Did I do anything today to make the world a better place? I don't know. I probably inspired four or five people, but why didn't I reach out to four hundred or five thousand?
I read a book, "The Good Black" by Paul M. Barrett. I grabbed it on my way out of the house because I couldn't find "The Mis-Education of the Negro", which I am re-reading for the third or fourth time. [If I were as smart as everyone thinks I am, I would have gotten it by the second go-round, but like "Go Rin No Sho" I go back to that book and although the pages seem familiar, I don't know these books as well as I know some of my other favorites such as "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", "The Goal", "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", and of course "Fox in Socks".]
I hugged my son. He hugged me back. That always makes my world a better place. I know I shouldn't watch television and I usually don't, but this season I had to watch "Celebrity Apprentice" with HollyRod and Brett Michaels. We DVR'ed it and watched it as a family and used it as a teaching tool for the Bear. That Donald Trump is something else, and I saw in that show many of the mistakes I was committing and identified several of my gifts which I was not fully utilizing, so like Darryl Strawberry, I am grateful to have learned from "The Donald", even if my learning was filtered and controlled. I still remember the first time I went into one of his establishments. I was mesmerized with his attention to detail and his demand for perfection. I truly admire that. Hugging our son was great.
I stood up for right, at least twice. I opened someone's eyes to what was going on around them. I got involved in political debates with people who had opposing views as well as came to the defense of those who share my views. I helped an anonymous child simply because he needed my help. I think I made his world a better place.
I did the right thing instead of the easy thing or the fun thing simply because it was the right thing to do.
I've probably accomplished more than 96% of the general working population, but before this afternoon I could never understand why I couldn't seem to crack that 97th percentile. That's my glass ceiling. Then it dawned on me that I was not engaged. I was not passionate.
I used to think that I wasn't doing my part, but someone explained that all I was doing was my part. That's probably not the message they intended to send, but that is how I interpreted it. I am doing my part, but I am strong enough that I need to be showing others and encouraging others to do their part as well.
I must not only become part of the solution, but I must drive the solution. This is the fourth post I have written today, but the first time I've thought anything that truly mattered.
I've been quite diligent about praying in the morning and at evening, and I have found that my quiet time with God works well for me, especially when I share them with the Bear, even if that means I have to pray twice in the morning and twice at night since we are not on the same sleep schedule. [If I were as smart as I think everyone thinks I am, I probably should have been able to so the math and figure out that I'm praying at least four times per day, but I'm an engineer, not a mathematician!]
(After I post my "When I Was Younger I Wanted to Be A ..." that last comment will make more sense.)
Did you do anything to make any part of the world a better place?
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Dashed Hopes
I had such high hopes of making the world a better place, but I have slowly accepted the inescapable reality that I am not that person.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Another Day Just Like Yesterday
I know right from wrong which paralyzes me because I don't want to do right but I refuse to do wrong.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
WAKE UP PEOPLE
After referring to many cases in which the court had exercised authority beyond their rightful powers, Judge Seymour D. Thompson in an address before the Bar Association of Texas in 1896 (30 Am. Law Rev., 678) said:
Here we are, more than 110-years later, still believing in a system which is designed to help the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, and the people get screwed. I'm wondering what it's going to take for people to wake up.
There is danger, real danger, that the people will see at one sweeping glance that all the powers of their governments, Federal and State, lie at the feet of us lawyers—that is to say, at the feet of a judicial oligarchy; that those powers are being steadily exercised in behalf of the wealthy and powerful classes and to the prejudice of the scattered and segregated people; that the power thus seized includes the power of amending the Constitution; the power of superintending the action, not merely of Congress, but also of the State legislature; the power of degrading the powers of the [ 19 ] two houses of Congress, in making those investigations which they may deem necessary to wise legislation, to the powers which an English court has ascribed to British colonial legislatures; the power of superintending the judiciary of the States, of annulling their judgments and of commanding them what judgments to render; the power of denying to Congress the power to raise revenue by a method employed by all governments; making the fundamental sovereign powers of government, such as the power of taxation, the subject of mere barter between corrupt legislatures and private adventurers; holding that a venal legislature temporarily invested with power may corruptly bargain away those essential attributes of sovereignty, and for all time; that corporate franchises bought from corrupt legislatures are sanctified and placed forever beyond recall by the people; that great trusts and combinations may place their yoke upon the necks of people of the United States, who must groan forever under their weight, without remedy and without hope; that trial by jury and the ordinary criminal justice of the State which ought to be kept near the people are to be set aside and Federal court injunctions substituted therefor; that those injunctions extend to preventing laboring men from quitting their employment, although they are liable to be discharged by their employers at any hour, thus creating and perpetuating a state of slavery. There is danger that the people will see these things all at once; see their enrobed judges doing their thinking on the side of the rich and powerful; see them look with solemn cynicism upon the sufferings of the masses nor heed the earthquake when it begins to rock beneath their feet; see them present a spectacle not unlike that of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. There is danger that the people will see all this at one sudden glance, and that the furies will then break loose, and that all hell will ride on their wings.
Here we are, more than 110-years later, still believing in a system which is designed to help the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, and the people get screwed. I'm wondering what it's going to take for people to wake up.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Fine Line Between Love and Hate
Ten things I love about America:
1. I can go from sea to shining sea and only have to speak English, except of course if I'm in Los Angeles or Miami.
2. When I am stopped by the police, I will live to complain about it. (Most of the time.)
3. I can drink the water without getting immediately ill.
4. No one is setting off bombs in the middle of the street ... most days anyway.
5. I won't be murdered for voting in a general election. I might be ridiculed, but very unlikely to be murdered.
6. Education is free and compulsory.
7. I can pursue happiness. Even if I don't attain it, I can pursue it. If I change my mind about what makes me happy, I am free to stop pursuing the one and start pursuing the other.
8. We are all cowboys, but yet we somehow always end up rooting for the Indians. (No offense to my Native American friends and family members.)
9. It is relatively easy to get fresh fruits and vegetables.
10. Last but certainly not least, I am free to worship or not to worship as I see fit.
I tried to find things I hate about my country, but I can't. If you cut me, I bleed red, white and blue. There are things I don't like about this country, but hate is much too strong a word so I will call this section:
Ten things I'm not too crazy about in America:
1. The legacy of slavery lives on. I am a Black person in Orange County, California so I have less rights than every other non-Black person in Orange County, California.
2. I love the world. Some Americans have a hard to draw the distinction between loving the world and hating my country, but that is because our borders insulate us. We should get out more.
3. People fail to appreciate the responsibility of freedom. The right to act freely comes with a responsibility to be accountable for your actions.
4. Civil courts aren't civil. Judges are fallible and lawyers are paid to manipulate the system. I do think our legal system is infinitely fairer than the alternatives which makes it that much harder to be unhappy with it.
5. Cigarettes are legal in places where trans fats have been banned.
6. America is soft on crime whereas I have a more draconian view towards criminality. I believe in capital punishment for murderers, rapists and those who intentionally harm children. I think people who steal should be disfigured so they can be easily identified. Bring back the scarlet letter.
7. The media drives too much of our political and social agenda. I won't ask, won't tell, and don't care. So long as you don't involve me or hurt my interests, your personal choices are just that: personal and a choice. If, however, you decide you want to care for my children, parents or self-interest in any capacity, then I will ask, expect an answer, and care.
8. The twenty largest cities drive too much of our economic and social agenda. We have forgotten that rural America is still America. More Americans need to see this great country so they will realize that America is not homeless people at the L.A. Mission or children shooting children, but a place where families gather around and children go fishing in a creek. We have lost sight of what is important, which is our people.
9. We have inferior tequila, scotch, vodka and coffee ... all my favorite drinks in no particular order (though coffee is by far and away my favorite).
10. Last and certainly the thing that irks me the most about our country: with all of our wealth and abundance, with all that we have been blessed with, with all the beauty that exists from coast-to-coast, we usually take the low road.
America is a great idea. It is one worth fighting for and protecting. We are all responsible for building a nation. Go do your part and know that I will do mine.
1. I can go from sea to shining sea and only have to speak English, except of course if I'm in Los Angeles or Miami.
2. When I am stopped by the police, I will live to complain about it. (Most of the time.)
3. I can drink the water without getting immediately ill.
4. No one is setting off bombs in the middle of the street ... most days anyway.
5. I won't be murdered for voting in a general election. I might be ridiculed, but very unlikely to be murdered.
6. Education is free and compulsory.
7. I can pursue happiness. Even if I don't attain it, I can pursue it. If I change my mind about what makes me happy, I am free to stop pursuing the one and start pursuing the other.
8. We are all cowboys, but yet we somehow always end up rooting for the Indians. (No offense to my Native American friends and family members.)
9. It is relatively easy to get fresh fruits and vegetables.
10. Last but certainly not least, I am free to worship or not to worship as I see fit.
I tried to find things I hate about my country, but I can't. If you cut me, I bleed red, white and blue. There are things I don't like about this country, but hate is much too strong a word so I will call this section:
Ten things I'm not too crazy about in America:
1. The legacy of slavery lives on. I am a Black person in Orange County, California so I have less rights than every other non-Black person in Orange County, California.
2. I love the world. Some Americans have a hard to draw the distinction between loving the world and hating my country, but that is because our borders insulate us. We should get out more.
3. People fail to appreciate the responsibility of freedom. The right to act freely comes with a responsibility to be accountable for your actions.
4. Civil courts aren't civil. Judges are fallible and lawyers are paid to manipulate the system. I do think our legal system is infinitely fairer than the alternatives which makes it that much harder to be unhappy with it.
5. Cigarettes are legal in places where trans fats have been banned.
6. America is soft on crime whereas I have a more draconian view towards criminality. I believe in capital punishment for murderers, rapists and those who intentionally harm children. I think people who steal should be disfigured so they can be easily identified. Bring back the scarlet letter.
7. The media drives too much of our political and social agenda. I won't ask, won't tell, and don't care. So long as you don't involve me or hurt my interests, your personal choices are just that: personal and a choice. If, however, you decide you want to care for my children, parents or self-interest in any capacity, then I will ask, expect an answer, and care.
8. The twenty largest cities drive too much of our economic and social agenda. We have forgotten that rural America is still America. More Americans need to see this great country so they will realize that America is not homeless people at the L.A. Mission or children shooting children, but a place where families gather around and children go fishing in a creek. We have lost sight of what is important, which is our people.
9. We have inferior tequila, scotch, vodka and coffee ... all my favorite drinks in no particular order (though coffee is by far and away my favorite).
10. Last and certainly the thing that irks me the most about our country: with all of our wealth and abundance, with all that we have been blessed with, with all the beauty that exists from coast-to-coast, we usually take the low road.
America is a great idea. It is one worth fighting for and protecting. We are all responsible for building a nation. Go do your part and know that I will do mine.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Ask For the Right Things
How many times have you been asked to make a wish for something and then wasted your wish on the wrong thing?
That happened to me earlier today. Someone challenged me to make a wish as if my one wish would be granted and I thought long and hard about what has been troubling over the past few months and tried to be very specific in my wish lest I leave a loophole in my request.
I didn't think about it at the time for it was just a silly wish, but now it's all I can think about. When I made the wish, my husband was out of the house and I just assumed that everything would be okay and that he'd be home around 6pm and we'd have our normal evening together. At 5 pm I started looking for him and that's when I realized that I made the wrong wish. All I really want is for him to be here with me -- okay, healthy, happy, here. That's all I really want.
Now it's 6:51 pm and he is not at home. I can't reach him and I don't know where he is so of course I'm worried. I can't think about what we're going to do tomorrow until I get through my today.
Next time I make a wish, I know what it will be. Every time I make a wish I know what it will be ... for the people I love the most to stay healthy. I wish that I could hug my parents today for it's been too many years since I've last hugged them. I wish to sit around the table with my family and watch my nieces and nephews (and grandnephews and niece) play.
But most of all, I wish David Sr. would walk through the door right now.
That happened to me earlier today. Someone challenged me to make a wish as if my one wish would be granted and I thought long and hard about what has been troubling over the past few months and tried to be very specific in my wish lest I leave a loophole in my request.
I didn't think about it at the time for it was just a silly wish, but now it's all I can think about. When I made the wish, my husband was out of the house and I just assumed that everything would be okay and that he'd be home around 6pm and we'd have our normal evening together. At 5 pm I started looking for him and that's when I realized that I made the wrong wish. All I really want is for him to be here with me -- okay, healthy, happy, here. That's all I really want.
Now it's 6:51 pm and he is not at home. I can't reach him and I don't know where he is so of course I'm worried. I can't think about what we're going to do tomorrow until I get through my today.
Next time I make a wish, I know what it will be. Every time I make a wish I know what it will be ... for the people I love the most to stay healthy. I wish that I could hug my parents today for it's been too many years since I've last hugged them. I wish to sit around the table with my family and watch my nieces and nephews (and grandnephews and niece) play.
But most of all, I wish David Sr. would walk through the door right now.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
I Wonder Why America Is Losing The War on Terrorism
WARNING: I AM VIOLATING MY OWN RULE THAT HATRED WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
Before I finish looking backwards, I have to look around. I'm seeing "peace officers" being shot, judges going to jail, people trying to blow our airplanes out of the sky, and I wonder why. I have lots of time to wonder and study.
Yesterday I had a two-hour lunch with a Kenyan gentleman who shared his plight with me. He has three children ages 11 to 15 who speak English, French and their native tongue. They came to this country in search of a better life, but unfortunately they ended up in Costa Mesa. The teachers ridicule his children for speaking English with an accent yet teach the Hispanic students in Spanish because our school system does not require students to be bilingual.
Three Black Kenyans who speak multiple languages including English are spat at, ridiculed and harassed on a daily basis by many Hispanic students who only speak Spanish, and our system not only allows it but suspends the Kenyan students when they complain. I suggested that he move his children to another school. Where he is from he does not have that luxury, but here in America, he is free to choose. His eyes lit up in astonishment at this mere suggestion. I gave him my permission to be free.
I love my country, but sometimes I feel as though my country does not love me, so I wonder why?
Why do I love my country? I look at the history of this country and I know that I have given much more than I have received. I know that I had to fight like hell to force this country to accept my gifts and fight even harder for the few gifts I have received in return. How does that make me any different from every other good American? In my opinion, the great Americans are the ones that gave all to this country, the ones who laid down their lives so that my son can walk free. Who am I to demand anything from this country? The land provides me with food, the lakes provide me with water, the woods provide me with logs for lumber to make shelter. If anything, I owe this country much for what it has given me.
Why do I love my country? I know my country hates me. They hate my Black skin, my kinky hair, my Black husband, and my Black son. They hate my Black parents, my Black siblings, my Black friends and my Black enemies. They hate me when I am ignorant but hate me even more when I am educated. They hate me when I am weak but hate me even more when I am strong. They hate me when I am unarmed but really hate me when I am armed.
They hate me. Why do I love my country? I love this country because despite their hatred towards me and people who look like me, this country demands that I get educated, demands that I am given equal opportunity, demands that I be protected from predators, allows me to participate freely in its political process and its institution, gives me access to quality medical care, and defends my right to complain about how poorly I am treated. Despite their hatred for me, this country does more for me than countries that love their citizenry. That is why I love this country that hates me.
I don't love my country blindly the way I used to when I was young; it's a mature love and deep admiration than only comes once you get to know a country. I still believe in the idea of America so I continue to fight for my country.
God Bless America.
Before I finish looking backwards, I have to look around. I'm seeing "peace officers" being shot, judges going to jail, people trying to blow our airplanes out of the sky, and I wonder why. I have lots of time to wonder and study.
Yesterday I had a two-hour lunch with a Kenyan gentleman who shared his plight with me. He has three children ages 11 to 15 who speak English, French and their native tongue. They came to this country in search of a better life, but unfortunately they ended up in Costa Mesa. The teachers ridicule his children for speaking English with an accent yet teach the Hispanic students in Spanish because our school system does not require students to be bilingual.
Three Black Kenyans who speak multiple languages including English are spat at, ridiculed and harassed on a daily basis by many Hispanic students who only speak Spanish, and our system not only allows it but suspends the Kenyan students when they complain. I suggested that he move his children to another school. Where he is from he does not have that luxury, but here in America, he is free to choose. His eyes lit up in astonishment at this mere suggestion. I gave him my permission to be free.
I love my country, but sometimes I feel as though my country does not love me, so I wonder why?
Why do I love my country? I look at the history of this country and I know that I have given much more than I have received. I know that I had to fight like hell to force this country to accept my gifts and fight even harder for the few gifts I have received in return. How does that make me any different from every other good American? In my opinion, the great Americans are the ones that gave all to this country, the ones who laid down their lives so that my son can walk free. Who am I to demand anything from this country? The land provides me with food, the lakes provide me with water, the woods provide me with logs for lumber to make shelter. If anything, I owe this country much for what it has given me.
Why do I love my country? I know my country hates me. They hate my Black skin, my kinky hair, my Black husband, and my Black son. They hate my Black parents, my Black siblings, my Black friends and my Black enemies. They hate me when I am ignorant but hate me even more when I am educated. They hate me when I am weak but hate me even more when I am strong. They hate me when I am unarmed but really hate me when I am armed.
They hate me. Why do I love my country? I love this country because despite their hatred towards me and people who look like me, this country demands that I get educated, demands that I am given equal opportunity, demands that I be protected from predators, allows me to participate freely in its political process and its institution, gives me access to quality medical care, and defends my right to complain about how poorly I am treated. Despite their hatred for me, this country does more for me than countries that love their citizenry. That is why I love this country that hates me.
I don't love my country blindly the way I used to when I was young; it's a mature love and deep admiration than only comes once you get to know a country. I still believe in the idea of America so I continue to fight for my country.
God Bless America.
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