On this past Saturday, I had the opportunity to listen to a motivational speaker affectionately known as Principal Kafele. He spoke on how Blacks and Latinos really have no excuse on why they can't attend college. I agreed for the most part. Then he went on to speak on the many different problems we go through as a race, our downfalls and faults as well. I said to myself he is not saying anything new to me that anyone else has not already spoken. I began to say to myself, so many people talk about the problems and nobody is talking about the solution! We are all going about change in the same viewpoint and this change is not working! the problems are getting worse.
I thought about how civil rights leaders wanted a change. Some talked about the problem, and some talked about the solution. Some utilized both aspects. Together they achieved results. Today we focus on what people are doing wrong. Its plastered in the newspapers, its broadcasted on the TV and even posted on the internet. To go further, it's forwarded to our cell phones! What if we shift the focus from the faulted points to the exalted points!
We broadcast black people did this and black people did that. For viewers, that is all they are seeing! Younger minds see that this is what their race is capable of! They are conformed to what media says they are only good for and thus signing up more names to the list to be reported for bad news! What if we spoke only of the highlights? What if we shared the good things that happened and ignored the bad? Maybe not even ignore but separated the good from the bad and gave focus to the good? The vision would be good instead of tainted. Obama's vision of "Yes We Can" would be a possibility because the vision is being portrayed! There is an example to follow!
Obama sought to take the democratic seat to run for the presidential office! A black man, if you wish to call him mixed you can, went up against all kinds of opposition but had a goal in mind of winning! He financed his campaign through us! He went about it in a different way. He is being himself and believing that is what the nation needs! He stands on principal and does not conform to what people wish him to be. He dares to be different! He wants a change! He is getting results and making history all at the same time! If he is doing it, We Can Too!
Wanting a better society, wanting a change and wanting advancement of all people, not just colored people, should be our desired result! We need results. Envisioning change is what we should see. Applying change is what should be done. It is the same change that we all hope for! It is the same change we all should want! It is having a common forecasted result but going about it in a different way!
I want A Different Kind of Change!
I thought about how civil rights leaders wanted a change. Some talked about the problem, and some talked about the solution. Some utilized both aspects. Together they achieved results. Today we focus on what people are doing wrong. Its plastered in the newspapers, its broadcasted on the TV and even posted on the internet. To go further, it's forwarded to our cell phones! What if we shift the focus from the faulted points to the exalted points!
We broadcast black people did this and black people did that. For viewers, that is all they are seeing! Younger minds see that this is what their race is capable of! They are conformed to what media says they are only good for and thus signing up more names to the list to be reported for bad news! What if we spoke only of the highlights? What if we shared the good things that happened and ignored the bad? Maybe not even ignore but separated the good from the bad and gave focus to the good? The vision would be good instead of tainted. Obama's vision of "Yes We Can" would be a possibility because the vision is being portrayed! There is an example to follow!
Obama sought to take the democratic seat to run for the presidential office! A black man, if you wish to call him mixed you can, went up against all kinds of opposition but had a goal in mind of winning! He financed his campaign through us! He went about it in a different way. He is being himself and believing that is what the nation needs! He stands on principal and does not conform to what people wish him to be. He dares to be different! He wants a change! He is getting results and making history all at the same time! If he is doing it, We Can Too!
Wanting a better society, wanting a change and wanting advancement of all people, not just colored people, should be our desired result! We need results. Envisioning change is what we should see. Applying change is what should be done. It is the same change that we all hope for! It is the same change we all should want! It is having a common forecasted result but going about it in a different way!
I want A Different Kind of Change!
20 thoughts:
Fuzzy, I understand where you are coming from and what you are saying, but i don't see much changing with us until we realize that there can only be one leader and we as a people need to line up and follow suit!
What i'm trying to say is that we need to shut up sometimes and listen, everyone thinks they know it all when in reality we don't know the half of it!
I'm ready for a change too!
Do you think the younger generation will except change when the only thing they know is what they have seen?.... (negativity)
Isn't it wonderful when you get inspired like this? I love the type of inspiration that makes you literally beg for change.
I'm all about coming up with solutions, and finding the real deep rooted problems... maybe u should state a problem in the black community, and we the readers can state what the solution is.
@ Sexxy luv: I think any generation will resist change when they don't believe there's nothing wrong with the way things are. They are comfortable in their ways and it will be work to convince them of anything else!
@ d.t.w.: I prefer the type of inspiration that initiates change. Begging is only asking with intensity and a sense of urgency! Change is an action verb to me, that means we have to do something! we have to make that change!
@ shawnqt: I am trying to escape the single mindedness. The problem does not only lie within the black community, it lies with EVERYONE! We are all connected! The sooner everyone realizes this the sooner an effective change will grab hold!
Change is only good as the people who want it. If there isn't a unanimous vote and a plan for change it will fall by the wayside!
If we are going to have a conversation about EVERYONE then we need to have an open and honest conversation on the history of how we see GOD, and not just one religion. That is the root of all our problems.
That is an interesting stab! Religion is a diversity that is a great contributing problem! So many different views on how to handle situations. How to run the government! Thats just one possible problem. Again, can we get to solutions without focusing on the problems? Maybe we can acknowledge the problem and focus on the solutions...
But what solutions are ever offered? Too often I hear black people identifing the problem, but rarely do I hear a viable solution...
heh. Humanity's innate ability to choose and ego are in the way. 9 comments and nobody agrees, it's ironic (myself included!). I think Raw Thoughts puts it best, it needs to be unanimous. But... look at the timeline of history. There isn't a single decade that there isn't a war someplace somewhere.
I think I'm an optimist and believe that change can happen. I agree with you Fuzzy when you said if ...to what media says they are only good for and thus signing up more names to the list to be reported for bad news! The things that are popular become a fad. If it was a fad to be on the news for something good then I too think that we'd see a change.
So many things in life are fads. Some just have longer lives than others until they become tradition.
Motivational speakers who fail to motivate is one of my pet peeves. Not only do they go on about the problems with no clear solution, some don't even talk intelligently about the causes, which always helps when considering ways to solve problems.
Things appear to look worse sometimes because we get caught up in the "big picture" conversation. For instance, gang activity plagues several communities that are not equipped to deal with the rise in gang-related crime. In reaction to increasing crime rates, gangs are identified as the cause. The solution is perceived is eradicating gang activity through criminal prosecution, which places all the responsibility on law enforcement when there is so much that ordinary people in the community can do.
We can start community programs; daycare, after school, summer recreation, aimed at reducing the ranks of youth who find gang culture attractive. With not for profit status, these programs can be funded through federal and corporate grants. Any one of us can do that.
Change is not just about action, but about thinking differently.
I guess Im jumping on the band wagon. Shoot me. But Rodney I so agree with your comment man.
Oh BTW way why did it feel like I was reading MLK's "I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH". Especially at the end of this post lol
Good Post sir
I may not agree with everything you said, but I love the way you said it. Gave me goose bumps reading it. Good post.
The post seemed very progressive until the last few lines when you referred to blacks as coloreds. Whats up with that?
Religion, any religion, is just man's way of trying to explain his place in this vast cosmos.
The trouble comes from human BEHAVIOR - religion is just the excuse for that behavior offered by some.
This caused a fuss a while back: not all muslims are terrorists, but every terrorist has been a muslim.
Is that due to religion?
Ok here is my take on change. Change never comes to you, you go for it. As much as I love my people, we don't want to sacrifice to get what we need. But we will go for the things we want.
I'm just saying, when is the last time anyone of us has been to a library voluntarily. In the books you will find knowledge. I wanted to go to college and how to pay for it. I found out how by reading. I wanted to know how to invest. I found out by reading a book about it.
You want change then you welcome it and sacrifice for it. And leave the haters to hate. Don't waste time on them and go for yours. We allow others to tell us we can't so many times that we actually believe it. Stop waiting for Obama, make your changes now. Be the master of your own fate.
interesting post
Like the post. Ive done alot of thinking like this lately. I realized if I want this change, I must be a part of it. What role will you play? Together we can have change. I think this is what happened back in the 60's they did it together. We must find purpose again and go after it together.
Like the post. Ive done alot of thinking like this lately. I realized if I want this change, I must be a part of it. What role will you play? Together we can have change. I think this is what happened back in the 60's they did it together. We must find purpose again and go after it together.
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