When Least Expected™

Despise Not Humble Beginnings

February 5th, 2007 at 05:52pm Manchild

Wow! You got up and showed up the day after the Super Bowl. I’m impressed because a lot of people didn’t show up today. Maybe, they’ll show up later. For the first time ever, I actually fell asleep during the Super Bowl. Despite my excitement, I broke one of those “man laws” real men don’t break. My wife enjoyed laughing with me before forgiving this ex-gridiron gladiator me since she knew how exhausted I’ve been.

Well, how did you enjoy the “first ever” opening kick-off return for a touchdown in the 41 year history of the NFL’s Super Bowl? There were a lot of first yesterday that almost didn’t happen had not Mr. Tony Dungy and Mr. Lovey Smith conquered their deepest fears. I became inspired during one of the few times lately that I’ve popped my head up out of my growing pile of projects for a breath of fresh air. While watching a DVD movie rental about the true story of Coach Carter, I heard the following quote from the book, A RETURN TO LOVE, by author, Marianne Williamson.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Only God knows why these particular words stirred my soul so much that day. For the past few years, I’ve been fighting some relentless spiritual battles. Yes, I did get knocked to my knees more time that I thought possible. By the grace of God, I kept rising to my feet to face my deepest fears until I began to overcome the ones that hindered my ability to finish writing my first novel. God willing, it will be coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Do you mind sharing some of your deepest fears? We may have a lot more in common than we think. What are you doing to conquer those fears that are still impeding your God-given ability to excel and succeed? Just know that the weapons did form but did not prosper as evidenced by the fact I’m still here meeting with you.

As a little child, I lived in the south temporarily whenever my Dad, a retired Army Veteran, got shipped off to Vietnam in the late 60’s. At first, it was extremely difficult for me to understand why only the children who looked like me weren’t allowed to talk about dreaming big dreams publicly. Imagine not being able to dream openly, or talk freely, about becoming President of the United States, the CEO of a billion dollar corporation, an award winning Advertising photographer, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, an Academy Award winning actor, writer, or movie producer. Notice that I didn’t attach my ethnicity to any of those titles. Why?

Despite the colour of one’s skin, EXCELLENCE has a way of tearing down the unduly burdensome barriers my antagonistic adversaries erected to block my path. By the grace of God, the same walls my generation faced as children are still facing as grown women and men are finally beginning to fall as evidenced by all the big dreams and great things that being accomplished by resilient, diligent souls who refused to be denied. The title of Michael Jordan’s Book, I Can’t Accept Not Trying, says it all. Can you accept not trying? I hope not.

My stubborn strong-willed soul embraced the edifying immortalized words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, I Have A Dream Speech. Dr. King’s big dream that still give me hope that the day will eventually come when all God’s children will be judged only “by the content of my character and not by the color of my skin.” That’s just one of the reasons why I will not shy away from controversial issues and topics that are still adversely impacting our lives and the lives of the next generation of leaders. I will not betray the trust of my daughter’s generation with the silence of my violence.

Before I forget, an Amazon.com Book Store has been added for your convenience. By the way, how many of you kept laughing at me last month as I struggled to build this site from scratch, mistakes and all, right before your eyes? Since January 1, 2007, there have been many changes, additions, and improvements over the past 36 days. I did so to show each of you what’s possible if you just keep getting up and showing up everyday until you finish what you started to the best of your ability. If I can do it, so can you. To help inspire and encourage you to do the same, I’ll be adding some new links to this site over the next few days so we can learn together. Excited? I hope so. But I won’t promise you it’ll be easy. Despise not humble beginnings.

Until we meet again, I challenge each of you to become “peace makers,” not “peace keepers.” Do you know the difference? I hope so. If not, you will before Black History Month officially ends.

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