, the beauty of a broken spirit? It is similar to a broken bone. Once broken and healed, it is extraordinarily difficult to break it in the same place again. The mended bone is much stronger than the never before injured bone. Like a broken bone, it hurts and it takes time to heal.
There was never a moment of shame for you. You acted in my grace. You did what I asked you to do. You did what your heart told you to do. Do you remember how they treated Jesus? Do you remember how they beat him, lied on him, abandoned and tried to kill him? Do you remember how Jesus wept? He wept for you. He wept for the pain that you are feeling right now. But, while his body died, his spirit remained alive, indomitable.
The pain you feel now resides in your inability to focus. Focus on me, not that pain, and it will disappear. The more you give it, the more it will take from you. My commitment to you is unwavering, you are my child. No matter your perceived flaws, your mistakes, your emotions, you are mine and I made you exactly how I want and need you to be. You do my work everyday, humbling yourself, maintaining peace, and giving to others that which you barely yourself have. And even when they attempt to steal from your happiness, you radiate with joy. Your very presence literally lights a room. It is not because of your greatness, but because of mine that resides in you.
And, my child, you aren't faithless. If you were, you wouldn't be calling on me now. You couldn't be angry or disappointed. So while your faith and trust in me may be limited, it is there. And all I ask is that you have faith the size of a mustard seed...together we can move mountains.
Know that I love you...no one in this world can love you the way that I do...I understand that it will take time for you to know that in your mind. But, your heart is now and has always been mine. Your spirit may have once been weakened, but it has never died.
Your faith kept you from giving up. It is your faith that helps you pull it together each day. It's what keeps you doing what you started. It's why you still love and help others. Because you have faith in Me. You may never see how much stronger you are, you may never see past that moment in your life, but the darkness of the situation creates a beautiful contrast with what is store for you. I love you, my child.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Keeping it A Hundred....
I am sitting here in front of the screen with a million and ten thoughts traversing recklessly through my mind. I am wondering which of these will make it to the page, which of these will die in my heart. I have never publicly written anything in this manner; great thought and care goes into the things I choose to share with the world. So, as you read this, I ask you to forgive me for being so blunt, so honest, and for showing blatant and complete disregard for anyone's feelings and/or opinions. Forgive the ping pong effect of my writing as I am just putting it down as it comes out of me; without edits, without take backs. I learned a long time ago that what is said, once it comes out, can never be taken back. And, more importantly, I am learning right now, more than ever, that at the end of the day, I have to deal with me and no one else.
First, to answer the many emails and messages about why I haven't written much, let me say that I was holding back to avoid offending anyone, to avoid putting anyone in any particular situations, and to try to avoid anything I hated about my life completely. It's hard to write from the heart when there is so much weighing it down. The past few months have seen me at my ultimate worse ever. There were days when I thought I didn't belong in this world. Here I am serving my country, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for my country and the people in it, and so many of them are ambivalent, ungrateful, spoiled and selfish. I watched as people lost their lives defending our country. We have been at war for almost 8 years. I know it's hard to believe but this September 11th will be the 8th year of this incessant battle. But who are we fighting? I am not even sure anymore. Moreover, why are we fighting? To protect innocent lives?
We need to be focusing on the wars at home. Teenagers having sex with adults, "sexting" from video game devices, children smoking smarties...THE CANDY! to get high, snorting kool-aid for a buzz, sneaking shots of alcohol but putting them up their noses for an immediate high. Let's not mention boyfriends constantly killing their girlfriends, husbands beating the hell out of their wives, women throwing their lives away in underground strip clubs and a whole fucking state considering making prostitution legal. Let's not talk about what I think about this. We have people killing each other over words written in a song. We have people going back and forth disrespecting the very essence of another because of something childish that one said about the other. Rhianna decides to speak out for abused women and then goes back to the bastard that beat her. Mariah and Eminem going back and forth about who slept with who? And the thing about it...all of this makes so much money. We allow this bullshit to happen.
What about quarterbacks that retire 15 times? Can we talk about football for a sec? Because it is a great analogy to the lack of loyalty and conviction that we are seeing around the world today. For everyone, it's about the money, the title, the fame, the fortune. All of these things are supposed to make them happy. Yet, these dumb asses go right back to their old neighborhoods that they so desperately tried to get out of, and kill each other. They want media attention, so they retire and then come and suck royally...again. Money isn't enough. We have no real role models for our children to follow. Those that make it, never return to lift others out. Those that get some status, return only to add to the problems. They are loyal to everyone but themselves. They have little values, little respect for themselves and others, and they certainly don't give a damn about the little boys and girls who are doing everything possible to emulate them.
Let's talk politics for a second. Barack Obama came into office and within the first 100 days people were 'disappointed' with the progress that he made. The fact that he made progress in the midst of such a mess is in and of itself a miracle. Do you know where the economy was? Really? Do you really know how messed up the schools were? While we are talking about schools, did you know that the Secretary of Education that Obama appointed was the first one ever to have a background in education? Does this speak about our previous priorities? Does this explain why No Child Left Behind left more children behind than any of its predecessors? Hmmm. Maybe schools in the nation's capital will get some books...maybe we can pay teachers enough to support themselves on their salaries. Has anyone out there ever lived in NYC, DC, LA? Do you think $35,000 is going to cut it? Nah...not without a second salary.
Then, there is the health care crisis. Let's face it, there is no solution that is going to make everyone happy. Most developed countries have some form of government subsidized health care. Think about this for a second: I have cancer. In the United States, one chemotherapy treatment cost $16,000. Most health care plans that you get from work have a cap of $250,000. So, let's just put it out there. 12 rounds of chemotherapy $192,000. Prescriptions (of which I had 13-14 per day at any given time) $1000/month. So in a given year: $12000. Operations to remove tumors and growths, tests, doctor's fees, specialists fees, radiation...before we even find the right solution, we've busted the cap. Now, it's out of pocket for us. So, government subsidized health care wouldn't be right for everyone necessarily, but it would allow me to do what I wanted to do for a living without starving to death. It is a common saying that the drugs aren't what makes chemotherapy patients thin and fragile, it's their inability to pay for the food they need to survive.
Then there are the deeper sentiments that have come into my mind over the last several months. As much as I have a love and respect for God, we just don't seem to be on the same page. I am praying now, to be able to repair the relationship I once had with him. I look to my faith to bring me through trying times, but in November, my faith was stolen. I felt like I'd died...alone. I went to church a couple of weeks later and heard the pastor say that God is with you always; that He never leaves your side; and that when you are going through tough times, that He holds your hand and leads you out... And all I could think was: was God holding my hands when they were raping me? Did he have my back when they were kicking me, when they were spitting on me, burning me with cigarette butts? Was he leading me through the darkness toward the woods where they ejaculated time and time on me, in me; taking turns on me? Where was He when I was screaming out His name? Was He holding my hand when they were stepping on them and kicking my side until I stopped fighting? Was He watching and delivering me while they were literally pulling my hair out, dragging me by my hair through the woods? My Father which art in heaven...would I have been able to watch my child go through that without reacting? Would I have allowed the military to revictimize me over and over again? To blame me for what happened that night? Would I have left such a void in my child's heart that she could not find enough love for herself to even look in the mirror some days?
How do you justify allowing someone to suffer? How is that grace and mercy? I know I may be offending some, but it has plagued my heart for months. Slowly I am working to repair my relationship, but it's hard to put my trust in Him to protect me and keep me. Really hard.
While we are on familial relationships... let me put something else out there . I am working hard to forgive everyone in my life that has done something to tear me down. I am trying to forget the images of my mother with the phone cord wrapped around her neck, or the can of coins hitting her in the head. I am trying to forget the cousins who molested, the neighbors who touched me inappropriately. And no, most of the world doesn't know about all of this. I am not looking for revenge. I am not looking for any kind of reparations or for them to be punished. I am only trying to find peace and closure. I am trying to close doors that, left open, inhibit me from being able to fully love myself. I am trying to find peace with it all.
If you know you wronged me, you betrayed my trust, you hurt my family, you hurt me, stop acting like you've always been there. Stop pretending that you 'supported' me and I have accomplished all that I have because of your encouragement. Stop taking credit for things you had nothing to do with. I am sure it doesn't help me to find forgiveness. What I don't understand is how you can think that because in your heart you feel that you have changed, become more of a man, given your life to Christ, or whatever it is you say, that it overrides the damage you've already done. That your life changes somehow ameliorates the pain and suffering you put me through. Just putting it out there.
I am who I am because of my life experiences. So, in some perverse way, sure you had something to do with it. The men in my life taught me what NOT to accept in a husband. The women in my life taught me how NOT to accept bullshit excuses as to why he hit you, or why you have to sleep with him whenever he wants to, or why marriage somehow means relinquishing control over your life and letting go of your dreams. There are women in my life that taught me to speak up for myself, to put these big feet to use when necessary and to not be afraid to speak my mind.
I am tired of people seeing me for what is on the outside. I am tired of being my rank, tired of being my accomplishments, my failures, other people's expectations. I am tired of trying to live up to other people's definitions of success, of a wife, of a sister, of a friend. I am tired of being happy when behind the smile are tears of frustration that I don't have permission to express. Fuck that. I will cry when I need to cry, laugh when I think something is funny, and express myself when I need to. I am on my time. I cannot fear man anymore...what else can he do to me? I've already been murdered twice. What more can you do? You've taken so much from me. You've trampled over me, beat me, raped me, scarred me, broken bones, destroyed everything you could, even my self-esteem. But I am here to let you and the rest of the world know... I am still standing. I'm stronger than you think, hell, I am stronger than I thought.
I work out twice a day for a couple of reasons: one, I think it is awesome that sizes 2,4,6 are always on the clearance rack...so I, in frugality and vanity, choose to stay that size...although cheese sticks and french fries call me like the snake in the apple tree. Two, I am getting physically stronger so that the next man (or woman) that feels they can take advantage of me has a lot more coming at them than they may expect. I am finding my inner gangsta... LOL... I will cut somebody if necessary.
I am not condoning violence. In fact, that's what breaks us down as a people. But, I am condoning taking care of yourself. Cuz, at the end of the day, no one has your back like you do. No one is going to be there every time. And, like I said before, at the end of the day, you have to deal with you. Someone wise let me in on that little secret. So, i am dealing with me. One day at a time.
First, to answer the many emails and messages about why I haven't written much, let me say that I was holding back to avoid offending anyone, to avoid putting anyone in any particular situations, and to try to avoid anything I hated about my life completely. It's hard to write from the heart when there is so much weighing it down. The past few months have seen me at my ultimate worse ever. There were days when I thought I didn't belong in this world. Here I am serving my country, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for my country and the people in it, and so many of them are ambivalent, ungrateful, spoiled and selfish. I watched as people lost their lives defending our country. We have been at war for almost 8 years. I know it's hard to believe but this September 11th will be the 8th year of this incessant battle. But who are we fighting? I am not even sure anymore. Moreover, why are we fighting? To protect innocent lives?
We need to be focusing on the wars at home. Teenagers having sex with adults, "sexting" from video game devices, children smoking smarties...THE CANDY! to get high, snorting kool-aid for a buzz, sneaking shots of alcohol but putting them up their noses for an immediate high. Let's not mention boyfriends constantly killing their girlfriends, husbands beating the hell out of their wives, women throwing their lives away in underground strip clubs and a whole fucking state considering making prostitution legal. Let's not talk about what I think about this. We have people killing each other over words written in a song. We have people going back and forth disrespecting the very essence of another because of something childish that one said about the other. Rhianna decides to speak out for abused women and then goes back to the bastard that beat her. Mariah and Eminem going back and forth about who slept with who? And the thing about it...all of this makes so much money. We allow this bullshit to happen.
What about quarterbacks that retire 15 times? Can we talk about football for a sec? Because it is a great analogy to the lack of loyalty and conviction that we are seeing around the world today. For everyone, it's about the money, the title, the fame, the fortune. All of these things are supposed to make them happy. Yet, these dumb asses go right back to their old neighborhoods that they so desperately tried to get out of, and kill each other. They want media attention, so they retire and then come and suck royally...again. Money isn't enough. We have no real role models for our children to follow. Those that make it, never return to lift others out. Those that get some status, return only to add to the problems. They are loyal to everyone but themselves. They have little values, little respect for themselves and others, and they certainly don't give a damn about the little boys and girls who are doing everything possible to emulate them.
Let's talk politics for a second. Barack Obama came into office and within the first 100 days people were 'disappointed' with the progress that he made. The fact that he made progress in the midst of such a mess is in and of itself a miracle. Do you know where the economy was? Really? Do you really know how messed up the schools were? While we are talking about schools, did you know that the Secretary of Education that Obama appointed was the first one ever to have a background in education? Does this speak about our previous priorities? Does this explain why No Child Left Behind left more children behind than any of its predecessors? Hmmm. Maybe schools in the nation's capital will get some books...maybe we can pay teachers enough to support themselves on their salaries. Has anyone out there ever lived in NYC, DC, LA? Do you think $35,000 is going to cut it? Nah...not without a second salary.
Then, there is the health care crisis. Let's face it, there is no solution that is going to make everyone happy. Most developed countries have some form of government subsidized health care. Think about this for a second: I have cancer. In the United States, one chemotherapy treatment cost $16,000. Most health care plans that you get from work have a cap of $250,000. So, let's just put it out there. 12 rounds of chemotherapy $192,000. Prescriptions (of which I had 13-14 per day at any given time) $1000/month. So in a given year: $12000. Operations to remove tumors and growths, tests, doctor's fees, specialists fees, radiation...before we even find the right solution, we've busted the cap. Now, it's out of pocket for us. So, government subsidized health care wouldn't be right for everyone necessarily, but it would allow me to do what I wanted to do for a living without starving to death. It is a common saying that the drugs aren't what makes chemotherapy patients thin and fragile, it's their inability to pay for the food they need to survive.
Then there are the deeper sentiments that have come into my mind over the last several months. As much as I have a love and respect for God, we just don't seem to be on the same page. I am praying now, to be able to repair the relationship I once had with him. I look to my faith to bring me through trying times, but in November, my faith was stolen. I felt like I'd died...alone. I went to church a couple of weeks later and heard the pastor say that God is with you always; that He never leaves your side; and that when you are going through tough times, that He holds your hand and leads you out... And all I could think was: was God holding my hands when they were raping me? Did he have my back when they were kicking me, when they were spitting on me, burning me with cigarette butts? Was he leading me through the darkness toward the woods where they ejaculated time and time on me, in me; taking turns on me? Where was He when I was screaming out His name? Was He holding my hand when they were stepping on them and kicking my side until I stopped fighting? Was He watching and delivering me while they were literally pulling my hair out, dragging me by my hair through the woods? My Father which art in heaven...would I have been able to watch my child go through that without reacting? Would I have allowed the military to revictimize me over and over again? To blame me for what happened that night? Would I have left such a void in my child's heart that she could not find enough love for herself to even look in the mirror some days?
How do you justify allowing someone to suffer? How is that grace and mercy? I know I may be offending some, but it has plagued my heart for months. Slowly I am working to repair my relationship, but it's hard to put my trust in Him to protect me and keep me. Really hard.
While we are on familial relationships... let me put something else out there . I am working hard to forgive everyone in my life that has done something to tear me down. I am trying to forget the images of my mother with the phone cord wrapped around her neck, or the can of coins hitting her in the head. I am trying to forget the cousins who molested, the neighbors who touched me inappropriately. And no, most of the world doesn't know about all of this. I am not looking for revenge. I am not looking for any kind of reparations or for them to be punished. I am only trying to find peace and closure. I am trying to close doors that, left open, inhibit me from being able to fully love myself. I am trying to find peace with it all.
If you know you wronged me, you betrayed my trust, you hurt my family, you hurt me, stop acting like you've always been there. Stop pretending that you 'supported' me and I have accomplished all that I have because of your encouragement. Stop taking credit for things you had nothing to do with. I am sure it doesn't help me to find forgiveness. What I don't understand is how you can think that because in your heart you feel that you have changed, become more of a man, given your life to Christ, or whatever it is you say, that it overrides the damage you've already done. That your life changes somehow ameliorates the pain and suffering you put me through. Just putting it out there.
I am who I am because of my life experiences. So, in some perverse way, sure you had something to do with it. The men in my life taught me what NOT to accept in a husband. The women in my life taught me how NOT to accept bullshit excuses as to why he hit you, or why you have to sleep with him whenever he wants to, or why marriage somehow means relinquishing control over your life and letting go of your dreams. There are women in my life that taught me to speak up for myself, to put these big feet to use when necessary and to not be afraid to speak my mind.
I am tired of people seeing me for what is on the outside. I am tired of being my rank, tired of being my accomplishments, my failures, other people's expectations. I am tired of trying to live up to other people's definitions of success, of a wife, of a sister, of a friend. I am tired of being happy when behind the smile are tears of frustration that I don't have permission to express. Fuck that. I will cry when I need to cry, laugh when I think something is funny, and express myself when I need to. I am on my time. I cannot fear man anymore...what else can he do to me? I've already been murdered twice. What more can you do? You've taken so much from me. You've trampled over me, beat me, raped me, scarred me, broken bones, destroyed everything you could, even my self-esteem. But I am here to let you and the rest of the world know... I am still standing. I'm stronger than you think, hell, I am stronger than I thought.
I work out twice a day for a couple of reasons: one, I think it is awesome that sizes 2,4,6 are always on the clearance rack...so I, in frugality and vanity, choose to stay that size...although cheese sticks and french fries call me like the snake in the apple tree. Two, I am getting physically stronger so that the next man (or woman) that feels they can take advantage of me has a lot more coming at them than they may expect. I am finding my inner gangsta... LOL... I will cut somebody if necessary.
I am not condoning violence. In fact, that's what breaks us down as a people. But, I am condoning taking care of yourself. Cuz, at the end of the day, no one has your back like you do. No one is going to be there every time. And, like I said before, at the end of the day, you have to deal with you. Someone wise let me in on that little secret. So, i am dealing with me. One day at a time.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Playing outside of the sandbox...
There comes a time in your life when you have the opportunity to step outside of your box. You have the chance to make the greatest decision of your life, possibly. You realize the safety and security of your life, albeit extremely superficial, is at stake...but that the joy and happiness that is possible as an outcome is far greater.
The truth of the matter is that we get these awesome chances very rarely. We so often miss them because we feel the risk is to great, we have not opened our minds enough, or we have no real sense of self to be able to defy the status quo. So often, we are so preoccupied with the possible judgements and criticisms of others that we don't do what our hearts say is best for us. Sometimes, we have to learn to just do what works best for us and allow others the opportunity to get over it.
With time, people will learn to move past the fact that your world has expanded beyond the box. You will learn that you have the ability to step out and will do so more often. Life is short and precious. There is nothing like trying it out. IF all else fails, you can always step back into the box.
Risk, take the chance... Live, on the edge... Love, without boundaries...
The truth of the matter is that we get these awesome chances very rarely. We so often miss them because we feel the risk is to great, we have not opened our minds enough, or we have no real sense of self to be able to defy the status quo. So often, we are so preoccupied with the possible judgements and criticisms of others that we don't do what our hearts say is best for us. Sometimes, we have to learn to just do what works best for us and allow others the opportunity to get over it.
With time, people will learn to move past the fact that your world has expanded beyond the box. You will learn that you have the ability to step out and will do so more often. Life is short and precious. There is nothing like trying it out. IF all else fails, you can always step back into the box.
Risk, take the chance... Live, on the edge... Love, without boundaries...
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Phenomenal Woman
Today, we are transitioning from Black History Month into both Women's History month and National Poetry Month. So, in honor of all of these celebrations, I am posting one of my favorite poems. It's inspiring, thought-provoking, and written by one of the most intelligent women I have ever met, Black or White. Over the years, as a author, a poet, or as my professor, Maya Angelou has taught me so much about myself without ever telling me about myself. Instead, her words, whether in poetry or prose, speech or other, speak directly to the definition of my being. It is this poem, built of confidence, that allows so many women to find the courage to be who God made them to be.
Phenomenal Woman
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
Phenomenal Woman
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a womanPhenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,That's me.
Maya Angelou
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Missy's Garden
Once there was a girl, Missy, who just loved gardens. She loved the colors, the patterns, the freedom and ability to design God’s work for him. She couldn’t wait until springtime when the butterflies would come to visit the gardens, or the summertime when the fireflies would light up the evening views.
Missy was bright, ambitious and determined. So, she ventured out to create the garden of a lifetime. She imagined herself standing amongst the most beautiful plants and flowers in the world. She even considered planting trees in her garden.
First, she began by cultivating the land where she planned to build her garden. She treated the soil with special fertilizers, removed all of the weeds and rocks that had inhabited the earth where she’d decided to plant her garden.
On the eve of the sowing process, a terrible storm came and destroyed all of her hard work. The water and wind stripped the soil of all of the fertilizers she put down and tossed in rocks and sticks and outside rubbish from other lots. Moreover, the winds and rains had carried away many of her supplies.
The damage was devastating. It would take a long time to cultivate the land again. Many of her resources were low. The cost of repurchasing all of her supplies, the time to remove all of the rocks and sticks, the changing climate, and the fear of another storm consumed her. She began to doubt her ability to make a garden. Her garden, once pregnant with possibility, now seemed helplessly barren. Maybe this had been God’s way of telling her she wasn’t meant to have a garden. Still deep inside, the longing for a garden persisted.
After some time, she cleared the rubbish and rocks to a side of the lot. She had already decided that she would only plant a smaller garden. So, she took some of the resources she’d saved since the storm and began the process all over again; just on a smaller scale. As time progressed she began to see the fruits of her labor. Small blossoms appeared in a myriad of colors and shades; greens and reds, purples, oranges, yellows. She was beginning to hope again.
Deep in her heart she wanted that garden she’d always longed for. So, she began the great expansion project. She wanted people to be able to see the beauty she saw in her small garden. She wanted people to be able to really see all of the elements that created her garden. So, day by day, she expanded little by little until one day she reached the maximum area.
While it was difficult to manage such a large space, she did her best to make it presentable and inviting. People stopped to look but very few saw past the vastness of the garden to see the smaller parts that created the greater image. After a couple of years, she got tired of people trampling her flowers, tired of the storms that blew rubbish into her flowerbeds and moreover, tired of people stealing flowers from her beloved garden. She felt like maybe she needed to revamp her garden and focus the garden around something more fixed, more permanent. Maybe she could find something that no one could take away…maybe the trees from her original design would suffice.
In the midst of the garden remodel, Missy found herself growing physically tired. Caring for such a massive garden was proving to be quite a bit of work, not to mention choosing the perfect tree, moving it to the garden, and supporting it until it had strong enough roots of its own. Yet, she continued. She knew there was a long road ahead of her, but she could see her garden coming along.
Then, one day out of nowhere, Missy woke up to a garden plagued with some kind of disease. It ravaged her garden, spreading like a malignant cancer across her garden. It destroyed the perimeter of her garden, it killed the blossoming flowers on the ground and finally her rose bushes began to die too. She sought professional help to save her garden. She worked side by side with them while they toiled in her garden trying to stop the metastasis of the dream killing disease. The professionals gave her garden treatment after treatment. The disease would go away for a few months only to resurface because they’d left a single infected plant in the garden. Again, they’d provide treatment after treatment.
Missy focused all of her energy on her trees in the middle of her garden. She refused to let this disease affect her trees. She watched them carefully and continued to pour her resources into both the garden at large and the trees. Eventually, Missy had to change her career to make sure she could continue to watch her garden.
It took almost seven years for Missy’s garden to begin to develop again. Her trees were doing well. By the end of the 8th year, Missy had seven trees standing tall in the center of her garden. She still fought off the garden bandits who sought to steal her flowers. She still had to protect her plants from the abuse of storms, trampling feet, and the little boys who played too close to her garden. She built tall fences around her garden. Yet, they still managed to enter. So she made her fences concrete, wide blocks, impenetrable without major effort.
In the beginning of the seventh year, she opened her garden for the first time. She determined that she could allow select people to see it up close. Her first visitor was so great. He seemed to know all about the garden. He identified so many of the flowers on the first try. She was so at ease with him. She let him into her garden regularly. He always noticed changes, she loved that he loved her garden. For seven months he came every day. Then, just as quickly as he’d entered her world, he disappeared. She was devastated. For three months he didn’t show up to see her garden, although she tried to invite him.
Just when she’d given up on her garden companion, he showed up at her gate entrance. By now, she’d closed off the garden to anyone. He begged her to let him come to see the garden. She reluctantly obliged. But something had changed. She saw him more as a trespasser instead of a visitor. And, she found herself asking him to leave.
She frantically uprooted her garden and moved to a different place. In the process, she lost some of the plants but figured she’d replace them as soon as she was settled. Her trees all survived the move, although one tree, that she’d affectionately named Faith, was not as strong as the others. The move really weakened Faith because her roots had been so deeply planted and the uprooting process is most dangerous the deeper the roots are. Between the disease and the move, the garden had grown much smaller than it once was, but it was still something to behold.
Amazingly, the lot she moved to already had big walls. Her garden was finally safe. The professionals hadn’t detected any of that malicious disease that had killed off so much of her garden. No pests, in insect or human form, were going to enter her garden ever again.
It was lonely without any visitors but the beauty of the garden was beginning to become more apparent. Missy worked overtime to repair Faith. She needed to make sure that her Faith was strong and intact. While she worked on Faith, she also continued to work on Knowledge, another big tree. This type of tree needed constant care.
One day, she sat in the garden and leaned on Faith. She decided to extend her garden in a way she hadn’t before. She was going to add a balcony from which she could see the full aerial view of her garden. She went to the contractor’s office and told him of her plans. He helped her design her balcony and get her started on this long project. This was no ordinary balcony. It depended on the height of her Faith and on her Knowledge.
As she was leaving the contractor’s office one day, she ran into a man who was very attractive. His name was RJ. She thought about her garden and her last visitor. She continued past him. Time and time again, she ran into him until finally, she begin to let him see elements of her garden. She’d bring cut flowers from her garden, small examples of what lay behind that massive wall. He seemed interested in all that she had in her garden. So, she very hesitantly allowed him to peek inside the walls.
After a while, he began removing parts of the wall. He understood that the plants needed sunlight from all directions. RJ understood that there were so many things that made Missy’s garden beautiful. He saw more than the plants. He saw the love and dedication that she put into it. He saw the fear which caused her to protect each one. And while he couldn’t protect her garden from disease, he could help her protect it from the trampling feet, the blossom thieves, and allow her to remove the wall, so every plant can have sun light.
With him there, the garden blossomed. Butterflies began to emerge and grow in her delicate garden. A beautifully ornate vine, Amorous, was planted. This was a project that required a lot of effort from both of them. But, it was a beautiful addition to the garden. It surrounded the garden, like the wall had before, but gave way to brilliant sunlight. Oh this garden was becoming a sight to see.
Like any success, there were those who sought to destroy the garden. And they came in, one Friday night in November, and vandalized the garden. They threatened Missy that if she rebuilt it, they’d do her more harm than they had done her garden. She fell to her knees, afraid for both her garden and her own life. Faith had been damaged the most. Confidence, another tree was hurt badly too. They had carved their mark into the bark of Confidence. Still worse, Missy had all but given up. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. RJ, who had been away on a work assignment, called her frequently to encourage her. He helped her make it through the most difficult days. Before you know it, she was back in the garden working diligently to fix her garden.
Confidence and Faith are still not as strong as they once were, but they grow a little stronger every day. RJ still comes to help Missy in the garden. In fact, he moved in, so that he can be there to help Missy every day. RJ’s presence, his added love makes Missy’s garden just blossom. And while storms may come, Missy and RJ will be there to replant the seeds in the garden.
One beautiful summer day, when Missy’s garden was in full bloom, she and RJ stood on the balcony looking into the garden. It was if she were floating hand in hand over the garden she loved, and had for so long dreamed of, and the man she loved. And, just like that, he turned to her, and asked if he could tend her garden for the rest of their lives. She, beaming said that he could, if that was something that he could promise her he’d do.
The next spring, when all of the beautiful flowers began to peek from behind their green cloaks, RJ whispered something else. He told Missy, “Forever and ever, I do.” And, with that, Missy’s garden became home to RJ forever.
The End.
Missy was bright, ambitious and determined. So, she ventured out to create the garden of a lifetime. She imagined herself standing amongst the most beautiful plants and flowers in the world. She even considered planting trees in her garden.
First, she began by cultivating the land where she planned to build her garden. She treated the soil with special fertilizers, removed all of the weeds and rocks that had inhabited the earth where she’d decided to plant her garden.
On the eve of the sowing process, a terrible storm came and destroyed all of her hard work. The water and wind stripped the soil of all of the fertilizers she put down and tossed in rocks and sticks and outside rubbish from other lots. Moreover, the winds and rains had carried away many of her supplies.
The damage was devastating. It would take a long time to cultivate the land again. Many of her resources were low. The cost of repurchasing all of her supplies, the time to remove all of the rocks and sticks, the changing climate, and the fear of another storm consumed her. She began to doubt her ability to make a garden. Her garden, once pregnant with possibility, now seemed helplessly barren. Maybe this had been God’s way of telling her she wasn’t meant to have a garden. Still deep inside, the longing for a garden persisted.
After some time, she cleared the rubbish and rocks to a side of the lot. She had already decided that she would only plant a smaller garden. So, she took some of the resources she’d saved since the storm and began the process all over again; just on a smaller scale. As time progressed she began to see the fruits of her labor. Small blossoms appeared in a myriad of colors and shades; greens and reds, purples, oranges, yellows. She was beginning to hope again.
Deep in her heart she wanted that garden she’d always longed for. So, she began the great expansion project. She wanted people to be able to see the beauty she saw in her small garden. She wanted people to be able to really see all of the elements that created her garden. So, day by day, she expanded little by little until one day she reached the maximum area.
While it was difficult to manage such a large space, she did her best to make it presentable and inviting. People stopped to look but very few saw past the vastness of the garden to see the smaller parts that created the greater image. After a couple of years, she got tired of people trampling her flowers, tired of the storms that blew rubbish into her flowerbeds and moreover, tired of people stealing flowers from her beloved garden. She felt like maybe she needed to revamp her garden and focus the garden around something more fixed, more permanent. Maybe she could find something that no one could take away…maybe the trees from her original design would suffice.
In the midst of the garden remodel, Missy found herself growing physically tired. Caring for such a massive garden was proving to be quite a bit of work, not to mention choosing the perfect tree, moving it to the garden, and supporting it until it had strong enough roots of its own. Yet, she continued. She knew there was a long road ahead of her, but she could see her garden coming along.
Then, one day out of nowhere, Missy woke up to a garden plagued with some kind of disease. It ravaged her garden, spreading like a malignant cancer across her garden. It destroyed the perimeter of her garden, it killed the blossoming flowers on the ground and finally her rose bushes began to die too. She sought professional help to save her garden. She worked side by side with them while they toiled in her garden trying to stop the metastasis of the dream killing disease. The professionals gave her garden treatment after treatment. The disease would go away for a few months only to resurface because they’d left a single infected plant in the garden. Again, they’d provide treatment after treatment.
Missy focused all of her energy on her trees in the middle of her garden. She refused to let this disease affect her trees. She watched them carefully and continued to pour her resources into both the garden at large and the trees. Eventually, Missy had to change her career to make sure she could continue to watch her garden.
It took almost seven years for Missy’s garden to begin to develop again. Her trees were doing well. By the end of the 8th year, Missy had seven trees standing tall in the center of her garden. She still fought off the garden bandits who sought to steal her flowers. She still had to protect her plants from the abuse of storms, trampling feet, and the little boys who played too close to her garden. She built tall fences around her garden. Yet, they still managed to enter. So she made her fences concrete, wide blocks, impenetrable without major effort.
In the beginning of the seventh year, she opened her garden for the first time. She determined that she could allow select people to see it up close. Her first visitor was so great. He seemed to know all about the garden. He identified so many of the flowers on the first try. She was so at ease with him. She let him into her garden regularly. He always noticed changes, she loved that he loved her garden. For seven months he came every day. Then, just as quickly as he’d entered her world, he disappeared. She was devastated. For three months he didn’t show up to see her garden, although she tried to invite him.
Just when she’d given up on her garden companion, he showed up at her gate entrance. By now, she’d closed off the garden to anyone. He begged her to let him come to see the garden. She reluctantly obliged. But something had changed. She saw him more as a trespasser instead of a visitor. And, she found herself asking him to leave.
She frantically uprooted her garden and moved to a different place. In the process, she lost some of the plants but figured she’d replace them as soon as she was settled. Her trees all survived the move, although one tree, that she’d affectionately named Faith, was not as strong as the others. The move really weakened Faith because her roots had been so deeply planted and the uprooting process is most dangerous the deeper the roots are. Between the disease and the move, the garden had grown much smaller than it once was, but it was still something to behold.
Amazingly, the lot she moved to already had big walls. Her garden was finally safe. The professionals hadn’t detected any of that malicious disease that had killed off so much of her garden. No pests, in insect or human form, were going to enter her garden ever again.
It was lonely without any visitors but the beauty of the garden was beginning to become more apparent. Missy worked overtime to repair Faith. She needed to make sure that her Faith was strong and intact. While she worked on Faith, she also continued to work on Knowledge, another big tree. This type of tree needed constant care.
One day, she sat in the garden and leaned on Faith. She decided to extend her garden in a way she hadn’t before. She was going to add a balcony from which she could see the full aerial view of her garden. She went to the contractor’s office and told him of her plans. He helped her design her balcony and get her started on this long project. This was no ordinary balcony. It depended on the height of her Faith and on her Knowledge.
As she was leaving the contractor’s office one day, she ran into a man who was very attractive. His name was RJ. She thought about her garden and her last visitor. She continued past him. Time and time again, she ran into him until finally, she begin to let him see elements of her garden. She’d bring cut flowers from her garden, small examples of what lay behind that massive wall. He seemed interested in all that she had in her garden. So, she very hesitantly allowed him to peek inside the walls.
After a while, he began removing parts of the wall. He understood that the plants needed sunlight from all directions. RJ understood that there were so many things that made Missy’s garden beautiful. He saw more than the plants. He saw the love and dedication that she put into it. He saw the fear which caused her to protect each one. And while he couldn’t protect her garden from disease, he could help her protect it from the trampling feet, the blossom thieves, and allow her to remove the wall, so every plant can have sun light.
With him there, the garden blossomed. Butterflies began to emerge and grow in her delicate garden. A beautifully ornate vine, Amorous, was planted. This was a project that required a lot of effort from both of them. But, it was a beautiful addition to the garden. It surrounded the garden, like the wall had before, but gave way to brilliant sunlight. Oh this garden was becoming a sight to see.
Like any success, there were those who sought to destroy the garden. And they came in, one Friday night in November, and vandalized the garden. They threatened Missy that if she rebuilt it, they’d do her more harm than they had done her garden. She fell to her knees, afraid for both her garden and her own life. Faith had been damaged the most. Confidence, another tree was hurt badly too. They had carved their mark into the bark of Confidence. Still worse, Missy had all but given up. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. RJ, who had been away on a work assignment, called her frequently to encourage her. He helped her make it through the most difficult days. Before you know it, she was back in the garden working diligently to fix her garden.
Confidence and Faith are still not as strong as they once were, but they grow a little stronger every day. RJ still comes to help Missy in the garden. In fact, he moved in, so that he can be there to help Missy every day. RJ’s presence, his added love makes Missy’s garden just blossom. And while storms may come, Missy and RJ will be there to replant the seeds in the garden.
One beautiful summer day, when Missy’s garden was in full bloom, she and RJ stood on the balcony looking into the garden. It was if she were floating hand in hand over the garden she loved, and had for so long dreamed of, and the man she loved. And, just like that, he turned to her, and asked if he could tend her garden for the rest of their lives. She, beaming said that he could, if that was something that he could promise her he’d do.
The next spring, when all of the beautiful flowers began to peek from behind their green cloaks, RJ whispered something else. He told Missy, “Forever and ever, I do.” And, with that, Missy’s garden became home to RJ forever.
The End.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Black History Month: Great African American Leaders
Although February should not be the only time we remember our great African-American leaders, it is a time to remember to reflect on where we, as a great nation, come from. Reflection is important if we are to learn from our history and continue to progress. Below is a snippet of some of our great African-American leaders; some of whom you may know, some of whom it you may not:
Paul Cuffe(1759-1817)Paul Cuffe, a free black from Massachusetts, was a shipowner and advocate of sending free blacks voluntarily back to Africa. Cuffe's efforts helped encourage the American Colonization Society to found settlements in what was to become Liberia. Altogether, some 15,000 American blacks moved there during the colonization effort.
Richard Allen(1760-1831)Born a slave, Richard Allen began his career as a clergyman with the conversion of his master. Shrewd and hardworking, Allen bought his freedom and moved to Philadelphia. After being rebuffed at white churches, he formed an independent black Methodist church. In 1816, he became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first national organization of its kind. During this era, it was said, Allen's house was never shut "against the friendless, homeless, penniless fugitive from the house of bondage." Allen is also reported by his contemporaries to have had "greater influence upon the colored people of the North than any other man of his times."
Frederick Douglass(1817-1895)Born into slavery on a Maryland farm, Frederick Douglass became the foremost African-American abolitionist in the United States. At the age of 21, he escaped to Massachusetts where he become a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.In 1847, Douglass founded a newspaper, The North Star, whose masthead read: "Right is of no sex -- Truth is of no color -- God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren."During the Civil War, Douglass recruited black regiments for the North and spoke eloquently for black suffrage and civil rights.
Sojourner Truth(Isabella) (1820-1883)Born a slave in New York, Sojourner Truth escaped just before the state abolished slavery. Becoming a preacher-prophet, she adopted the name "Sojourner Truth." By 1843, she began touring America denouncing slavery and championing equal rights for blacks and women before religious, abolitionist and women's organizations.Truth visited President Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1864, then remained in Washington to help runaway slaves. Her last years were spent urging Congress to allocate land and money for freed blacks in the West.
Harriet Tubman(c. 1821-1913)Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland. At age 25, she escaped to freedom. She was to become the most famous conductor on the "Underground Railroad," a secret network of hiding places where fugitive slaves found sanctuary on their way north. All told, she made 19 trips back to the South, helping more than 300 slaves escape to freedom.During the Civil War, Tubman worked for the Union as a nurse, a spy and a scout. At one time $40,000 was offered for her capture. Her later years were given to establishing an old-age home for impoverished blacks.
Booker T. Washington(1856-1915)Booker Taliferro Washington, the most influential African-American leader at the turn of the century was born a slave in Virginia and freed with the Emancipation Proclamation.In 1881, Washington became head of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, where he advocated industrial and agricultural training for African-Americans. Under his leadership the school became one of the nation's leading black universities.After delivering his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech in 1895, Washington was recognized as the chief spokesman for black Americans. Advocating the dignity of common labor, Washington steered blacks toward careers in agriculture, mechanics and domestic service. In 1900, Washington organized the National Negro Business league which emphasized skill, thrift an black capitalism.
W.E.B. Du Bois(1868-1963)A prominent author, editor and educator, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois obtained a doctorate from Harvard in 1895. In the course of his long career -- as editor of the Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), sociology professor and lecturer -- Du Bois embraced such differing ideologies as equalitarian democracy, pan-Africanism, economic and cultural self-determinism, Marxism and socialism. Throughout his life, he remained a steadfast critic of a society which tolerated discrimination, and he advocated equal opportunity and education as the keys to black advancement. In 1961, at age 93, Du Bois moved to Ghana.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett(1869-1931)The demand for the arrest and punishment of lynchers -- white vigilantes who executed blacks became a major crusade at the turn of the century. An outstanding figure in this movement was Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who in 1895 compiled the first statistical pamphlet on lynching, The Red Record.Wells taught school in Memphis, Tennessee, until she became editor and part-owner of a newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, which circulated throughout the Mississippi Delta. In 1892, after exposing those who had lynched three young black businessmen in Memphis, her offices were destroyed.Fleeing to Chicago, Wells married Ferdinand Barnett. Both became active in the National Equal Rights League.
A. Philip Randolph(1889-1979)Asa Philip Randolph was one of the most influential labor and civil rights leaders of the 20th century. In 1925, Randolph founded and was elected president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which fought a successful battle for recognition by the railroad companies.In 1941, Randolph threatened President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a mass march on Washington to protest the exclusion of blacks from jobs in defense industries. This led to the establishment of the federal Fair Employment Practices Committee. Randolph also encouraged President Harry S Truman to desegregate the military in 1948.As an elder statesman of the civil rights movement, he was a principal organizer of the March on Washington in 1963.
Roy Wilkins(1901-1981)Roy Wilkins joined the NAACP as assistant secretary in 1931 and became executive director in 1955. Wilkins and more than 700 others were jailed in the spring of 1963 after a mass demonstration against segregation in public facilities in Jackson, Mississippi.Early in his administration, President Lyndon B. Johnson conferred with black leaders, including Wilkins, to enlist support for the civil rights program begun under President John F. Kennedy.
Thurgood Marshall(1908-1993)Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice, attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C. Admitted to the bar in 1933, he worked with the Baltimore, Maryland, branch of the NAACP and later established its Legal Defense Fund.As chief attorney for the NAACP, Marshall earned a reputation as an exceptional lawyer, winning 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall's primary target was segregation in all its manifestations: interstate travel, housing laws, voting rights and education. The most celebrated of his victories, the landmark Brown v. the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education in 1954, ended legal segregation in public schools.Marshall was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1962 by President Kennedy. He then became the first black to become solicitor general of the United States. In 1967, President Johnson named him the first black Supreme Court justice. He served until 1991, remaining an unceasing advocate for the equality of all Americans.
James Farmer(1920-1999)In 1942, James Farmer founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) during a sit-in at a Chicago restaurant that refused to serve blacks. Farmer directed the organization toward nonviolent protest - sit-ins, boycotts, marches and Freedom Rides. These early demonstrations, protesting segregation in public facilities, were met with hostility and violence. By the 1950s, as a result of direct action by CORE and the NAACP, public facilities in the North opened to blacks.In 1961, Farmer traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of a new round of Freedom Rides. Other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., joined the cause as it gathered momentum.Farmer resigned as national director of CORE in 1966 and turned to teaching. In 1998 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Whitney M. Young, Jr.(1921-1971)Following a distinguished career as a teacher, Whitney Moore Young Jr. was named executive director of the National Urban League in 1961. The league was formed in 1910 to improve the living conditions and employment opportunities for urban blacks.Young was one of the black leaders who advised President Johnson on the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Young served on numerous private and federal commissions related to social welfare. Elements of his "domestic Marshall Plan" were incorporated in the federal antipoverty program during the 1960s.
Benjamin Hooks(1925- )Throughout his career Benjamin Hooks, a lawyer and ordained Baptist minister, has addressed a range of political, economic and social problems confronting African-Americans and other minorities. In 1965, he was appointed a Memphis Criminal Court judge.The first black to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (1972-1978), Hooks was instrumental in paving the way for blacks to own and operate radio and television stations.He was executive director of the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization from 1977 to 1993. He is chairman of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
Malcolm X(1925-1965)The life and philosophy of Malcolm X have profoundly influenced the thinking of black Americans. Born Malcolm Little, Malcolm X spent much of his childhood in foster homes and state institutions. Arrested at the age of 21, he was given a 10-year sentence. While in jail, he became interested in the Nation of Islam, the Black Muslim sect led by Elijah Muhammad, who advocated separation of the races. Paroled in 1952, he adopted the name Malcolm X, and became a leader of the Black Muslim movement.His eloquence drew a strong following but his popularity and forceful personality led to disputes and ultimately his expulsion from the movement in 1963. He then founded his own organization.Following a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm modified his views and accepted the possibility of working with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. He was assassinated in 1965 during a speech in New York City. Malcolm X's influence has grown since his death, largely through his autobiography and, most recently, a film.
Ralph Abernathy(1926-1990)Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr.'s closest associate, was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement for three decades. In 1955, he helped organize the association to supervise a city-wide bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. following the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger.In 1957, a group of Southern black ministers from 11 states met with King and Abernathy to establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King was elected president and Abernathy, secretary-treasurer. Under their leadership. the SCLC organized nonviolent marches, sit-ins, boycotts, prayer pilgrimages and voter registration drives protesting segregation in the South. After King's death, Abernathy became president of the SCLC, heading it until 1973.
Andrew Young(1932- )Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Andrew Jackson Young graduated from Howard University and later was ordained as a minister.While working on a voter-registration project, he met Martin Luther King Jr. and joined the SCLC where he became one of King's most trusted aides. He was active in desegregation campaigns in Birmingham, Alabama, and Chicago, Illinois, and in the 1963 March on Washington. Young became SCLC executive director in 1964 and, after King's death, executive vice president under Ralph Abernathy.Elected to Congress in 1972, he was reelected twice. President Jimmy Carter named him ambassador to the United Nations in 1977. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Atlanta and was reelected overwhelmingly in 1985. Young has been chairman of GoodWorks International, a consulting firm he co-founded, since 1997.
Colin Powell(1937- )Colin Powell became U.S. secretary of state, the first African-American to hold that position, in 2001. Prior to his appointment, he was the chairman of America's Promise -- The Alliance for Youth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building the character and competence of young people.Powell was a soldier for 35 years and rose to the rank of four-star general. He served as assistant to the president for national security affairs and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the U.S. military, before his retirement in 1993. As chairman, he played a major role in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and in the restructuring of the U.S. military following the end of the Cold War.
Paul Cuffe(1759-1817)Paul Cuffe, a free black from Massachusetts, was a shipowner and advocate of sending free blacks voluntarily back to Africa. Cuffe's efforts helped encourage the American Colonization Society to found settlements in what was to become Liberia. Altogether, some 15,000 American blacks moved there during the colonization effort.
Richard Allen(1760-1831)Born a slave, Richard Allen began his career as a clergyman with the conversion of his master. Shrewd and hardworking, Allen bought his freedom and moved to Philadelphia. After being rebuffed at white churches, he formed an independent black Methodist church. In 1816, he became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first national organization of its kind. During this era, it was said, Allen's house was never shut "against the friendless, homeless, penniless fugitive from the house of bondage." Allen is also reported by his contemporaries to have had "greater influence upon the colored people of the North than any other man of his times."
Frederick Douglass(1817-1895)Born into slavery on a Maryland farm, Frederick Douglass became the foremost African-American abolitionist in the United States. At the age of 21, he escaped to Massachusetts where he become a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.In 1847, Douglass founded a newspaper, The North Star, whose masthead read: "Right is of no sex -- Truth is of no color -- God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren."During the Civil War, Douglass recruited black regiments for the North and spoke eloquently for black suffrage and civil rights.
Sojourner Truth(Isabella) (1820-1883)Born a slave in New York, Sojourner Truth escaped just before the state abolished slavery. Becoming a preacher-prophet, she adopted the name "Sojourner Truth." By 1843, she began touring America denouncing slavery and championing equal rights for blacks and women before religious, abolitionist and women's organizations.Truth visited President Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1864, then remained in Washington to help runaway slaves. Her last years were spent urging Congress to allocate land and money for freed blacks in the West.
Harriet Tubman(c. 1821-1913)Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland. At age 25, she escaped to freedom. She was to become the most famous conductor on the "Underground Railroad," a secret network of hiding places where fugitive slaves found sanctuary on their way north. All told, she made 19 trips back to the South, helping more than 300 slaves escape to freedom.During the Civil War, Tubman worked for the Union as a nurse, a spy and a scout. At one time $40,000 was offered for her capture. Her later years were given to establishing an old-age home for impoverished blacks.
Booker T. Washington(1856-1915)Booker Taliferro Washington, the most influential African-American leader at the turn of the century was born a slave in Virginia and freed with the Emancipation Proclamation.In 1881, Washington became head of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, where he advocated industrial and agricultural training for African-Americans. Under his leadership the school became one of the nation's leading black universities.After delivering his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech in 1895, Washington was recognized as the chief spokesman for black Americans. Advocating the dignity of common labor, Washington steered blacks toward careers in agriculture, mechanics and domestic service. In 1900, Washington organized the National Negro Business league which emphasized skill, thrift an black capitalism.
W.E.B. Du Bois(1868-1963)A prominent author, editor and educator, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois obtained a doctorate from Harvard in 1895. In the course of his long career -- as editor of the Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), sociology professor and lecturer -- Du Bois embraced such differing ideologies as equalitarian democracy, pan-Africanism, economic and cultural self-determinism, Marxism and socialism. Throughout his life, he remained a steadfast critic of a society which tolerated discrimination, and he advocated equal opportunity and education as the keys to black advancement. In 1961, at age 93, Du Bois moved to Ghana.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett(1869-1931)The demand for the arrest and punishment of lynchers -- white vigilantes who executed blacks became a major crusade at the turn of the century. An outstanding figure in this movement was Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who in 1895 compiled the first statistical pamphlet on lynching, The Red Record.Wells taught school in Memphis, Tennessee, until she became editor and part-owner of a newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, which circulated throughout the Mississippi Delta. In 1892, after exposing those who had lynched three young black businessmen in Memphis, her offices were destroyed.Fleeing to Chicago, Wells married Ferdinand Barnett. Both became active in the National Equal Rights League.
A. Philip Randolph(1889-1979)Asa Philip Randolph was one of the most influential labor and civil rights leaders of the 20th century. In 1925, Randolph founded and was elected president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which fought a successful battle for recognition by the railroad companies.In 1941, Randolph threatened President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a mass march on Washington to protest the exclusion of blacks from jobs in defense industries. This led to the establishment of the federal Fair Employment Practices Committee. Randolph also encouraged President Harry S Truman to desegregate the military in 1948.As an elder statesman of the civil rights movement, he was a principal organizer of the March on Washington in 1963.
Roy Wilkins(1901-1981)Roy Wilkins joined the NAACP as assistant secretary in 1931 and became executive director in 1955. Wilkins and more than 700 others were jailed in the spring of 1963 after a mass demonstration against segregation in public facilities in Jackson, Mississippi.Early in his administration, President Lyndon B. Johnson conferred with black leaders, including Wilkins, to enlist support for the civil rights program begun under President John F. Kennedy.
Thurgood Marshall(1908-1993)Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice, attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C. Admitted to the bar in 1933, he worked with the Baltimore, Maryland, branch of the NAACP and later established its Legal Defense Fund.As chief attorney for the NAACP, Marshall earned a reputation as an exceptional lawyer, winning 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall's primary target was segregation in all its manifestations: interstate travel, housing laws, voting rights and education. The most celebrated of his victories, the landmark Brown v. the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education in 1954, ended legal segregation in public schools.Marshall was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1962 by President Kennedy. He then became the first black to become solicitor general of the United States. In 1967, President Johnson named him the first black Supreme Court justice. He served until 1991, remaining an unceasing advocate for the equality of all Americans.
James Farmer(1920-1999)In 1942, James Farmer founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) during a sit-in at a Chicago restaurant that refused to serve blacks. Farmer directed the organization toward nonviolent protest - sit-ins, boycotts, marches and Freedom Rides. These early demonstrations, protesting segregation in public facilities, were met with hostility and violence. By the 1950s, as a result of direct action by CORE and the NAACP, public facilities in the North opened to blacks.In 1961, Farmer traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of a new round of Freedom Rides. Other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., joined the cause as it gathered momentum.Farmer resigned as national director of CORE in 1966 and turned to teaching. In 1998 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Whitney M. Young, Jr.(1921-1971)Following a distinguished career as a teacher, Whitney Moore Young Jr. was named executive director of the National Urban League in 1961. The league was formed in 1910 to improve the living conditions and employment opportunities for urban blacks.Young was one of the black leaders who advised President Johnson on the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Young served on numerous private and federal commissions related to social welfare. Elements of his "domestic Marshall Plan" were incorporated in the federal antipoverty program during the 1960s.
Benjamin Hooks(1925- )Throughout his career Benjamin Hooks, a lawyer and ordained Baptist minister, has addressed a range of political, economic and social problems confronting African-Americans and other minorities. In 1965, he was appointed a Memphis Criminal Court judge.The first black to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (1972-1978), Hooks was instrumental in paving the way for blacks to own and operate radio and television stations.He was executive director of the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization from 1977 to 1993. He is chairman of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
Malcolm X(1925-1965)The life and philosophy of Malcolm X have profoundly influenced the thinking of black Americans. Born Malcolm Little, Malcolm X spent much of his childhood in foster homes and state institutions. Arrested at the age of 21, he was given a 10-year sentence. While in jail, he became interested in the Nation of Islam, the Black Muslim sect led by Elijah Muhammad, who advocated separation of the races. Paroled in 1952, he adopted the name Malcolm X, and became a leader of the Black Muslim movement.His eloquence drew a strong following but his popularity and forceful personality led to disputes and ultimately his expulsion from the movement in 1963. He then founded his own organization.Following a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm modified his views and accepted the possibility of working with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. He was assassinated in 1965 during a speech in New York City. Malcolm X's influence has grown since his death, largely through his autobiography and, most recently, a film.
Ralph Abernathy(1926-1990)Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr.'s closest associate, was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement for three decades. In 1955, he helped organize the association to supervise a city-wide bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. following the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger.In 1957, a group of Southern black ministers from 11 states met with King and Abernathy to establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King was elected president and Abernathy, secretary-treasurer. Under their leadership. the SCLC organized nonviolent marches, sit-ins, boycotts, prayer pilgrimages and voter registration drives protesting segregation in the South. After King's death, Abernathy became president of the SCLC, heading it until 1973.
Andrew Young(1932- )Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Andrew Jackson Young graduated from Howard University and later was ordained as a minister.While working on a voter-registration project, he met Martin Luther King Jr. and joined the SCLC where he became one of King's most trusted aides. He was active in desegregation campaigns in Birmingham, Alabama, and Chicago, Illinois, and in the 1963 March on Washington. Young became SCLC executive director in 1964 and, after King's death, executive vice president under Ralph Abernathy.Elected to Congress in 1972, he was reelected twice. President Jimmy Carter named him ambassador to the United Nations in 1977. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Atlanta and was reelected overwhelmingly in 1985. Young has been chairman of GoodWorks International, a consulting firm he co-founded, since 1997.
Colin Powell(1937- )Colin Powell became U.S. secretary of state, the first African-American to hold that position, in 2001. Prior to his appointment, he was the chairman of America's Promise -- The Alliance for Youth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building the character and competence of young people.Powell was a soldier for 35 years and rose to the rank of four-star general. He served as assistant to the president for national security affairs and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the U.S. military, before his retirement in 1993. As chairman, he played a major role in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and in the restructuring of the U.S. military following the end of the Cold War.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Happy New Years!! A Resolution of Unity and Peace
Greetings! Happy New Year to everyone! I hope the new year has been great so far. As a new year's resolution, I would like to do better about keeping in touch with my friends and family. I am hoping to take the time to reconnect with old friends, make and enjoy new friends, and to bridge some gaps among family members. Life is about more than our careers, our titles, our perceived successes and failures or our possessions. Every moment is so precious. Truthfully, at the end of the day, all any of us really have as our own are the relationships with others and the legacies we leave behind.
As the subject indicates, I am in Mississippi. It's a temporary assignment for more training. I am doing well, I am happy for the moment. We all know how hard it is for me to keep still, so expect a new email with a new location soon!
Some of you I've spoken to in the last 10 minutes; others I haven't spoken to in 10 months. Either way, shoot me an email letting me know how you are doing and what's going on in your world! I wish you the best 2009 has to offer!!
Lots of Hugs and Kisses!
Doriannicole
As the subject indicates, I am in Mississippi. It's a temporary assignment for more training. I am doing well, I am happy for the moment. We all know how hard it is for me to keep still, so expect a new email with a new location soon!
Some of you I've spoken to in the last 10 minutes; others I haven't spoken to in 10 months. Either way, shoot me an email letting me know how you are doing and what's going on in your world! I wish you the best 2009 has to offer!!
Lots of Hugs and Kisses!
Doriannicole
Are you ready to FLY?
Harriet crawled so Frederick could write. Frederick wrote so Rosa could sit. Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack ran so we all can fly.
*********
10 Ways to make a difference in your community:
1. Mentor a child or teenager.
2. Be a good role model, lead by example.
3. Donate time to charitable causes (money is not enough).
4. Contact your local political representative about key issues.
5. Sponsor a child to go to school. (Depending on grade level, this could be as simple as buying school supplies, uniforms, etc.)
6. Contact your local volunteer center for opportunities to serve.
7. Become an organ donor. Donate Blood.
8. Help a teacher grade papers. Make dinner for firefighters. Bake cookies for policemen.
9. Look for the good in ALL people and teach your children to do the same.
10. Think critically. Be willing to step outside the box. And love thy neighbor as you love yourself.
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