Spoiler Alert.....

I had a post all primed in the hopper ready to go...yet this one came while driving. I'm baffled....like really baffled. Like perplexed in thought. I am a firm believer at no point do we have the ability to change folks. Our voice and actions my lead to awareness and inspiration of change, yet we have no physical power to change folks. At no point will you be able to silence in agreement those who may disagree with you. Your truth is well, your truth. If you proclaim it to be so, it is so for you.   

If I choose to believe the opposite of your truth, then so be it. I get it, I get it. In our humanity we find it challenging to accept those who are not willing to stand in what we perceive and believe to be our truth. We must come to acceptance with in our truth that we need no one to valid its existence. Just be in it and take no offense to those who choose not to stand with you. Now this does not give you permission to attack said person for their unbelief; absolutely not. Neither should it anger you when one person decides to blast you for your truth. If and I truly mean if, it is your truth, stand in it. This challenge is the responsibility of carrying your truth. We are all given a battle. We must decide how we will fight. We are not fighting people, we are fighting ideologies that extent beyond our current measurements of time. The challenge should, in theory and practice--hence why challenges are created--affirm your fight in the battle, whichever battle you are divined to be part. 

At the end of it all, I hate to spoil it for you, ignorance is not bliss. Stop getting mad at folks who believe different than you. Stand firm, gain more knowledge and maintain. Maintain your firmness in the fight. Get over yourself. Your truth is greater than you. 

The Beauty in Scars

Long time coming...it has been a year since I blogged or even wrote. It is always a lesson that brings me back to the comfort of letters that form words that roll into meaning...

I fell...or rather was pushed. Landed with hard....got up with scars...in fact I am still healing. Those who know me personally may notice the faded glimmer in my smile...yet that is life. When one denies self for the satisfaction of hope in others--it happens. Smiles fade. Hope floats in the distant. Joy supplants beneath downtrodden paths of good intention....just like the road to hell...

The greatest aspect of falling is the view. From down there all you see is up...if you willing to look up....that's all you see...Getting up is not without its challenges, yet they are easy when you put your weight in the push off and just get up again. While you think most folks are looking at you fall, they are really looking at how you get up. Everyone wants to learn the process. Secretly they have fallen too....they need your inspiration to even look up. Give them hope. Show them possibilities. Blaze the path.

I have physical scars on my hands from my fall. The ones in my heart cut a bit deeper. Yet I'm healing....slow in motion...but it's forward motion....my smile is filling out...I'm grabbing hope daily in my confessions of peace, grace, and growth....

Strange Fruit

How quickly we forget. Less than 50 years ago our brothers were hung from tree branches with proud folks scrambling to be in counted in that number in the picture. How quickly we forget....and want to continue to forget. The impact of yesterday is still readily present. Yet we want to pretend that our entrenched history has dissolved to a pleasant peace. How quickly we forget....

I watched the documentary What happened, Miss Simone? on Netflix. It held my attention for so many reasons, one being Miss Simone's internal conflict. Undoubtably she was deeply troubled with the systematic racism that denied her dream of being a classical pianist. To be great and denied an opportunity because you are black is a heavy burden to bear. How quickly we forget....we are still in this space of denial.We are still be denied the basic right to breathe. No need to turn on the television to see the heighten cases deemed worthy of light by the media, look in your own backyard to see the damage first hand.

So why is there so much fuss about those who are choosing to take their rightful place in this battle? Because nothing is more harmful to the dominant than Truth and Action. It is those on the front like that have the most courage and power to expose Truth by Action. I commend my sisters and brothers who have taken up their rightful place in battle. There are many battles to fight and we are all chosen for a few, but most of us never listen for the call nor take up arms. We flit so through life weary from doing nothing...yet I digress...let me get back...

Yes, we all have a battle to bear. Our greatness is tied to a fight. A fight not even about winning but more about fighting--the battle is not given to the swift, but to s/he that endures. It's about clearing a path for our babies to reach their potential in its fullness. A path to breathe, to live to SEE their dream and then dream a new dream to conquer. We may not see it, yet we fight because we believe in its potential and worth. Sure we all want to live in the fulfillment of the fight but the Truth is many of us will not make it there..that's the nature of the fight. Because the fight is so tangled in the principalities of unrighteousness it is not that easy. We will fight all our black and brown lives. We have to come to that realization if we are ever going to take our rightful place in our chosen battle.

I'm empowered by Miss Simone's fight. She knew her chosen battle and fought in it with power and grace. It wasn't a pretty fight, yet she advanced the cause. Her voice rang our Mississippi Goddam with spicy inflictions for the world to hear. She did something few dared--she joined her chosen battle with no half-step.

When--when are YOU going to join your fight. Stop pointing fingers at those doing what they are supposed to do and join your battle.