Family First

This past weekend I truly learned a life lesson. Thank goodness I was able to be off work on Saturday so I could spend time with my family. On Saturday my parents had a get together at their house for my uncle (that I see maybe once a year) who was in town for the weekend. Its funny how times change because I used to dread those cookouts and family outings. In the past few years I have a greater appreciation for spending time with my extended family. I actually look forward to those times now. Although I look forward to the times that I spend with my family I still feel like I could do more to keep in contact with them. They all stay in the metro Atlanta area so I really have no excuses. As we were outside shooting the basketball around. I decided that we should get a game going the older cousins vs the younger cousins. When the game the first started I was taking it easy because I was trying to keep my clothes clean and not get sweaty, but as the game went on I really started having fun and I didn't get care anymore about my shoes getting dirty or my clothes getting sweaty. I was enjoying the time with my cousins, something that doesn't happen to often. After the game it made me realize that I need to spend more time with my cousins because I know they look up to me and I want to be a positive influence in their lives. not to mention I can relate to them in ways that their parents can't. I say all this to say if you have people in your life that you care about show them that you care because tomorrow is not promised. It doesn't necessarily have to be your blood relatives. We all have many families, whether its your work family, school family, or friends. I just want to say thank you to all my families (Jackson family, Hayes family, my work family, my Marquee family). The truth is your family will always be there no matter whether you succeed or fail. Your family "keeps it real" with you even when you don't want to hear it. Family is ALWAYS there. You can't run TRUE family away. Your family is your foundation and without a foundation your house (life) will crumble everytime.

Reparations? Really?

Lately there has been a lot of talk within the black community about reparations. For those of you who are unfamiliar with reparations it is a proposal by some in the United States that some type of compensation should be provided to the descendants of enslaved people. Of course an argument can be made that the plight of black people was significantly affected by the institution of slavery but that is not what this is all about. The truth is that there are other ethnic groups of people that have been persecuted in the past and there were no reparations for them. So what makes black people so special? You can certainly argue that the treatment of Native Americans was just as bad as African-Americans. Do you really think Native Americans would rather have casinos and a few plots of land? or their pride and families alive? If you take too long to answer this then you probably need to re-evaluate your life. The fact that people are actually discussing this is laughable to me. The people who really needed reparations are dead and gone. What have we done to deserve anything? Now let's really be honest. What would most of us do with the money if we got it? Most of us would blow it on material things like cars, clothes, jewelry, etc. Dave Chapelle probably wasn't too far off with his skit. lol. Money doesn't change the kind of person you are it only reflects who you already are. All this talk about reparations only devalues the struggle that our ancestors went through. To think that you can ease the pain of hundreds of years of suffering with money and land is ridiculous. Slavery WAS a tragic part of our history but it WAS a tragic part of our PAST. There is no way that we can move forward as a people, country, and world if we do not let go of the past. Reparations is just another excuse for black people to use why they are downtrodden and blah blah blah. We all know even if we had reparations there would be another excuse. Let's be accountable for own actions and stop looking for handouts.

This messgae was inspired by the ignorant comments of a Mr. Warren Ballentine