Under the auspices of one man’s opinion, the alignment of souls is surmountable at the beginning of any conversation, becoming genial with having preordained respect for a fellow human being’s taste/opinion. It purposively curates an atmosphere of being a good listener, seasoned with the ingredient of respect. However, when respect is sought and not given in return, the diner becomes foul, causing the stew to be dumpy while it was cooked in the wrong temperament. Respect cannot happen when prejudgment is on the recipe, i.e., race, religion, sexual orientation, hearsay etc., etc. Thereby enunciating death ears through body language. Books have been my melting pot, history, the ingredients of many souls, past and present, including my book, “Guidance Against the Odds.”  It was not written against any taste of authority but about how I evolved under the tapestry of hate and divisiveness. A catalyst for conversation and a beacon of bacon for encouragement for others. “Black Boy” by Richard Wright, “Josiah Henson’s Autobiography” by Harriet Stowe, “Destiny” by Bishop T.D. Jakes, “The Seat of the Soul” by Gary Zukav, “Instinct” by Bishop T.D. Jake, “A Knock at Midnight” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama, and “The African Americans Many Rivers to Cross” by  Henry Louis Gates, JR., to name a few, enlarged my coronary. But “The Measure of a Man,” A Spiritual Autobiography by Sydney Poitier, increased my red and white blood cell counts. He was 17 years my senior, but our lives took a similar course. Maturing under depravity, we both joined the military very young, maturing on a diet of rejection.