Author: bookmystorysite

When on the cusp of anxiety, do we have the presence of mind to MEDITATE? ….. “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” Time after time, those words still spew through my conscious mind … from the mouth of my mother, may she rest in peace. An Aesop’s Fable that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative taught to me as a child.

We, no matter the diversity, are the artistry of Christ Jesus, ordained that we should walk in his path. Many of us may have questions and fears about COVID-19,  a stressful situation of the unknown. But, through PRAYER, MEDITATING and NONPARTISANSHIP, we can self-medicate ourselves.

Stress can kill you. Long-term, mental, and physical stress can cause increased levels of cortisol, which is the body’s primary stress hormone. This may produce many harmful effects, such as the release of inflammation-promoting chemicals called cytokines. Cytokines can disrupt sleep, promote depression and anxiety, increase blood pressure, and contribute to fatigue and cloudy thinking. In Matthew 6:25-30, Jesus commanded us not to worry.

This, I share with my fellow Americans from the “Seat of My Soul.”

Madam Speaker” I am a twenty-two year Navy Vet. Those years of service instilled a deep faith in my country, notwithstanding the obstacles placed before me. During the primaries for the 2016 election, I was beginning to feel as if my service was all in vain. Most noteworthy, the mood of the country. That year, I self-published a book “Guidance Against the Odds.” It was mainly for my grandchildren, a biography of me, as a survival guide, giving them an insight into the many obstacles of life in our beloved country. I started a webpage http://www.bookmystory.net/ and a blog, bookmystorydomain, blogging, through the Westbow press. I would address some blogging to the POTUS, the then Speaker of the House, the Chief of Staff, all the while knowing they would never see them. But I wanted to be on record in how I felt. https://bookmystorydomain.blog/2017/10/25/a-tweet-for-the-45th-president/ bookmystorydomain.blog/2018/02/15/to-the-speaker-of-the-house/ bookmystorydomain.blog/2018/01/04/a-plea-to-the-chief-of-staff/

Madam Speaker, I don’t need to repeat the many depressing things of this Administration for you already know, and my blogs say it all. But most assuredly, what has been stolen from me, is my pride, in the service of this country. And explicitly I hurt for the condescending words about Senator John McCain, the Gold Star Families, Col. Vindman and all the Government Public servants who had the pride to stand up. And then there was the failed impeachment, after so much proof. Then comes Chief Gallagher, and now Roger Stone, with so many others resting in the balance. To top it off, with a slap in the face, Rush Limbaugh. If this reasoning is not a collective feeling of the majority, and this content is not shared, then the TIDE will never change, and the sea level will continue to rise. Climate change is upon us.

Madam Speaker, I understood your insight and why you ripped the State of the Union Speech, and I salute you.  

  Cause and Effect               ​            

It was August 1949, I was five, my body was black, and I didn’t know it; the third son of migrant parents from Virginia, who had purchased a home on the east side of Baltimore. At five years of age, my first friend was white, and also, he didn’t know it. Our friendship came abruptly to an end one year later when we started school; it was segregation before it was boys in the hood. He suddenly stopped speaking, and his friendly smile went away. I didn’t know why. It was my first experience with a despondent heart; tantamount to “Why the Caged Bird Sings.”​​   

         In 1960 because of racial taunting, I became a high school dropout. A no-win situation subsequently tagged with— the connotation of being rebellious and a burden on society.  Sixty-six years later, in 2016, Dedric Colvin, with a BB gun resembling a firearm, was shot by police in East Baltimore. The Police Commissioner at the time, Kevin Davis, stated: with teenagers himself; he could not wrap his head around a child leaving home with a replica of a gun. His statement betokens a total disconnect, ignorance of cause and effect within the zip codes of Baltimore he vowed to command and to serve and protect — the zip codes of repression, “A Colony in a Nation” by Chris Hayes.”​   Because of low employment, drugs, and crime, black youth in a colony become traumatized early in life and with age become desensitized. Crime, for some, becomes the only way to survive.    

      Baltimore is not unique in its sins as a city. We’re not uncommon in our evils. However, Baltimore is the showcase of a nation that holds uniqueness in a singular aspect. It is the REFUSAL to acknowledge the many myths. Myths held about our inherent goodness to hide and cover and conceal the ugliness of racism.  ​       

     I am not an advocate of weaponry. Nevertheless, in 1960, because skin color gave overt supremacy a bullhorn and robbed me of my autonomy. If I had had access to even a replica of a gun, I might have carried one myself to silence the words that stabbed my soul. I cannot speak for Dedric Colvin with the BB gun, but I have experienced fear and the psychological effect it can bestow upon the mind. I would contend, his carrying of the BB gun was more for psychological reasons than it was for committing a crime. Poverty, joblessness, and educational deficiency is the proving grounds for drugs and crime. People judging from afar are clueless to the mindset of a black male born into an environment of scarcity. Black youth spontaneously run from the police, not necessarily because of criminality but because they don’t trust the police with their lives.​​   

        Since the party of Lincoln, there have been three steps forward and like steps back in the quest for equality. From Reconstruction and Plessy vs. Ferguson came Jim Crow (segregation). From forty acres and a mule came carpetbaggers. From desegregation came white flight and redistricting. From Affirmative Action came the claim of reverse discrimination. From “Black Lives Matter” came “All Lives Matter.”

 ​            August 2016, “Black Lives Matter,” demonstrated at a police convention in Baltimore. An official from the police union, sent to all attendees on formal department memo stating: “Union members attending the state FOP conference should expect more bad behavior from the THUGS OF BALTIMORE,” referring to protesters. “On the bright side, maybe they will stop killing each other while they are protesting us.​     

      A prime example of a privileged mind, one that has no idea of life in “A Colony in a Nation” by Chris Hayes

http://www.bookmystory.net/Baltimore-My-Baltimore.html

“GUIDANCE AGAINST THE ODDS” is a biography of a portion of seven decades of living.  Written not for want of recognition ….  to become a writer, nor for monetary profit, but the desire and need for acceptance.  Recognition as a man and as a human being and to set an example for my grandchildren. Recognizing the reasoning behind the tuff love from a dad after becoming a father. The psychological upheaval of being demeaned as a man yet required to perform as a role model as a father.   A book journey, written with no writing experience exuding seven decades of repressive psychological experiences. Seven decades of navigating the swamps of intolerance while biting the tongue at the red lights of inequity. Seven decades of controlling words and emotions for survival, subverting dignity in a land of free speech.

The SOUL of man will exist outside of time forever.  In contrast, a quiet soul among the living may never be heard, stunted in a field of extremist extroverts within the provinces of hate and under the parasol of demagoguery.  My soul has been silent, but “Guidance Against the Odds” will carry it through the sands of time.   A voice in print etched in history alongside warriors of the past such as Gabriel Prosser, a literate enslaved blacksmith 1776-1800, Nat Turner, an enslaved African-American preacher 1800 -1831.  Two men who suffered inhumanely, until they could no more, far more profound than my soul could ever envision.

With “Truth isn’t truth,” and “Alternative Facts,” mentalities abounding, the American mindset has been hijacked and diverted, void of compromise by naysayers. At the same time, peaceful souls crave conversations of substance, with positive views. Inside my soul, it is the heroes and sheroes of the past to whom I turn for civility.  Written quotes of rational content make you think resolutely rather than indulge in sardonic anger.  As Americans under the Constitution, we must understand with gravity, ” The limits of a tyrant are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” (Frederick Douglass 1818-1895.)  For, “There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are, Death or Liberty – one or the other I mean to have.” (Harriet Tubman. birth? – 1913) Because in the end, “You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.” (Booker T. Washington 1856-1915)

We, the people, in the year2020, must make “The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, else what shall save us from a second slavery?” (W.E.B. Dubois 1868-1963) For, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” (John F. Kennedy 1917-1961)

In the end, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” (Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”   “Memories of our lives, of our works, and our deeds will continue in others.”  Rosa Parks (Rosa Parks 1913-2005)

In light of the present political atmosphere and climate change upon us, “When we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?”  (Elijah Cummings 1951-2019) 

The voice of my soul tells me to have no fear, to vote, and keep on writing, for it is my “Guidance Against the Odds.”

Just like the Mueller report, most Americans will not read the 1619 Project, which is the legacy of what we are dealing with in America today: fear and hatred.  Baltimore, of which the person in the White House called rat-infested, suffers from the legacy of the first segregation laws aimed at blacks in the United States. When we don’t inform ourselves, we argue in darkness.    

If it rains too much, there is a possibility of flooding.  If it does not rain at all; in time, a desert —- desiccation is inevitable.

 If jobs are plenty and wages are commensurate, prosperity is a potentiality, no matter the pasturage.  If racism is present and jobs are few, poverty is inescapable.  Where there’s poverty, like the flood, there is a possibility of crime, a precursor to violence.  Creating “Cause” and the “Effect” in the instinct to survive by any means necessary is an eventuality.  To those who live in green meadows, ignorance of this is a mindset reborn generation after generation, the invisible fertilization of racism.  A harmonious existence is about cultivating our pastures.  In politics, it is called a bi-partisan mindset, the concept of our founding fathers.  Ignorance is bliss, but if we don’t wake up and smell the roses, there will be no hayfields to propagate.   http://www.bookmystory.net/About-Us.html

Enforcing certain constraints and requiring responsibility be taken for all actions, methodically enforced is called “Tough Love” It may heartache the parent, but it spares the rod.

• Be a Gentleman… A firm handshake combined with looking the other person in the eye carries with it respect, dignity, and strength. … (the opposite of calling people names from afar.)
• Honor Your Father and Mother. …
• Respect Women. …
• Be a Man of Integrity. …
• Take Responsibility. …
• Work Hard. …
• Love Others. …
• Love God….
Now, can anyone tell me which of these bullet points dose tRump command to be a role model for our youth?