Be optimistic, be hopeful, and believe, but, stay awake. As we come together to remake our nation, we must be prepared for a fight unlike any other. A fight against ourselves. America has entered a new season of grace. Often grace is misconstrued to be a pass, as oppose to the opportunity that it is; the opportunity to come up higher. Whether you voted for him or not, we cannot deny we have a new leader who is desperate to welcome us all to the table. Thus, in that light and in that spirit we can no longer afford to stubbornly hold fast to personal dogma. We are authentic Americans now. We must be of one mind. We are not fighting Black American problems or White problems or Right Wing Conservative Republican problems or Left Wing Democratic Liberal problems, but, common American ills. Amazingly, some of the very ills we have oft ignored have now risen up to bear witness to why we find ourselves in the tragic position we are in. Can we began to seriously calculate the toll racism, sexism, classicsm, coveteouness, and greed have exacted on every fiber of our American community? Now that we find ourselves joined in this common precipice, how insignificant and foolish it all must seem now? Yet, despite the overwhelming facts of our dire diagnosis, which ought to point us all in the direction of cooperative action toward wellness, there are those who are still so seduced by hatred and extreme ideology that they are willing to destroy our beloved nation to spite this much needed cooporative effort. As sure as I am writing this, I am confident that someday soon, the hand of Justice will most certainly fall upon them. Until then, we must all get to work.
Sometime ago I made a promise to myself: "Never complain about that which you are not willing to change." Sounds rather profound until one his presented the prospect of actually applying it. However, I've covered my mouth and plunged into my role as President of the Parent Advisory Committee at my son's school. The education and even more so, the over all state of our children and families has been weighing on me for sometime. Nothing we do will matter in the least if we do not repair the American family and our educational institutions. No amount of bailout money, no new weapons technology, etc., will stem the tide of our demise as a nation, more so, than the restitution of the American home and classroom. There is no logical reason to believe in saving an economy for which we leave our sons and daughters ill equipped to maintain or grow. Our public education systems is abhorant to say the least, yet, I contend that this is due in large part to the overwhelming lack of vigilance by parents. The fact that people think it OK to leave their most precious assets to the will of a system of strangers simply beguiles me. Yet, this is a perpetual human condition. We do it with every thing precious and even sacred. "Want to grow your money? Give it to some broker you don't know. Want to educate your kids? Give him to an educational system you know nothing of. Want to know and grow close to God? Leave it to some guy in a sharp robe. Want a country that lives up to its creeds? Leave it to your elected officials. You just pull the lever and go home." We can no longer afford the "luxury" of passing the buck. This is our country, our children, our money, our homes, our lives, etc. All hands on deck! There is no other option. Time to get to work.
Copyright 2009 Johnathan L. Iverson-Baptiste
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