Oftentimes I have light bulb moments when I am able to take my past experiences, other people's experiences, my own thoughts, and the behavior of the world around me to come up with a grand concept I can use to guide me through this thing called Life.
A lot of times these "epiphanies" put me in a place where I am alone. I am put in a place where I seem to be going right while everyone else is going left. As men, we are all, at some point in our lives, put in a place where we stand alone because of what we believe in. But how do you react? How do you, as a man, handle that?
I believe in becoming a better man everyday; it is a process that is constant and neverending and it involves the evolution of my understanding of the world. It is impossible to believe everything yesterday today, if you are living!!!! If you are not taking the guided tour through life, then your experiences, your thoughts, and those around you will keep you questioning what you believe, what you hold true to your heart and most importantly, what you stand for.
I am ONE in this world; my "cipher" keeps moving like a rolling stone (que Badu). This means I have a direction connection to this place called Earth just like you do which makes every man, woman, and child on this planet connected. If I do not evolve and become better, pushing the limits of thinking, creativity, critical thought processing, then how can you, connected to me, become a better you?
We have to be brave enough to have original thoughts and put those thoughts out to the world; whether or not they are accepted or rejected is irrelevant but it is the idea itself that moves us all from today to tomorrow.
Great scene in the movie "Brown Sugar" where Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs are sitting in the park and Diggs is questioning his presence in Hip Hop and his contributions. He is really upset about where Hip Hop is going (sounds familiar?) but he wants to do something about it. He first questions why Hip Hop can't go back to the Golden Years when emcees actually spoke about something real in their records and it just wasnt about Cars, Money, and Sex. Sanaa quickly and emotionally explained to Diggs that Hip Hop is about forward movement, it must evolve, it has to keep pushing. This line and this line alone has helped me to accept the what Hip Hop is today; I may not like it but I accept it because we cannot go back to yesterday, we have to let it evolve and push forward.
I think a lot of times the fear of being right or wrong prevents us standing alone in our thoughts and putting them out to the world. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be right and not wrong that it has almost become a sin or an act of heresy if you say something that is wrong. Step away from the right vs wrong arena and allow yourself to be okay with being both because in the end it does not matter either way.
I challenge all to stand alone and confront the world with your own thoughts so we all can benefit and grow. I am because we are and We are because I am.
I have no problem w/ hip hop having this forward movement because I agree it should, we can't live in the past. However, if it's gonna move forward let it be of something that is quality not quantity as we often seen in some of the music today.
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