We Must Excel, Not Just Exist
We, as descendants of slaves, as people of color, MUST strive for excellence in all that we do. We must live according to principles of excellence in our daily lives, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Living in alignment with excellence means making a conscious choice to do what’s right over what’s easy, what’s comfortable, or what’s familiar. In lieu of spending hours gossiping on the phone or endless hours on the computer in the pursuit of meaningless sex, we must examine our selves, our lives, and look to grow, mature, and evolve.
I challenge you to stop thinking of yourself as better just because you go to church every Sunday, dressed in your overpriced fineries to show off to the congregation, when you step over the homeless on Monday without so much as an ounce of compassion or love in your heart for those who need a helping hand. We must stop trying to get over on the system, trying to figure out the easy way to get something for nothing, and rather make the choice to have integrity, to do what’s right for the community, not just yourself. It’s time now to consider the ramifications and consequences of our actions and stop living for the moment or the almighty dollar. If we consider the feelings of others, if everyone considers the feelings of others, we can transform ourselves from a selfish, insensitive, immature community to a compassionate, giving, enlightened family. Find a reason to see the good in someone, to reach out to another because you connect on a deeper level, not just because you think they have something to offer you, or because you want to feel insecure and petty jealousy.
Speak truth to power. Hold your tongue when you feel the urge, the driving and compulsive need to lie, and utter only those words that are true. Embrace honesty with your entire being and reprogram your brain from your conditioning that tells you to create stories and deceptions that make you feel better about yourself and learn to be honest and truthful with yourself so that you might be able to be honest and truthful with others.
We must accept our greatness, our royalty, and our divinity with humility, grace, and modesty. Would a Queen exchange her body for a car payment or money to get a new pair of shoes? Would a King create a prince or princess only to leave them unprotected and un-nurtured? Would a true manifestation of the Divine be more concerned with a car, clothes, or plasma TV than in helping those less fortunate?
Ask yourself, are you living a life of excellence or do you merely exist? Are you striving to become a better person every day? Are you actually trying to become a better person: not richer, not more attractive, not get more stuff, not sleep with more women, not use more men, not cheat the system, not beat the man. Are you striving to dispel the myths and combat the stereotypes? Are you daily striving to learn more, to push yourself further, to excel in all you do?
Pick up a book, go back to college, take a night class, use the Internet to learn out our history instead of just wasting your life away.
Copyright 2008 AfroerotiK All Rights Reserved
We, as descendants of slaves, as people of color, MUST strive for excellence in all that we do. We must live according to principles of excellence in our daily lives, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Living in alignment with excellence means making a conscious choice to do what’s right over what’s easy, what’s comfortable, or what’s familiar. In lieu of spending hours gossiping on the phone or endless hours on the computer in the pursuit of meaningless sex, we must examine our selves, our lives, and look to grow, mature, and evolve.
I challenge you to stop thinking of yourself as better just because you go to church every Sunday, dressed in your overpriced fineries to show off to the congregation, when you step over the homeless on Monday without so much as an ounce of compassion or love in your heart for those who need a helping hand. We must stop trying to get over on the system, trying to figure out the easy way to get something for nothing, and rather make the choice to have integrity, to do what’s right for the community, not just yourself. It’s time now to consider the ramifications and consequences of our actions and stop living for the moment or the almighty dollar. If we consider the feelings of others, if everyone considers the feelings of others, we can transform ourselves from a selfish, insensitive, immature community to a compassionate, giving, enlightened family. Find a reason to see the good in someone, to reach out to another because you connect on a deeper level, not just because you think they have something to offer you, or because you want to feel insecure and petty jealousy.
Speak truth to power. Hold your tongue when you feel the urge, the driving and compulsive need to lie, and utter only those words that are true. Embrace honesty with your entire being and reprogram your brain from your conditioning that tells you to create stories and deceptions that make you feel better about yourself and learn to be honest and truthful with yourself so that you might be able to be honest and truthful with others.
We must accept our greatness, our royalty, and our divinity with humility, grace, and modesty. Would a Queen exchange her body for a car payment or money to get a new pair of shoes? Would a King create a prince or princess only to leave them unprotected and un-nurtured? Would a true manifestation of the Divine be more concerned with a car, clothes, or plasma TV than in helping those less fortunate?
Ask yourself, are you living a life of excellence or do you merely exist? Are you striving to become a better person every day? Are you actually trying to become a better person: not richer, not more attractive, not get more stuff, not sleep with more women, not use more men, not cheat the system, not beat the man. Are you striving to dispel the myths and combat the stereotypes? Are you daily striving to learn more, to push yourself further, to excel in all you do?
Pick up a book, go back to college, take a night class, use the Internet to learn out our history instead of just wasting your life away.
Copyright 2008 AfroerotiK All Rights Reserved
4 comments:
Very inspirational piece to read first thing in the morning. Though written to black people, there was much here I would do very well to apply in my daily life.
Speaking about excelling, must say that your blog is one of the best out there.
You give readers a whole lot to fill their pockets with, be it a an erotic love story we wish we could all live; an essay revealing such personal angst it encourages us to be braver when facing our own pain; a sexually-graphic, gut-bucket, flat-out-nasty tour-de-force that leaves men painfully hard and women flowing like an ocean. Then the next day, you'll come back with a social piece that makes us all want to run out that minute and change our world for the better.
If you had access to camera equipment, I could see you producing a wonderful Web cast. Blow up a number of your photographs to use as a background, a simple yet tasteful table, a few African peices of art, a daily/weekly guest and let the conversation flow.
Kinda like "Like It Is," the old Gil Noble Sunday morning show on ABC in NYC or Charlie Rose. Both w/ very simple sets and goals - no bells and whistles, just straight talk.
Evrything you have to say is interesting. There's got to be a way to capitialize on that personally, while sharing powerful ideas with a public that DESPERATELY needs powerful ideas.
Thank you so much, Lee. I am moved by your compliments. If my eyes didn't make me look like a strung out junkie, I would consider doing some sort of you-tubish sort of cast. I've accepted that I'm not suited for visual media. In fact, I think it's time to put the entire AfroerotiK dream to bed. No matter how hard I've tried, and tried, and tried some more, nothing seems to succeed for me. It's like a mother burying her child however, hard to let go of.
That's sorrowful news. Can only begin to imagine your frustration when such a great idea is met with hard luck and apathy -which doesn't make it any less of a great idea.
Have to disagree with your self-crititism though. Sometimes introspection and blunt self-assessments can go too far. This seems to be the case with you.
Ironically, it's the brightness of your eyes that I find super attractive and your most compelling feature.
Obviously, it's apparent by your pics that the camera LOVES you. I can't fathom why the same wouldn't be true with a moving image.
Plus, with your voice and what you have to say, any normal person would look past any perceived physical flaws, if any.
If you prepared for such a web cast as if you were going out on a sexy date (like with your audience), people, I think, would go crazy.
I can understand moving on, as hard as that may be. But the AfroerotiK dream seems like something that will live forever, and one day would assuredly become a fruitful media reality.
Even if it doesn't come to pass, your Hurculean effort to right the world can never be forgotten.
Your eyes make me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPZj__RUCGc
Believe it's true!
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