“Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.”

– William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” (1.4.87-9)

“Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”

–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On July 23, 2007, Joezul, at All Is One, One Is All, has awarded me with an “Awesome Guy Blogger” award. All the recognition I’ve been receiving from my blended, extended family members is extremely humbling. I’ve seen so many bloggers who also deserve to be honored and recognized for their outstanding efforts.

July 2007 has been an extremely difficult month for me but so many of you have showered me with your love, your support, your patience, your prayers that I felt empowered, encouraged, and inspired to keep getting up and showing up to read what you have written.

Technical difficulties with my site have prevented me from publishing posts worth reading because my DSL link keeps crashing for some inexplicable reason whenever I try to publish my posts. As some of you know, I have been able to leave a few comments on other bloggers blogs.

So far, the DSL connection has been stable enough to publish this post. If this post appears on-line, then I will try to publish all the posts that have been archived until this perplexing problem gets resolved.

Troubles don’t last always.

I thank all of you, who commented or emailed me this month, for your continued patience and for all the link love I’ve received. I have not been ignoring you.

Even the strongest of the strong struggle to keep risin’ after every fall. Whenever possible, I will personally respond to all your comments and finish listing all the names of the bloggers I’ve chosen to receive their individual awards from me.

Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

My wife, my queen, my best friend, the mother of our beautiful pearl of a girl, KWiz, publishes Women Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps™, knows that I take receiving any Blogger award from my peers and blogging seriously. Blogging is not a game to me. I consider what we, as critically thinking, socially conscious bloggers, do a privilege that should not be taken lightly.

I’ve done extensive research since receiving my Thinking Blogger Awards. I have nothing but love and respect for the outstanding bloggers who chose to honor me. During my temporary leave of absence, I thank each of you for your patience and for understanding that you weren’t being ignored or taken for granted during my extended season of “sunny-side-down days.”

Since day 1 of this unpredictable “year of firsts,” I’ve learned so much from the many gifted bloggers God has blessed me during my humble beginnings. The arduous amount of behind-the-scenes work my mentors do to prepare, write, and publish their posts must be extensive.

My blogging is done for an audience of One, for an eternal purpose. For me, blogging is a non-traditional form of “ministry” to inspire people who just need a breath of fresh air to keep going during those dark days and lonely nights when all seems lost.”

To avoid any misunderstandings about the reasons why I published this blog, this site isn’t monetized. I don’t blog to acquire many of the mind boggling stats that appear to indicate the success or failure of a blog or a blogger.

My reward will come when my humbled soul crosses the Great Spiritual Divide and Jesus Christ looks me in the eye on the Day of Accountability and says,

“Well done good and faithful servant.”

The 15 bloggers I’ve selected are diversified and more than deserving to receive their individual awards for making us think. Each recipient has inspired me because they are committed to making a difference in the lives of ordinary, everyday people to whom little appears given.

The first 5 winners of the Thinking Blogger Award are:

1) Rev. Dr. Renita Weems publishes Something Within.

2) Dana Roc publishes Daily Dana.

3) Dave Schoof publishes The Disquiet™ In Men.

4) Content Black Woman publishes Content Black Woman.

5) Glace and Philip from The ZDocs Blog, publish How To Publish A Book.

Congratulations to all of you for the excellent, thought-provoking work you do. To obtain your awards and to view the rules for receiving this award, please visit, Women Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps™ to review the established “rules of engagement.”

Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

On July 15, 2007, Christina, at Harley Blues, unknowingly blessed me with a birthday gift by honoring me with “The Inspirational Blogger Award.” Click on the highlighted words to the left to view the other recipients.

Due to the fact a lightning strike damaged our home’s phone lines Saturday, our Internet connection has been extremely unreliable and kept crashing whenever I tried to publish a post. By the grace of God, this weeks posts were written, imported, and posted publicly whenever our Internet connection stayed up long enough for me to do so.

According to Christina, The Inspirational Blogger Award is,

“For those bloggers who inspire others through their words and actions. With a positive attitude, and an uplifting spirit these bloggers make the blogosphere a better place, and encourage others to do the same. This award is for bloggers who rise up to set an example but continue to reach out and support others.”

Congratulations to the rest of the recognized bloggers who received individual awards from Christina. The rules for receiving this award are posted at Writer’s Review!

Mr. Jim Leginton at A Lad’s Lunch With Favor and Anna at Box1715. have honored my efforts to make a difference with the “Blogging Community Involvement Award.” Ms. Vanessa Byers at Vanessa Unplugged explains the significance of this schmoozing award better than I can. Thank you both for this deeply appreciated recognition.

Click on Vanessa Byers’ name in the previous paragraph for the specifics about what it means for a blogger who possesses the power of schmooze.

If time will not permit you to do so, here’s what Ms. Darlene Tenes, CEO of Marketing Maniacs has to say about “The Art Of Schmoozing.”

“The art of schmoozing is an essential social, career and life skill. Many people at the top of their fields are excellent schmoozers. They know how to connect with people and are able to leverage those connections.”

Many of the socially conscious bloggers I believe are excellent smoozers have already received their Blogging Community Involvement Awards. Due to a lightning strike that fried our phone lines, I’ve lost access to the Internet.

God willing, I shall conduct my research and award the bloggers who deserve to be honored and recognized by their peers no later than Monday of next week.

GRACE is when God gives us what we don’t deserve.

I agree with Ms. Paula Neal Mooney’s recent post that Mr. Genarlow Wilson does not deserve to be locked up in prison and shackled to felony charges for engaging in the same consensual sexual activity that many grown folk were guilty of committing as teenagers. Imagine how different your life would be today had you’d been arrested at such a crucial age and critical stage of your personal development, accused of being a sexual predator, convicted of a felony, and sentenced to serve a 10-year prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

MERCY is when God doesn’t gives us what we do deserve.

Genarlow Wilson does deserve to be set free absent any further delay because it’s the right thing to do. In fact, a member of the judicial system reversed his conviction and agreed to release Mr. Wilson. But Georgia’s Attorney General, Mr. Thurbert Baker, appealed the judge’s decision. Alas, a 17 year old child remains locked up and locked down in a prison cell. Genarlow’s mother, Ms. Juanessa Bennett, understandably was devastated. I can only imagine how his mother must feel.

For reasons now known, I’m heading over to the Douglas County High School in Douglasville, Georgia to participate in the West Metro NAACP Branch march and rally because what happened to Mr. Genarlow Wilson could have happened to me when I was a 17-year old high school student doing what teenagers do before we knew better.

For those of you in the Atlanta metropolitan area who still don’t know where to go, but want to participate, click on the West Metro NAACP for directions and additional information about today’s activities. This post will be revised and completed with appropriate links upon my return from the Douglas County Courthouse where D.A. J. David McDade currently serves.

Ms. Kimberly Alexander, president of the West Metro NAACP Branch, and Ms. B. J. Bernstein, Genarlow’s attorney, both deserve a standing ovation for their relentless, diligent efforts to ensure that Genarlow is free to pursue his big dreams. Both of these wise women of substance deserves all the love and respect we, as men, can give them for taking a bold stand for justice and daring to speak truth to power in love.

Please note that Ms. Bernstein and Ms. Alexander are not standing alone. Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia and State Senator Vincent Fort are just one of the many distinguished clergy members, political leaders, civil rights and community activists who are also courageously fighting to free Genarlow Wilson absent any further delay.

Click on “Free Genarlow Wilson” to sign the online petition.

As a sign of respect, I tip my hat to all of you for refusing to faint in the menacing face of Adversity while standing in the path of a clear and present danger. Gotta go to ensure my timely arrival.

– TO BE CONTINUED –

Copyright by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

She is more precious than rubies. All that your heart could ever desire cannot compare to her. Length of days is held in her right hand. She also holds riches and honor in her left hand. She is not a respecter of persons.

Click on “comments” to discover the answer.