Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Luke 12: 22-26

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Romans: 1-3

What perfect Christians, muslims, buddhists, people; what perfect people we are that we feel that we can judge others. Of course I am being sarcastic, but this is the attitude that some people, not all, but some have towards other groups of people and individuals whose actions differ from theirs. Judgment of people is at an all time high and when I read this scripture it bugs me out how we have the nerve. The word clearly states that when we judge one another we are essentially condemning ourselves. When did we become God and have the right to judge man/ woman and their actions?

No sin is greater than another, so to hear folks degrading people because of something that they do, that you do not approve of, when I am sure you sin as well makes no sense to me. I am speaking specifically about people who choose to condemn people in the name of God. God says right here that you do not have the right and because of you exercising this right that you do not have he will make sure to pass his judgment on you. This attitude of being better than thou is what has us struggling as a people. Struggling to get to the Kingdom of God, struggling to create a world where we can love each other and grow together. Let me be clear, I am not judging those who judge, I have no room to judge anyone. I have been living an imperfect life since birth, but I pray that the Lord sees that I am trying. I pray he sees the sincerity of my heart and forgives me for the mistakes that I continue to make. Lets move as a people toward kind words to one another, towards helping one another get through our trials and tribulations rather than passing our criticisms on our own people. We all live imperfect lives, let’s work to build our relationship with God and help each other build a relationship in the name of God so that we can succeed together. Peace and Grace be unto you!

He who is guilty is the one that has much to say.

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3: 15-17

The high road; often the road less travelled but yet still a road for us to take. We are challenged everyday and judged by the decisions that we make to those challenges. Sometimes those judgments are hard and very hard to deal with, but there they are staring you in the face. How do you react? Do you fight fire with fire, do you judge right back? We might, but for what, don’t you remember when you were little and your parents told you to ignore somebody. If you ignore them that they will go away, or they will become so angry that you aren’t fueling their fire that they would cool off. So how come now that everybody’s grown we have to have something to say. “No, I’m grown”, I hear it all the time, well then act like it and turn the cheek and do not concern yourself with such foolishness.

People are going to judge you, their going to judge your belief in God, your clothes, your choice of profession. People are so nosey they judge how you spend your money. Listen to the word, don’t get mad; simply respond in a respectful manner because you are a respectable person. Let them know why you do the things that you do and how great you feel for doing it. As the word says they will be ashamed of their slanderous words because you didn’t respond and help fuel their anger. I’m talking to myself so don’t think I’m talking to anyone else. People get on my nerves all the time, so much I have to call my mom! Lol! But seriously if you are doing the right thing, and being judged for it the word tells us it is better to suffer for doing good rather than doing evil. Don’t be impressed by those who are getting by, I can’t even front; when someone is causing me drama and I take the high road, I become obsessed with how they’re the ones doing wrong but I’m catching the jack. I have to lose that mentality, and realize that whatever lesson I am supposed to learn from that suffering is God’s will, not my own. Let’s learn to take the high road more often having faith that the reward at the end of that road is greater than any other reward we could ever receive. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Suffering is prior to attaining success or perfection

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10

I have a version of the Bible titled “The Book”, a brother gave this bible to me this past summer. In “The Book” this same scripture reads as, Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! Yet many of us are chasing the dollar, I myself am extremely broke, and I won’t lie and say that I am happy in my broken despair (lol) but I do find joy. There are tons of things we can find joy in in the world but what brings me the most joy and I think is often taken for granted are our family and friends. Family and friends are those who support us when we are down, they are the ones who are most proud of our achievements and they give us the strength to keep pushing when we feel that we have nothing left to give.

The scripture is right, only a fool thinks that wealth will bring happiness. Well wealth in a monetary sense, because to have a wealth of good family and friends, let me repeat that, good family and friends are one of the greatest gifts we can receive from the Creator. As I travel to Philadelphia today I am thankful because I will be spending time with my family and friends as one of my close friends is getting married. A joyous occasion it will be, a joyous occasion I really do need. With all the stresses of life and school I look forward to spending time with people I care about and people who care about me. I know it is God who sees that I need this break, and he has afforded me enough money (NOT ALOT OF MONEY) but enough to give thanks to him and watch two people say their vows before him and in his name. Take time to remember the people we sometimes forget, I am sure they will make your day a little bit warmer. Peace and Grace be unto you!

The soul that is within me no man can degrade.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.  1 Peter 5: 10-11

After you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. I pray that this little while of suffering is not life and then I will be happy in the after life. I have heard scriptures be interpreted that way, I pray that is not the case. I think the Lord is saying I have given my all for you, I have been caused pain too by the sins of this world. Yet I have given my only son so that you can be strong, so that you may find a way to eternal happiness through the principles of love and peace that he taught. This temporary suffering is just that; temporary, and after you have suffered I will not only restore your original happiness, but I will make you strong, steadfast and firm.

We need opposition, we need tough times, we need them like we need those great moments in our life. We need tears, just like we need a beautiful smile. Common said “I guess knowing I’m weak is when I’m really being strong, some how through the dusk I could see the dawn”. It is at our moments when we feel our weakest, when we feel that the world is crashing down on us that we are exemplifying our beautiful strength that God has bestowed upon us. Why? Because we are still pushing, we are still hoping, despite whatever circumstances may be weighing us down we still have the ability to fight and push past these obstacles. Don’t be a slave to your vocabulary; suffering comes in many forms. It is not just physical pain or extreme heart break, no suffering is feeling inadequate about something, suffering is the mental anguish we deal with when things aren’t going the way we planned. But through faith in God and belief in oneself we can see the dawn. STILL WE RISE. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Many spiritual teachers - in Buddhism, in Islam - have talked about first-hand experience of the world as an important part of the path to wisdom, to enlightenment.

My “Fascination” with Greeks (Response)

Earlier today I was introduced to an article written in Blacklisted Magazine (http://www.blacklistedmagazine.org) discussing one woman’s opinions on Black Greek Lettered Organizations at the University of Florida. She later responded to my posting of her article with this comment, “Please keep in mind that the critique in this article, is specific to my University– and I did that mindful of the fact that I couldn’t speak for every cluster of BGLO’s. (I’d be willing to wager that some of the same critiques ring true, however).”

Unlike the typical reply to such an article that looks to minimize the efforts and necessity for members of Black Greek Lettered Organizations and defame this young lady as a possible “reject”, or “hater”, I wish to engage her in an intellectual discourse surrounding her topic of choice. Initially her article looks to speak to the efforts or lack thereof of the National Pan Hellenic Council members at the University of Florida, and having attended Temple University in Philadelphia; I have a very limited view of the dealings at the University of Florida. However her response on my blog attempted to over-generalize these views and place them upon the many members of these organizations throughout the world.

I have several issues with this article that I will address throughout this response; first and foremost I have an issue anytime someone presents us with a problem, however is not kind enough to afford their readers or the audience that they wish to engage with any type of solutions. We all know the saying, “if you are not a part of the solution than you are a part of the problem”. Secondly, I find the tone of this article to be divisive and condescending to not only members of these organizations, but also the black students of the University of Florida as a whole. Lastly, I wish to present a record of current achievements and community service that members of these organizations have engaged themselves in and highlight their social activism, which was grossly neglected in the previous article.

I do not wish to rebut every element of this crafty article, for that would be asinine for her article represents her experiences. I do however find her male on male sexual harassment, and hazing assaults to reek of ignorance to a system she clearly has no direct dealings with. I would only ask that as a journalist, writers take a more objective role in the information that they put forth, both informing their public and stating the issue they wish to address and not presenting a highly biased work of literature.

I.
Throughout the article “My “fascination” with Greeks”, the young lady presents many issues that she finds with the caliber of undergraduate members of bglo’s at the University of Florida. She finds that these young individuals lack a consciousness or awareness surrounding different issues that affect people of color. Ms. Albert contends that these circumstances should have warranted support from the Greeks to collectively enjoin the student body in fighting these issues as well as bring attention to the school’s administration about such situations. Having not been a member of the student body at this institution, I will take her account of such a lack of response from the Black Greeks as fact.

However, nowhere in her response do I see that she attempted to address this issue with the Greeks and possibly gain their support in these battles of social activism at the University. Nor do I see this article creating a healthy dialogue between herself and these organizations on this campus to promote future support of such issues. So here we have a well-defined problem with no solutions, this is problematic for many reasons. It is clear that people are disappointed by the lack of support from the Black Greeks on this campus. However, by looking to “blast” them and their feeble efforts rather than engage them this article stands to do less good for the overall community who could benefit from a healthier discussion that creates an alliance rather than dissention.

II.

“Did they starve the consciousness out of you during hazing?” I have never seen a conversation be productive when you start the dialogue attacking the person you are hopefully seeking to come to some sort of common ground with. Bro. Dr. Cornell West said it best when he said that we as black people “must engage in a love language”. Meaning, we can no longer condemn each other and speak harshly towards one another and expect to affect real change within the communities in which we live.

Not only did the writer call the Black Greek members “shallow and self- serving”, she extended this assault to the entire community of black students as a whole, calling them “shallow and disengaged”. Such rhetoric only furthers the divide between our people and does little to combat the ills that plague communities of color.

I am confused by such verbal assaults, because as she invokes the need for activism and awareness amongst people of color at the University, I see this writer more so utilizing the ways of the oppressive media to effectively get her points across. To simply gloss over those who are making a difference, those who are engaged, and hone in on those who are not is no better than when people make pre-determined judgments about our people as a whole based on the actions of the “few”. Is there anything different when someone assumes that a young black woman is a promiscuous, gold-digging, uneducated woman simply because these are the common stereotypes and sometimes actions of young women of color? While I am sure that this intelligent young lady is none of the above, she has to understand that her assertions and generalizations on members of these organizations and black people as a whole is a microcosm for how blacks are treated and misrepresented in this very country that we live in.

“BGLO’s, like other university organizations, will be judged as a whole, not just the sum of its more progressive parts.” Do we like when we as young black students are striving for more progressive ways to better our communities but we are wrongly compared to those who sell drugs, prostitute and wish to further degrade our communities? This is not only unfair, it is unimaginable coming from a woman of color who daily has to face these types of discrimination not based on her own actions but the actions of others. Let us be more objective in our opinions and remember in order to engage those members of her campus it would beseech her to engage in healthy discourse with solutions rather than adding insult to injury.

III.

Lastly, as a member of a BGLO in the Philadelphia area, I will gladly enlighten you as to whether or not these assertions that you have made about Black Greek Life ring true in my experiences. While I would be lying to say that none of these organizations have members who are more concerned with the social and less of the community service and scholarship that they were founded upon. This is not the rule; it is more the exceptions that we unfortunately allow to slip through. We like to call them “shirt wearer’s”. No, actually my experience has been one of watching the women of Delta Sigma Theta garner upwards of $7,500 in monies raised for Sickle Cell Anemia alone, which we all know is a disease that affects the black community at a rapid pace. I have watched the men of Phi Beta Sigma host an annual Ms. Ebony Temple Pageant, where the contestants win scholarship money to help finance their education and many of the proceeds go to local churches and charities that the young ladies find to be beneficial for the betterment of the black community. A member of Zeta Phi Beta from Temple recently started her own magazine, Avenue Report, in which she caters to young professional men of color, educating us about financial literacy and health issues amongst a host of other topics.

We can’t escape the good old stepping stigma, so the Greeks of Temple mentor and help the students of the Young Scholar’s Charter School learn the art of stepping while stressing the importance of higher education, we simply call it Project G.R.E.E.K. The men of Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi also engage the young students of North Philadelphia, a highly impoverished area, with scholastic support and mentorship. The ladies of Sigma Gamma Rho are staunch fundraisers for breast cancer and although this is not their national program, they revolve many of their events, banquets and fundraising around building awareness to this topic. Social activism, the young women of Alpha Kappa Alpha are looking to follow their illustrious leader Barbara McKinzie in attacking issues of social injustice including but not limited to the Jena 6 incident, the Don Imus incident, and issues surrounding misogyny in hip hop. Not only has their national President condemned defamatory statements and social injustices in the media, they recently gave Howard University $1 million dollars toward restoring some of the University’s facilities. While also encouraging their members to utilize their spending habits to fight racial discrimination and the disrespect of black women. These young ladies continue to represent the standard of what it is to be a lady, while selflessly raising funds and awareness for issues endemic to women of color.

Lastly but certainly not least, the men of Alpha Phi Alpha are continuously engaged in providing service to the local community members of North Philadelphia. Along with the members of Omega Psi Phi, these young gentlemen brought awareness to the Millions More Movement and mobilized students to this historic event. Weekly, the men of Alpha Phi Alpha can be seen mentoring the inner city youth at the Y Achievers program. Darryl Matthews, General President of Alpha Phi Alpha, was one of the many black leaders on hand the day of the Jena 6 protest and rallied the people to fight such acts of discrimination. At Temple we do not currently have any men of Iota Phi Theta, however I have worked with members of their alumni chapter and I felt their strong commitment to the upward mobility of people of color as well.

Members of BGLO’s are often very involved in service, however our commitment to our communities is something that is within our hearts. Such service is not always blasted around campus to receive accolades but more so heavily concentrated in neighborhoods where our existence is vital to the successes of our youth. While the article I am responding to may be completely factual, I pray that you will take a different approach so that we may move forward together rather than apart. Please continue to allow your voice to be heard for there are many issues in our communities that I believe we can address as whole rather than separate entities. Peace and Love!

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Romans 12:3

Self-esteem, how many of us truly have it. If we do, where do we get it from, if we don’t, to what do we allow the pleasure of taking it away. Many will read the word self-esteem and immediately say, this isn’t talking about me, you are actually the person this scripture is talking to the most. The word says do not think of yourself more highly than you should, I would also say do not think of yourself lower than you should which I have been a victim of from time to time. The people who I have found to be the most self confident, who can deal with trials and tribulations and their glow is still phenomenal are those who have a firm belief in God. Those who have a stark faith in God seem to not allow the daily troubles of the world get them down because their belief is that their Creator has something greater in store for them.

I admire such strength, I admire anyone who is wise enough to know in their heart of hearts that God has a plan for them. That the plan he has is better than the plan any of us have conjured up in our minds. It is our attachment to these thoughts which cause us to either think to highly of ourselves, or to not think highly enough. I am looking forward to having that same type of faith, the type of faith where nothing can shake me because I know that I am protected, because I know that no matter what curve balls are thrown my way I will still knock them right out of the park. The only way we can get there, and have true self confidence, true self esteem is to look deep within ourselves and trust in our Creator. Peace and Grace be unto you!

A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.

A wise man’s heart guides his mouth and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones…. Proverbs 16:24

Last night I read something extremely powerful, I did not find it in the word, though I know it was heaven sent. I did not find it in any scholarly text books, nor was it a lecture by a famed orator. Nope, it was actually handwritten, on small sheets of notebook paper. Hopefully one day the contents of this letter I will be able to share with you but what impacted me most were the words. A gentleman who is locked away in prison sent me some of his writings and his words were so poignant, filled with hope and despair, filled with joy and pain. He thanked me for reaching out to him in his time of need and although he knew my reply would be “it’s nothing”, he went on for a paragraph or so just to thank me for taking the time out to build a relationship with him. Reading his words touched me in a way that I did not expect them too. His words gave me a sense of purpose and were extremely beneficial in me then writing three letters to three different brothers who are locked away as well.

With all the judgment that swirls around in today’s world it is easy for people to judge this man and his situation. However today’s scripture tells us that a wise man’s heart guides his mouth! This scripture is subtle yet extremely heavy because often the words that come from our mouths are not from our heart. We let our pain and fears speak for our heart and our lips just let it fly. But if we spoke from our hearts, think of all the good energy we would speak into the lives of other people. The word says pleasant words are sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. The young man’s words were healing to me, his compassion, his gratitude. What if we promoted this type of dialogue, would more souls be touched, would we be helping to create a more perfect world in which we are following Christ like principles? Just some food for thought. Peace and Grace be unto you.

Still your mind in me, still yourself in me, and without a doubt you shall be united with me, Lord of Love, dwelling in your heart.

Wisdom crieth out, she uttereth her voice in the streets; She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Proverbs 1:20-22

Do not silence your voice, allow your true self to be heard! I read the other day where a man said, “when you see and hear the good in me, you are looking at God, when you see the bad in me, you are looking at me and all of my imperfections”. When you speak the truth, you speak an act of good faith along with your words. The bible says that wisdom cries out, her voice can be heard in the streets. There’s a cry for your wisdom in today’s world. Key word here is your wisdom, not your judgment. There’s a need for a voice of love and compassion on our streets, to speak life to our children, hope for our peers, and gratitude to our elders. Your wisdom is based upon your experience, the experiences that you have had culminate into a wealth of knowledge that needs to fall upon deaf ears. Your words may spark a change, a much needed change in someone’s life. Use your voice for love and not destruction, it is a noble action, your only gratification being that you know you helped a fellow human being on their road to success.

Fools hate knowledge, and with their hate for knowledge they will purposely tune out your kind words and helpful actions. But who wants to walk amongst fools anyway, it will largely lead down the wrong path. I am more interested in finding like minded individuals who strengthen the steps that I wish to take while here on this earth. The verses following the two above show wisdom abandoning fools and largely letting them deal with their troubles alone. But we are all fools at some point or another, and we all look for another chance to right our wrongs. So it is then that you must use this beautiful voice that experience is sharpening and allow it to speak truth to the power of our Creator and speak out to those who may have hated your knowledge in the past. All this talk of truth is not to be confused with judgment, the very judgment that has taken many of us away from churches and religion in general. No sir, this is a spiritual truth of wisdom, nobility and honor. Let us love our people by our actions and our words and be hopeful that the same love will be bestowed upon us. Peace and Grace be unto you.

You have to be taught to be second class; you’re not born that way.