Democratic Nominee Barack Obama was elected President of the United States on November 4, 2008 American proved that democracy really existed and began to experience what true democracy is. I say this because of the plight of African Americans in this country and seeing the bleak economic future that was awaiting America and the world. This election represented a true cornerstone in American history. Many Americans voted irregardless of race but chose to elect the right man for the job. For many African Americans this moment was a dream come true and not a dream deferred.
President Obama represents a beckon of light, hope and optimism for many Americans and others around the world. His Presidency shines a new light on America for present and future generations.
My question to you is how can you become that beckon of light within your community?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Building stronger communities
A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific location, share government and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. This is the definition of the word Community as described on http://www.dictionary.com/.
This definitive doesn't seem complete because communities are much more then that. Community on a macro level is the world as a whole. The world as a whole has a shared responsibility to ensure that countries is doing it's part to address economic, environmental and health concerns that could have a definite impact on the world as a whole (i.e. economy, global warming, HIV etc.). As we know, addressing concerns that effect the world as a whole is an ever evolving process because every country has it's own ideology on how to address these concerns. As you see in the news, the world is realizing how interdependent our communities really are to one another due to the meltdown of the world economy.
Interdependence... This concept is not often spoken of, but will be vital to the success of the world community and our grassroots community on a micro level.
Let's explore what interdependence is. Interdependence is a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects, individuals or groups) or simply being mutually dependent; depending on each other. To achieve interdependence within our communities. Communities must possess a variety of characteristic such as: maturity, selflessness, responsibility and a strong sense of purpose. Think about that for a moment... Then apply the concept of interdependence to your community.
We must began to realize how interdependent we are to each other. Businesses are interdependent to consumers, the economy is interdependent to investors but individuals in communities are independent of one another. There is a selfish ideology behind this thinking. Don't get me wrong it is important to be independent, self reliant and self sufficient. But, when we began to walk around our communities with blinders on and pretend not to see what is obvious. Eventually the cancer will began to fester and the problem gets out of control we tend to get frustrated and angered but when we had the opportunity to address the issue we chose not too.
To build stronger communities we must began to take off the blinders and stop pretending that problems that are obvious done exist. We must begin to inject the understanding of interdependence into our communities.
This definitive doesn't seem complete because communities are much more then that. Community on a macro level is the world as a whole. The world as a whole has a shared responsibility to ensure that countries is doing it's part to address economic, environmental and health concerns that could have a definite impact on the world as a whole (i.e. economy, global warming, HIV etc.). As we know, addressing concerns that effect the world as a whole is an ever evolving process because every country has it's own ideology on how to address these concerns. As you see in the news, the world is realizing how interdependent our communities really are to one another due to the meltdown of the world economy.
Interdependence... This concept is not often spoken of, but will be vital to the success of the world community and our grassroots community on a micro level.
Let's explore what interdependence is. Interdependence is a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects, individuals or groups) or simply being mutually dependent; depending on each other. To achieve interdependence within our communities. Communities must possess a variety of characteristic such as: maturity, selflessness, responsibility and a strong sense of purpose. Think about that for a moment... Then apply the concept of interdependence to your community.
We must began to realize how interdependent we are to each other. Businesses are interdependent to consumers, the economy is interdependent to investors but individuals in communities are independent of one another. There is a selfish ideology behind this thinking. Don't get me wrong it is important to be independent, self reliant and self sufficient. But, when we began to walk around our communities with blinders on and pretend not to see what is obvious. Eventually the cancer will began to fester and the problem gets out of control we tend to get frustrated and angered but when we had the opportunity to address the issue we chose not too.
To build stronger communities we must began to take off the blinders and stop pretending that problems that are obvious done exist. We must begin to inject the understanding of interdependence into our communities.
Monday, February 16, 2009
We Found a Needle in a Hay Stack
It's is suggested that as many as 50,000 people become homeless in Baltimore, Maryland annually; and we found the one we were looking for!!!
I received a call late last week from a friend and I was asked to help her find her homeless uncle in Baltimore, Maryland. I have some knowledge of Baltimore because I uses to hang out there in the late 90's but I had no recent knowledge of Baltimore.
We began today with the realistic understanding that we may not find her uncle. But with faith, direction and divine guidance from our Lord and Savour, we will be successful in our quest to find her uncle. The first few shelters we visited we met resistance from faculty because of concern for the safety and security of shelter residence and we found a few shelters to be condemned. We began to get a little discouraged; but, before we allowed discouragement to take root we made a decision that we were not going to be denied and we were not leaving Baltimore without her uncle.
The more she would talk about her uncle the more I became connected to him. I did not know her uncle personally but the more I listen to her talk about him the more I felt I know this man... He had characteristics that reminded me of my brother, uncle and father. He was no longer just another homeless man that I would walk by in the street without a second thought. He was more then that. He became tangable to me!
We called one shelter and we were notified that he was there 2 days prior. We immediately went there to get an idea of where he would be at. We were told he was in the area, so we drove around for about an hour and we met this homeless man name James. James pointed in the direction of where her uncle usually sleeps but he wasn't there. We turned the corner and we saw a man sitting up among all of his worldly possessions in the middle of the sidewalk. I role the window down and I called out his name and the man looked up and say yes that's me (my friends eye welled up with tears) she began to question him to verify that it was him. The man answered her questions and began to talk about her other family members so clearly. I asked him one more question "Are you ready to go back home?" and he replied with tears in his eye's "I been ready to go back home."
We began to get her uncle prepared to leave. We coordinated a shower for him at the shelter, supplied him with clean clothing and a meal to eat. As we were about to take her uncle out of his homeless lifestyle the Chaplin of the shelter came to us and said "I don't think it's a good idea to put him in your car because he soils himself and he has mental issues." But, through our short conversation with him we quickly understood that this man was not a drug addict or alcoholic and his only real issue was that he did not have the resources to get home.
We put him in the car to embark on a journey from Baltimore, Maryland to the greyhound bus station in Washington DC. We had an hour and half conversation on our journey and this man was just as charismatic and good natured as my friend described as being.
February 16, 2009 was one of the best days of my life because my friend and I embarked upon a journey with an uncertain ending and at the end of the day I can truly say we found a needle in a hay stack.
I received a call late last week from a friend and I was asked to help her find her homeless uncle in Baltimore, Maryland. I have some knowledge of Baltimore because I uses to hang out there in the late 90's but I had no recent knowledge of Baltimore.
We began today with the realistic understanding that we may not find her uncle. But with faith, direction and divine guidance from our Lord and Savour, we will be successful in our quest to find her uncle. The first few shelters we visited we met resistance from faculty because of concern for the safety and security of shelter residence and we found a few shelters to be condemned. We began to get a little discouraged; but, before we allowed discouragement to take root we made a decision that we were not going to be denied and we were not leaving Baltimore without her uncle.
The more she would talk about her uncle the more I became connected to him. I did not know her uncle personally but the more I listen to her talk about him the more I felt I know this man... He had characteristics that reminded me of my brother, uncle and father. He was no longer just another homeless man that I would walk by in the street without a second thought. He was more then that. He became tangable to me!
We called one shelter and we were notified that he was there 2 days prior. We immediately went there to get an idea of where he would be at. We were told he was in the area, so we drove around for about an hour and we met this homeless man name James. James pointed in the direction of where her uncle usually sleeps but he wasn't there. We turned the corner and we saw a man sitting up among all of his worldly possessions in the middle of the sidewalk. I role the window down and I called out his name and the man looked up and say yes that's me (my friends eye welled up with tears) she began to question him to verify that it was him. The man answered her questions and began to talk about her other family members so clearly. I asked him one more question "Are you ready to go back home?" and he replied with tears in his eye's "I been ready to go back home."
We began to get her uncle prepared to leave. We coordinated a shower for him at the shelter, supplied him with clean clothing and a meal to eat. As we were about to take her uncle out of his homeless lifestyle the Chaplin of the shelter came to us and said "I don't think it's a good idea to put him in your car because he soils himself and he has mental issues." But, through our short conversation with him we quickly understood that this man was not a drug addict or alcoholic and his only real issue was that he did not have the resources to get home.
We put him in the car to embark on a journey from Baltimore, Maryland to the greyhound bus station in Washington DC. We had an hour and half conversation on our journey and this man was just as charismatic and good natured as my friend described as being.
February 16, 2009 was one of the best days of my life because my friend and I embarked upon a journey with an uncertain ending and at the end of the day I can truly say we found a needle in a hay stack.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Passion to Serve Others
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." Mahatma Gandhi
The quote above is so profound. I can attest to it because I have found my passion through my service to others. In January of 2008 after watching Oprah on Martin Luther King Day I took an introspective look at myself to find out what I could do in my community to create a positive change. By the end of January the concept of Mentor 4 BIG RESULTS evolved from my introspective search into my passion.
I can say that serving others is my passion because this program went through a process of metamorphosis. From an introspective though into creative action. The action is what allows this program to exist, but it was the introspection process that allowed my passion to be discovered.
Serving others is not an easy thing to do for many people because it requires performing a selfless act. But it is the selfless act that is so rewarding.
As our nation continues to go through this period of change. I believe the hearts of many will develop the passion to serve others. Many people already possess the passion to serve others but have not taken the action to exercise their passion. This is the year of CHANGE! I encourage you to put some action behind your passion. You will never know what creative action your introspective thoughts will lead you too.
If you have a passion to volunteer visit Mentor 4 BIG RESULTS at www.m4brs.org.
The quote above is so profound. I can attest to it because I have found my passion through my service to others. In January of 2008 after watching Oprah on Martin Luther King Day I took an introspective look at myself to find out what I could do in my community to create a positive change. By the end of January the concept of Mentor 4 BIG RESULTS evolved from my introspective search into my passion.
I can say that serving others is my passion because this program went through a process of metamorphosis. From an introspective though into creative action. The action is what allows this program to exist, but it was the introspection process that allowed my passion to be discovered.
Serving others is not an easy thing to do for many people because it requires performing a selfless act. But it is the selfless act that is so rewarding.
As our nation continues to go through this period of change. I believe the hearts of many will develop the passion to serve others. Many people already possess the passion to serve others but have not taken the action to exercise their passion. This is the year of CHANGE! I encourage you to put some action behind your passion. You will never know what creative action your introspective thoughts will lead you too.
If you have a passion to volunteer visit Mentor 4 BIG RESULTS at www.m4brs.org.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
We all can be an agent of change!
As our nation enters this new era of transition and change it is critically important that we as a nation take personal inventory of ourselves. I think its important to understand that many have voted for change in the direction of this country, but my question is how many of us are willing to change ourselves? How many of us are truly ready for change? How many of us a willing to give of ourselves in ways that we never gave before? How many of us are willing to become true agents of change?
You may be asking your what is an agent of change? An agent of change is a person or group of people how recognize a condition that exist in their home, neighborhood, community or government that is not satisfactory and they make a selfless decision to effect positive change in that situation. We all have the ability to be agents of change. We banned together as a nation to become agents of change to elect a President that aims to effect positive change in our government and the World. We all must continue to be agents of change on a micro level (i.e. in our homes and neighborhoods) so that true change can be reflected on a Macro level (i.e. community safety, pride, growth and development).
I believe that as a nation are on the road to truly being a united country and the only way that we can truly achieve unity is by building, growing and achieving together. In a lot of ways that means evaluating selfish ambitions and see if they will help to meet the greater good for you, your family and humanity as a whole. The main pillar that an agent of change possesses is that s/he is not afraid to change themselves.
I challenge you to be an agent of change! www.m4brs.org
You may be asking your what is an agent of change? An agent of change is a person or group of people how recognize a condition that exist in their home, neighborhood, community or government that is not satisfactory and they make a selfless decision to effect positive change in that situation. We all have the ability to be agents of change. We banned together as a nation to become agents of change to elect a President that aims to effect positive change in our government and the World. We all must continue to be agents of change on a micro level (i.e. in our homes and neighborhoods) so that true change can be reflected on a Macro level (i.e. community safety, pride, growth and development).
I believe that as a nation are on the road to truly being a united country and the only way that we can truly achieve unity is by building, growing and achieving together. In a lot of ways that means evaluating selfish ambitions and see if they will help to meet the greater good for you, your family and humanity as a whole. The main pillar that an agent of change possesses is that s/he is not afraid to change themselves.
I challenge you to be an agent of change! www.m4brs.org
Thursday, January 8, 2009
New Year's Resolution: Stop Procrastinating
With this new year in full swing, many of us have made promises and resolutions to become better in various areas in our lives. But, I wonder how many of us have already revolted against our own dreams and aspirations for this new year. Most of the time people make promise to themselves to lose weight or to become a better person in some way. I submit to you, to stop making promises for tomorrow that you can't begin today. Procrastination is a dream thief and it will rob you of all your blessings. As time passes by and you fail to act on your dreams and aspirations they become easier to shrug off or push back to the next day, month or year until puff there gone without a trace.
A couple of years ago someone told me that the graveyard is the richest place on earth because there lies the dreams and aspirations of many. In most cases those dreams and aspirations lie there in the graveyard because some those people failed to take action to bring them to life. The Bible says that "Faith without works is died" therefore, I encourage you to live a life of victory by putting some action towards your faith and begin living your dreams and aspirations today!
Happy New Year!
The Mentor
A couple of years ago someone told me that the graveyard is the richest place on earth because there lies the dreams and aspirations of many. In most cases those dreams and aspirations lie there in the graveyard because some those people failed to take action to bring them to life. The Bible says that "Faith without works is died" therefore, I encourage you to live a life of victory by putting some action towards your faith and begin living your dreams and aspirations today!
Happy New Year!
The Mentor
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