I have found that a closed mind keeps you from expanding. So, in a society in which we rely so heavily on social media for information we miss opportunities to grow because we don't learn for ourselves.
Complexities and contradictions make us the beautifully flawed people that we are. Yep you too. We do some things great and other things we funk up equally as great.
Take me for example, before picking up a book on the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I had a one track mind about him. I still don't agree with fighting to be in someone's restaurant that hates you. Logically that just does not make sense to me. If they hate you that much they will spit in your food and serve it to you on a platter. I'm just saying. I also think that back in the day when our people were segregated they relied on one another more and thrived more as people....so I do not agree with all the methods used during the Civil Rights era, but it's also easier to judge when you're on the outside looking in. However, I do still have big respect for the man because he was the spark for a lot of social change in America.
Through my life I have met and learned of people that have done great things for humanity and society, yet they were just as flawed. I battled with myself many times on how to deal with this peculiar pattern.
If I follow the masses I would be throwing all the babies away with the bathwater, including myself. I would only see the flaws and miss opportunities to learn from the positives that they exhibited and also the not so positive. So, this is what I had to come to terms with...their sins are not mine to judge and that we all have to reckon with our own. We will be judged by our sins and that's enough.
Which brings me to the aftermath of the tragic death of Kobe Bryant. So, many people could not wait to voice why they disliked this man. Back in ancient African culture there exists these laws (42 laws of Maat) that say we should not speak ill of any person. Which is a discipline that is not easy to do because it's complex within itself. But we are so quick to do it, especially to each other.
Certain things happen to get our attention and to let us know where we're at in our growth and development and for me I think this incident was one of those things. Naturally, I got quiet and observed a lot. I have never been a big sports fan of any sort...except for that one time I thought I was Flo Jo back in high school. Yet, I started to read whatever I could find and began to stalk he and his wife's social media account because now I was interested in learning about this man.
His life was lived and it was a redemption song. Seeing the father he was to his daughters brought sorrow and bliss to my inner child because I have never had a Girl-Dad. Seeing the love he had for his wife moved me just the same...a mixture of emotions. The more I dug the more I saw that there were also things that were not so picture perfect. Which parts do you hang on to though ? I tell you what I do, I take the best qualities that I see in people and I cop them for myself and the others I learn from those too. There's a lesson in everything. Meanwhile you wish that that soul journeys well and that at some point they get their soul lessons because one day just as sure as the sky is blue ... we will all depart from this realm. When that day comes will you want people damning your soul or remembering the light that you were in this sometimes dark world?
Great blog. RIP to all those who were lost