In the aftermath of the presidential election, there’s a heightened concern regarding the President Elect potentially taking the nation backwards in terms of the progress we’ve made with civil rights amongst a host of other issues. In light of those concerns, and because of my love for my brothers and sisters, I offer the following…
In life, no-one really takes anything from you that you haven’t, somewhere along the line, given up. The progress we have made in terms of equal rights and the ground we have gained has been hard-fought, to say the least. To suggest that someone or for that matter some group has the power to take back that ground by some fell swoop of legislation is not reasonable. Further to allow fear to enter the fray simply suggests a possibility that does not rightfully exist. Entertaining the notion that some national influence, whether based on a past hatred or a revived one, is capable of seizing something from you, you’ve worked hard to obtain, is fundamentally a lie.
In order to have slaves, there has to be a master, with both being cooperators in ignorance. One wrongfully submits their power, while the other over-exerts their power. In order to make a person a slave it is first necessary to thwart or stifle his education. The informed man can never be a slave as his principles won’t permit it. In his understanding he has power and in his wisdom he takes the necessary actions to extricate himself. But make no mistake, no man can be made a slave without at some point, his consent. Men and women today are grossly misinformed, taking at face value, the opinion of the most vocal. Sadly, if you say it loud enough and often enough, it is likely to be accepted. For this reason, the people most afraid, have failed to recognize the part they play in the universal drama. Instead of deciding what rights they alone are entitled to, they seek to obtain them from someone else. And, even entertaining the implication that some other group can decide what you can and cannot have, is already destined for failure. You’ve been defeated in the fight before the opening bell. Equally, the terror of not getting your fair share, again implies there is someone outside of you that can determine what is your fair share. Whether it be harder to get your fair share or not, it is your responsibility to demand it; to be equal to it; to do whatever it takes to secure it.
The only thing that ever really defeats a man and makes him a slave is fear. Fear is always based on ignorance or wrong teaching. The solution to ignorance is education. The solution to wrong teaching is right teaching. A man only accepts his inferiority to another man because of what he doesn’t know or that which he has been wrongly taught. Inferiority is a learned condition. To be inferior is to actually believe that you are. Why get all exasperated and agitated over some protestor or miscreant or marplot? Why permit discouragement over the sentiment of some back woods charlatan with neither the education nor the wherewithal to make a valid judgment or decision? Why have anxiety over some hate group spewing out threats of harm and maleficence? Your concern should not center on the display of a confederate flag or racial slurs scrawled on the side of a car. Your concern should focus more on the effect it has on men’s minds; your mind, and whether you or they will allow it. And, like an act of cowardly terrorism, it lacks any real substance other than an incitement to be afraid. Lest you feel alone, I can assure you that the majority of the people in America are not those people. There are a multitude of Americans equally appalled as you are, willing to join with you, hand in hand for the fight. When President Obama was elected, I sat side by side with people from the so-called enemy race, weeping tears of joy with me over the progress America made in its views regarding equality. And that great man proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that any of you can be whomever it is you will to be. So, instead of running from an illusion, some reminder of the past, some dreaded state to avoid at all costs, decide you are today what you are and that no man can take that from you!
The responsibility for your life; your happiness; your success, is you and has always been you. The Government, be it favorable or averse, does not control your life for good or for bad. Sure it has the power to irritate you and harass you, but it never has and never will control you. To think that you need an elected official to ensure your best interests are being secured is a myth. It’s a fiction into which many have allowed themselves to be led. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your life and there is nothing on earth bigger than your determination to have just exactly what you expect to have and to be, by God, exactly what you expect to become! People are made slaves by their slavish dependence upon someone or something else to provide for them in their pursuit of happiness. God helps those who believe He will, and no-one turns back His hand!
We live most definitely in a questionable time, unlike any our nation has experienced in many years. The haters and the debaters and the pontificators have come out in full force against the principles this nation was founded upon. Whether the divisiveness be held under the guise of economic security, perceived weakness, or just plain old racism, this country was born upon a belief that a united country could be formed from many, many different types of people with each being afforded the privilege to believe and live as they saw fit. Separation and division made based upon a difference in skin color or cultural preferences is the most asinine of all things that an informed, educated nation could entertain. So, refuse to believe the rhetoric! Stop allowing people to exert their false authority over you and threaten to make you into something you are not! Stand for yourself and for your children. Stand for what you believe. Stand for the nation you love and believe in. Refuse to cower and kowtow to fear, intimidation and threats. Those folks shouting the loudest are simply working hard to sell you an idea that not only isn’t true, but never has been true!
If you really want to make a difference and change this world, change it right where you live. You teach that young black child that he isn’t inferior to anyone. Teach your Hispanic friends to stop accepting life as second class citizens. Assure those Muslim friends you have that if a round-up starts you will fight alongside them for their freedom in our land of the free! Most of all, tell yourself and continue to tell yourself that no-one takes from you anything you have earned and that no-one ever will! This is still America, no matter who is at the helm. The true genius of America is that it is the people who govern the land. And those people are still made up of a multiplicity of types. America isn’t full and in need of walls. America is ever open to those who hunger and thirst for a better way…
I love my country and I love you. Be a real American and refuse to be made a slave! You can and you should…
Just some good thoughts…
One of your best articles Tony! Such a great reminder of who we are…love and blessings…Connie
Awesome thought! Touched on some important points for young people especially minorities.
I need some help understanding this. It seems we DO have a history of people in power taking away people’s rights. The Japanese internment is a good example. Where they to just say ‘no’? I get what you say, but seems there could be some violence associated with staying strong and true. There could be without doing that as well, but it doesn’t seem so easy as standing for yourself. Maybe you are not saying that it is easy.
Sometimes people find themselves in a certain situation due to politics or society. My point was that none of us have to accept it or succumb to it. You can be held against your will but still be a free person, like Nelson Mandela
Comments are closed.