Don't feed the ...

In this election cycle the poor and the state of being poor has been getting some national attention. This article was discussed on BlackingItUp. I am in line with the BlackingItup crew with their stance on the GOP brand of social justice. Simply, it sucks and is incomplete.  I think the GOP stance can be summed up as, we are about the money, what the fuck is a safety net.

But I'm posting this because I was faced with this question several hours after I heard the show. On my commute home, at a stop light, I'm greeted by a panhandler. Do I feed the poor ... with the change that is looking at me in my cup holder. OR IGNORE and wait for the light to change.

We have all been in this situation. And we all have made this choice. Some of us, have an internal  policy about this..

The choice I made in that moment was in line with the GOP line of social justice....

I have been pondering if that is a fair comparison? Was my choice no different then want the GOP has put out there.

Let's talk about Poverty

So, the Gene Marks thing is over a week old and I agree that the tone, lack of understanding and platform that it was delivered was off. The criticism that he has gotten has been well deserved. But I think there's a part of the conservation that I think gets overlooked, because it is not as explosive as who, where and why those comments are made. I think this part of the conservation was overlooked when similar questions were raised when Bill Cosby spoken on similar matters.

What do we (as a society, a people) do about the poor!!

There has been several articles about it. The Atlantic, the New York Times and others have covered it. Race and class are traditional hot pots that our society at time touch without over mitts. The natural course of action occurs, someone gets a little burned. When we do talk about it our conservation range from; poor people are simply lazy and it is there f@#$ fault that they are poor, to poverty is an affliction and not there fault. Part of the reason I think we range so greatly in opinion about this is because it the question seems similar to fate vs. free-will questions and how is man governed. We don't want to think that the poor does not have agency in there lives (that's un-American) but at the same time we don't want to dismiss the extreme environment that being poor creates.

We all get affected about this, society at large. This comes into focus for me because I get asked to talk to children that are poor. I get asked to talk to poor black children. Simply because I'm a black professional. I generally speak to them about being exceptional. Ask them to find and culture their inner-Oprah. I'm asked to show them you can get out with skills other then sports, with a hot jump shot or slanging the rock. Biggie, left out a few alternatives. I'm a better alternative... I'm to be emulated. Or I least that is why I think they are asking me to talk to these children. What I'm fighting in these children is a reasonable position of "fuck it!!" I'm poor and there isn't fuck all I can do about it! I'm going to sit in the corner and fold my arms and let that be that.

What I'm looking for along side of the criticism of the Gene Marks and Newt Gingrich  is that exceptional-ism does not have to be rare. If one man has done it, so can you. I'm concerned with our criticisms that people in these situations, could hear and believe that we are implying ... your fucked son, and there ain't shit you can do about it.

Let the other side be heard... you can be an exception, your value is not wrapped in dollars and cents but what you can add to this world. We know this to be true and we expect it from you.

May They Stand Tall

This time of year is always about family. We get a chance to reflect, to look back and try to look around the corner of what is before us.

What I have been reflecting on is the state of the man that is meant to guide on what it is to be what I have grown to be. The older I get, I'm unsure if my memories of the past are becoming clearer with wisdom of insight or faded with time. I'm unclear if the man that stands before me has always been there and my vanitage point has changed. In this new light... I'm unsure what to make of angle.

But the worst of it is my selfish feeling... Pondering is this what is to become of me. Is this my look around the corner... standing in front of me.

Insomnia

Insomnia breeds insanity. As your mind races... reviewing your life and the events that have complied it. Your body begs for sleep.

Remembering lost loves. Wondering about missed connections. Reviewing relationships big and small, measuring how they make you. Curious about roads not travels. Pondering about the man you are. Considered about the man that you may become.

You hold your pillow waiting for sleep to coming. Praying you do not meet the daybreak's sunlight. For you if you meet it to often insanity is all that one may have.

Jumping the Pond

So I just returned from an international trip. And the trip was brilliant but ... I have one thing to cry about. I was trapped in the middle seat for a six hour flight. Plus, I'm not a little person. All of these things are not ideal. But there was more ...

Seating on the right of me, was a elderly India man. Not a problem expect for the fact that when he was sleeping he put his head on my shoulder. OK... not good. I tried to get him off me. I shook and shook. Because I was raised with this idea of respect your elders... I was not able to bring myself to confront him by waking him up by poke him in the forehead to get off me. It got worst. Because he was asleep he was invading my space. Then he started playing footie with me. YES... a grown ass man, played footies with me. He was rubbing his toes against the back of heel of my foot. I would nudge him when he would stop. He would stop and then start up again. I was inappropriately touched by elderly man in a cross Atlantic flight.

I wanted to up this in my compliant box of my airline.
" A man inappropriately was touching me with this feet, rubbing his toes against the heel of my foot. I feel dirty. I feel used. This is not the way to travel internationally. "

My Modern life ...

I can’t tell if it’s me or just the people close to me but these things are getting harder. I don’t know if it’s our new modern life. Everything was getting bigger. The cost of education, our salaries and our need for materials, the way that we raise our children all have gotten bigger, with presumption that it is better. Our appetite have grown, our need to win can’t be subdued and our expectations stretching farer and farer from the truth of our daily lives. But there seems to be one buck in this trend, our families, our support network, and our friend groups seem to be getting smaller. Yeah, people in generation and younger have all sorts of devices and websites to communicate. All though we can conquer the digital divide, we still need connection, face to face, in person, I can smell what you had dinner, time with other people. I read an interesting article in the news the recently, almost half of Americans are on mood altering drugs. So… most of us can’t cope. Is that want I’m meant to gleam from that nugget of information? In the same vein, there was an article in the New York Times talking about there is a crisis mental health center in college campus. The article made it seem like they are in triage all the time …

We don’t need bigger … We don’t need faster … We just need better. But it seems like we don’t truly understand what that means. I think we simply need to connect in person, with people more… We, people can literally be answer to this modern sense of a less personable world. We are social creatures; we have to make sure that our lives reflect that.

And this time of year is a perfect time to practice it. We most go forth and love, hug, and kiss our way thru this world.

I talk in circles, write in circles, ride in circles thus I clearly think in circles. Does anyone every think in squares?

What I wish I said to her ...

I know that this is highly unusual... but I have been thinking about kissing all week. I saw you on Monday, and I could do is kiss you on the cheek. I have not cursed a fever blister so much to date. Since that moment, I'm embarrassed to admit that this has dominated my thoughts.

So, this is why I pulled you aside from your friend that is waiting for us. I'm mildly curious to think about what she thinks we are discussing. So be it for first impressions…

What I know is that I can’t sit through this performance without a kiss. For I know if it doesn't happen, it will continue to affect my ability to focus on anything that will be in front of me.

Can you help me? It will only take a moment. But it will free from a prison of something I have been yearning for. I will be able to focus on the performance that we are about to see. If you make me wait till, to the end of the evening, I will have to petition the Geneva Convention to add this torture to it known list of cruel and unusual punishments.

Help me...