I sit here trying to stay warm on another cold night in Lansing, MI. There have been many thoughts running through my head, as always, and I have been thinking on what my next blog topic would be about. One idea has stuck out over everything else and this was the idea of writing a letter to myself that I designate to open at some set time in the future. I had never thought of this before until I met a woman who wrote herself a letter that she opened on her 30th birthday. I asked her what she had written to herself and she said that she wrote goals that she wanted to achieve, talked about her current situation (at the time of writing the letter), and a few other topics. This struck me as such a phenomenal idea.
So, over the next couple of days I will be constructing a letter to give to myself. I will open this letter on my 30th birthday (hopefully I make it to see that day). I chose 30 because I didn’t want to set a date out to far and be too impatient to wait, or possibly even forget about the letter.
So now it’s time to think about my goals, my ambitions, and where do I want to be when I am 30. How do I feel about where I am now and how far I have come. All of these topics and more will be in that letter.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Let's look in the mirror
I can’t deny the historicalness of the events that occurred this week, the United States of America’s first non-white President. Now I don’t want to take anything away from this event. But I want to look at it from another perspective. Is this something that we should be surprised about? Was this not bound to happen? Throughout American history there have been many first for non-white Americans. The first slave allowed to be in the masters house, the first slaves allowed to eat at the table with the master, the first slave allowed to “own” land, the first slave/blacks allowed to own a business, the first black mayors, governors, senators, representatives, etc. I hope you see where I am going. Again I don’t want to take anything away from Mr. Obama becoming President. I know many people didn’t think they would live to see that event happen and that it means a lot to them. I’m happy that we were all able to see this happen. But as people, we still have many things to do in order to improve ourselves and the people whom we surround. Regardless of who the mayor, governor, senator, or even the President is. We still have to handle our business (if you want to improve or “make a difference”).
We cannot sit back and wait (nor expect) for Mr. Obama to change things for us. Take the initiative to make things happen for yourself. If you lost your job, explore other possibilities for school or employment. Lost your house. Explore why you lost it in the first place. Were you living above your means? Take responsibility for yourself don’t expect a “black man” being in the Presidential office to all of a sudden make things different for you.
Do I think that we as an economy need help? Yes I do. Do I think that they should have bailed out the creditors and banks? No I don’t. Nor do I think they should have bailed out the “Big Three”. But regardless of that, the American people have many problems that need to be solved. But if WE want to solve these problems we cannot sit back and wait for anyone else, white or black, to solve them. There have been many non-white mayors and governors that didn’t make a difference to “us”. There will be more. The main point that I want to make is just because he is a non-white American doesn’t mean that he is our savior. He is the first but he will not be the last. I don’t know him any better than I know the person living down the street from me. Yes I watched him on TV and I listened to him conduct interviews. But what does that mean. Nothing. I’m just being real. I am not saying that he is a liar or that he is not going to do any good. I’m just saying that I don’t know and it remains to be seen. How many times before has a politician, or a person for that matter, said they were going to do something and it not happen? Many times.
Lets keep it real.
We cannot sit back and wait (nor expect) for Mr. Obama to change things for us. Take the initiative to make things happen for yourself. If you lost your job, explore other possibilities for school or employment. Lost your house. Explore why you lost it in the first place. Were you living above your means? Take responsibility for yourself don’t expect a “black man” being in the Presidential office to all of a sudden make things different for you.
Do I think that we as an economy need help? Yes I do. Do I think that they should have bailed out the creditors and banks? No I don’t. Nor do I think they should have bailed out the “Big Three”. But regardless of that, the American people have many problems that need to be solved. But if WE want to solve these problems we cannot sit back and wait for anyone else, white or black, to solve them. There have been many non-white mayors and governors that didn’t make a difference to “us”. There will be more. The main point that I want to make is just because he is a non-white American doesn’t mean that he is our savior. He is the first but he will not be the last. I don’t know him any better than I know the person living down the street from me. Yes I watched him on TV and I listened to him conduct interviews. But what does that mean. Nothing. I’m just being real. I am not saying that he is a liar or that he is not going to do any good. I’m just saying that I don’t know and it remains to be seen. How many times before has a politician, or a person for that matter, said they were going to do something and it not happen? Many times.
Lets keep it real.
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