It has been an adventurous 4 months since my father passed. I ended off my school year doing good by my students. Also, I ended up being married on June 15th (something I have mentioned before and will mention again). After that was the honeymoon and a family reunion that made me realize how much I love my family. So, it is strange to see how much of an upside my life has taken after a situation of heartache and pain.
Some things are worth it, you know.
Then again, I wore that pain pretty damn well. Maybe I should applaud myself. Or not.
Still, there are things that I noticed about life that have rubbed me the wrong way. Seeing how people lack love and tolerance for each other can be disheartening. Also, living in a country that shows disdain for you due to the color of your skin (and the stereotypes that follow) still gives me reason to become disenchanted with this life. Plus, it is tough to be around people that justify their existence of ignorance. Making their asinine affiliations amicable and acceptable tends to aggravate me. While things have gotten “better”, the world outside of my circle hasn’t.
Then again, maybe I am realizing the truth that existed all along.
At this moment, I am going to break down some positive and negatives that I learned from my father’s death:
1.) To be a man means to take care of your family (regardless of certain circumstances):
I am starting to firmly believe in family before anything and everything. Oh, and I’m not talking blood relation, either. I’m talking about those that treat you like family also, In addition, I am referring to those that are family by sake of marriage and such. Being a man, you have to take care of those that look to you as their “epitome of manhood”. My father always made references to this.
Now, I fully understand what he was talking about.
2.) For some, respectability trumps self-respect:
The present King of Respectability Politics.
My father always said “Do what you are supposed to do regardless of what people think”. The problem is that many of us want to be respected by the “outside world”. To be blunt, too many Black people want to be respected by other races. The bigger issue is that we shouldn’t even care what they think about us in the first place. No, we aren’t a perfect people. Yes, we have our issues. Nevertheless, every other race in America has their own closet of issues they need to iron out.
Are people going to admit to the fact that we are all flawed beautiful creatures or will they continue to build up their lies and off based stereotypes to fit their shameless agendas? I think the latter.
3.) Flaws are flaws; so, use them to your advantage:
No one is perfect. Hitherto, people want to be perfect. That perfection, however, tends to be quite elusive. In fact, that proactive pursuit of perfection placates very little. Circumstantially, it causes more problems. In turn, too many people fumble under the folly of becoming flawless.
And to be honest, you all: it is quite stupid. It isn’t your lack of flaws that make you beautiful. A lot of times, it is your flaws that make you great. In other instances, it is your absorption of the impact your flaws have caused that impresses everyone around you. It is just sad that we don’t understand that some curses give the greatest gifts.
4.) The red pill vs. the blue pill is more than a movie reference:
Shouts to Neo, Morpheus, and The Matrix
I personally think that many people would rather live the lies they tell (blue pill) than seek the truth that exists. I guess lies are much more comfortable. Then again, why live the truth when the lies serve one’s needs? I am sure that many prefer lies over truth because lies help many of us lie in bed better at night.
These are some of the truths that I have fully understood within these few months. I await the other truths that I will get to learn. Until then, I’ll just keep living to inspire life and love the same way my father did.
‘Nuff Said and ‘Nuff Respect!!!
Related articles
