LOST AND FOUND

My last blog was written about an experience I had while on a trail that I walk everyday which has been the source of many revelations in recent weeks.
Three days ago it happened again, only this time it was a two part story. I did my usual and began my walk with a short prayer to ask GOD help me clear my head be silent and to show me the path in life the he wants me to follow. I begin my walk.
along the way I met very cool Labrador Retriever. I talk to GOD out loud while i walk so if i see other people i go the other way.I approached a couple walking so I began to run in order to pass them and get a distance away so I could resume my conversation. Shortly after the short run I noticed a snail crossing the path, so I stopped to look at it. I saw just how slow he was moving and thought to myself "Wow, I hope no one steps on him". As I ran away, I thought about what it must be like to move that slow. Then it occurred to me that I "am" moving that slow. We all are. In time measured by GOD our lives are but a split second in the big scheme of things. In our eyes it is a journey ,much like crossing that path was for that snail. My walk was soon over. I said my ending prayer and went home.

I got home and realized that I had lost something along the way that day.
I had a cross on my neck that I like wear when i am walking and it was gone ! At first I was a little disturbed, but I notice I didn't feel the way I had in the past when I lost a piece of jewelry. As I explained my loss too someone I know well, they replied by reminding me and saying "well that's what you get for wearing that kind of stuff when you go jogging or walking". I was further disturbed by that statement more so at the person than the idea. Some people aren't happy unless negativity is included in every conversation. I then realized why I wasn't angry about losing the cross. I figured that it was a good thing I lost it so that someone else that needed a sign from GOD would symbolically receive a message from finding it.




Well I didn't think much more about it for a couple of days. Last night My wife suggested we go for a walk. It was late and the trail was about to close for the day. It closes at dark for safety reasons of course and there are coyotes out there as well. As I began my walk I had an overwhelming sense that I would find my cross that had been lost two days earlier. It had rained and thundered one of those days along with the fact that hundreds of people walk this trail everyday yet I still had that overwhelming feeling. So I began this 2.5 mile walk and about half way through without even a thought I looked down and there it was pointing straight at me off to one side of the trail as if GOD said to me, "here you go". My wife stood and looked with amazement and said "WOW ! GOD is good ! I hadn't mentioned to her that I already was shown I would find that cross so I told her that I already knew and I wasn't surprised at all.GOD had already shown me the outcome. Then the lesson came. Let something or someone go and if it was meant for you to have them or their return is guaranteed by GOD.

AMEN.

FOCUS ! .......A Dogs Lesson

Today was an interesting day and full of blessings and messages.
I have recently gone through a spiritual makeover and the world has opened up in ways that I have experienced in the past but somehow lost my way. Lesson learned.
I am currently and will continue thanking GOD for parking his Soldiers and Angels all around me in this troubling time. They are coming out of the woodwork and giving me information in all forms. I'm paying attention to the signs and I'm loving it.
I went for a walk which was about 2.5 miles long. While on the trail walking I observed what I know was my divine lesson for the day, which actually began yesterday. A very spiritual brother of the Muslim faith who is a business associate of mine gave me an eye opening piece of advice. He said, "Go for a walk and talk to GOD out loud ! And do it everyday". He went on to tell me that he does this every morning and when he is out there if he sees anyone going left, he goes right. I asked "Why?". He said ," Because I'm going to be talking to myself out loud and I don't want to scare anyone". I laughed and replied,"Good point".

The trail where I walk is beautiful and full of life, trees, flowers and a lake with lots of streams everywhere. There is a dog run and play area nearby so people bring their dogs and walk them there as well. As I was walking today,There was a lady jogging past me and she had a small dog following a few paces behind her, without a leash. My first thought was " There is a leash law that is strictly enforced here, well..... at least the sign says so."
Then I remembered that there was a man not far behind me with a big German Shepard and a few other people with dogs as well. I turned to see what the other dogs would do since she had no control over her dog without a leash on him. It was no surprise that as she ran right through and all the other dogs were pulling at their masters leashes to try and get near her dog, but to my amazement her dog never even looked around, never missed a step and stayed on pace with his master running past the other dogs as though they weren't even there. I have had an unruly dog or two.I was impressed! Look at the obedience and the focus that dog has and the lady never even looked around to see if her dog was still behind her, she just knew. Then it hit me. That dog knows who his master is and follows obediently without pause and nothing to the right or left could shake that dogs drive to follow his master and the master already knew what her dog would do even if the other dogs tried to get her dog.

God is our master and if we all had the obedience and focus possessed by that small dog, we would be so much clearer about who we are, where we are and where we need to go. No weapon formed against us would prosper. I for one will never forget that dog and I have every intention on following GOD who is my master the same way. My spiritual friend summed up our conversation from the previous day by saying to me. " We drive at 65 mph so Lets say life is traveling at 65 mph. While you're driving, you look over at another person in another car or at another persons life and what they are doing,you could easily wreck your car because you took your eyes off the road, right ? Well if you look around to see and pay attention to what other people are doing in their lives you have taken you eyes off your road and then we wonder why our own lives are a wreck." Yes i asked a lot of questions today and got some answers, so it did work and today I received some serious blessings so I am thankful for yet another day and more gifts from the "Most High".
I feel great!

Just food for though y'all .........

"God lead my steps and guide my path so that I might walk in your steps and be a better man".

TECHNICAL STUPIDITY.

We think were pretty smart these days.
We have our computers,smart cell phones with G4 and internet capabilities plus I-Pods MP3 players and GPS units. We are quickly becoming the idiot society of the world with all this technology. Why you ask ?
If i take your cell phone away right now how many numbers will you remember?
Would you remember how to get to a destination after the first time you went there
if someone took your GPS?
If we didn't have Google how much information would our kids remember about the world and what are the things that we would work harder to commit to memory ? We have begun to allow artificial intelligence to do the momorizing and thinking for us.It occurred to me over the holiday season while driving from Atlanta to Chicago,that too much technology is a bad thing. That trip is about 760 miles or so. It takes roughly 10.5 to 11.0 hours to drive that far with good weather and a few gas and bathroom breaks.
I realized that in that 11 hours everyone in the car had said very little to one another because at some point or another every one in the car , except me was occupied with a gadget. The kids and my wife were talking to or texting their friends while listening to their I-Pods. Every time I said someones name to get their attention for one reason or another it was like I was intruding into their personal space.
I remember a time when as a family we had a closeness that was rivaled only by few.
Now we are reduced to a non-communicating me,me,me and not us family.
I DON'T LIKE IT ONE DAMN BIT !

On a side note..............
A close family friend suggested that when we moved to Georgia that we not get a bigger house because it would cause our family to separate from one another. I said "no way that will not happen to us, we are too close" We figure the kids all needed their own rooms and I had to have space to do my computer thing and a garage for my bikes and toys. Wifey has her kitchen that has enough room for her to do what she likes and her favorite is a big bathroom which is here.....NOW, To make a long story short we have enough room to all be in the house all day and never cross paths and she was right ! We have become room-mates except I pay all the bills ! Our interactions with each other have lessened and have increased with others outside of our household.

Listen people get back to family. Take a day and turn off the Phones,I-Pods,Computers
and anything else that causes so much distraction play a game of cards or read a good book. Dont forget who and what is important in your life.

JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT...............

What Now ?

Alone in the dark
although the bright lights shine.
In a crowded room masking the pain
crying inside
waiting for some peace and happiness to finally return
and be able to call it .......mine.
Those around me
go about their day
but the silence is deafening inside my shell,
love is blind !
and when I opened my eyes
I realized .......darkness fell.
My face becomes numb
from the pasted on smiles,
suddenly flashing back
to that one day....Damn It!
I knew I should have just
walked away.
Now you're here stuck
and cant understand,
but don't forget
you left your happiness in someone else's hands.


As the time rolls on
and another day passes
each tick on the clock
becomes louder than the last
now there is one less day you have
without knowing
and when you stand alone
there's no one to ask.

What now ?

WHO THE F * * K IS "WE ?!"

"He got the ball and is now on the move. He navigated across the field with great finesse, carefully controlling each move and out pacing his opponents with ease. He spent many hours practicing and perfecting his skills. All the hard work will pay off in one week when the finals arrive if he and his team can perform on that day the way he did today". Am I talking about Baseball, Basketball,Football or Soccer ? No, Im talking about Robotics.

I sat this year as I did last year watching and coaching my son and other children preparing for the upcoming BEST Robotics http://best.eng.auburn.edu/competition at Southern Poly Tech here in GA., which is a school for engineering, where they finished 10th overall out of about 35 competing schools. They were only 1 of 5 middle schools who competed against mostly all high schools. I ask myself, Why do we spend so much time brainwashing our children into thinking they need to play sports or entertain in order to be successful while putting athletes on pedestals directly in front of them ?
We are loosing our academic edge in the world. I found out that engineers have to be imported from other countries in order to fill positions in this country because we don't have enough.

How many people will you meet who will say "I was a engineering major in college but i decided to do something else", not many ; however you will meet a ton of men who will say," I used to play football in college but I couldn't cut it."We just don't put enough importance on education
and specialized fields. If a father can coach his son to be the best basketball player by making him practice everyday why cant we do the same thing with engineers
or any other field of choice ?

I reflect back to last year when a school could not attend the competition because they didn't have transportation to get to the event yet the football team from that school had three buses for themselves and the cheerleaders to get to their game the next day. What kind of message does that send from the school and the parents?

As my sons baseball coach who by the way is a great baseball player who also had the highest batting average on his teams in past years, I found it amazing how whenever other kids would speak about who their favorite professional player was ,he was criticized and ridiculed for having no clue as too who any of the players were. The kids all laughed at him as though there was something wrong with him not keeping up with the statistics of players who they may never meet or get a paycheck from. I had to take the time and explain to him that those things are not important and why, despite what they said. Fortunately, I am my sons hero and role model so he listened to me and not them.

Adults are brainwashing their own kids to worship the wrong things directly and in-directly.
You better believe they are watching you sit and cheer an athlete or swoon over an entertainer. The messages we send by our behavior is dangerous and helping to continue our deterioration as a society particularly as it pertains to education. There is nothing wrong with entertainment but some people worship these things like a drug addict loves crack. I listen to my own peers , "Grown Ass Men watching a game on T.V. and when a team wins or loses they say," We Won" or
"We Lost ". I am amazed by this behavior because last I checked they don't work for the NFL ,NBA, MLB or any of the other alphabets that describe sports and will not be receiving a check after that days game. These people get angry at a loss while armchair quarterbacking as though they were in the game themselves.

If we put that much energy and emphasis toward Kids learning to read and be productive instead of performing like a racehorse, I can only imagine where we would be as a society and as a black man , where our culture would be as a people ,by now. It seems that no one cares about academics anymore. Most kids will never be pro anything and there is nothing worse than seeing a grown man still trying to relive his high school or college days imagining he is in the NFL while his kid stands by learning to read rushing yards rather than quantum physics...its pathetic.

THE Mo-NIQUE SHOW

Yesterday I went to a taping of the new B.E.T. late night talk show Mo Nique. First I have never seen an episode of the show on television. I have heard all the complaints and jokes about her screaming and yelling mixed in with a bunch of "baby this" and "honey that". We entered the studio and it was freezing in there. The hype man was working the room before the show and was very accommodating really funny. He got the crowd hyped. The co-host pissed me off a little though
when he called me "The Thugged Out Guy" while going through the audience trying to get people to do the Beyonce dance. I was like, "you Effin assh@!e". I really did gain a new respect for Monique. I love her humility and the fact that she is in full support of Black Media. I hope that Mo Nique's presence on B.E.T. will offset all the negative programming that has been there in the past due to change in ownership.

It has become critical that the Black community has its own media outlets and are able to address issues that are pertinent to us as a community. We take our cue from other media outlets with mainstream news and T.V. shows ,which removes our ability to control our own image. This allows the powers that be to make us appear in whatever light they choose,good or bad, usually bad. It is at the very least careless and destructive on our part to have another group of people who don't have our best interest at hand, depict us in ways that are inaccurate and demeaning. I have come to learn that people love carnage. Misery loves company Black or White, So whenever there is a train wreck, you can count on human nature to fuel the need to not want too look, yet not want to look away, along with feeding into the inaccuracies and lies while transforming the lies into the truth.

I have been interviewed countless times in the news and media and I can tell you first hand that rarely is the story ever reported the way it was given. News agencies have little need to be accurate anymore, unless there is a possibility for them to be sued and even then the disclaimer or retraction is so small and forgetful it doesn't matter anyway. News is a business and it sells well ,so the more dramatic it is the more people watch it which is why advertisers pay big money to peddle their goods along side whatever is popular.

Wait, Hold the presses...............I just got off the phone having spoke with a young lady from B.E.T. who controls tickets and media for the upcoming Soul Train Awards. She denied me and my company Urban Arts Enterprises access to the event because we don't fit the criteria of a news agency they are looking for. Now...........here is a prime example of what I mean. A new up and coming news outlet for us by us and we were denied. That's o.k. the pen is mightier than the sword and I will have my day soon enough as we reach out to all people of color. Those who deny us and attempt to hide behind their coat tail of arrogance will be held accountable no matter how big or small. This just got personal !

FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE B.E.T. HIP HOP AWARDS

As I approach the entrance to the presidentially secured B.E.T. Hip Hop Awards held in Atlanta over the weekend riding through the crowd on a golf cart that reminded me of an episode of the Little Rascals from my childhood. We approached a large crowd of people gathered around trying desperately to gain entrance to the grounds of the Atlanta Civic Center. Security was super tight and if you weren't prepared and holding the right credentials you weren't going anywhere. Celebrities including Joe Torre the well known comedian and actor almost didn't get in at all.
I was at the presidential Inauguration and it wasn't as bad as this. Suddenly I heard a voice in the crowd burst out very loudly and deliberately................
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE."
He repeated this chant several more times at the top of his lungs as we passed and went on in down almost two blocks to the Red Carpet. I had to pull teeth to get into this event at the last minute, but I was able to pull it off.


I had arrived a little later than I intended because of all the red tape, but better late than never. I stood out there at the front of the entrance of the event and got lots of great shots of the famous and the not so famous exiting their limos and entering the venue.
I was feeling pretty good about myself for getting where I was without the proper credentials.
I shot til I was tired and the last of the celebs who straggled in at the last possible moment arrived. I began my walk to the exit to get back to the truck and the rest of the crew so we could move on to the next event. I got to the exit of the perimeter barricades set up by Atlanta's finest
and stopped to take pics of all the last minute seat fillers and some of Atlanta's finest dimes dressed to the nines as they strolled to the gate to get their chance to attend the awards.

Then .....I heard it again.....
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE !" The security and B.E.T. staff were making jokes while the people outside the gate were having a great time at his expense as well. I joined in with a joke and comment or two myself. He was poised in plain sight to anyone who could possibly see him and undoubtedly hear him.
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE !"
He was holding above his head a large white sign with big blue letters on it. They appeared to be artist that he may be or may have promoted at some time or another. As I recall two of the names looked familiar however I was too caught up in my own work to remember.
He may have even been telling the truth since i did witness a B.E.T. producer who couldn't even gain access without working very hard to do so.

Finally I'm about ready to get back to the truck where everyone is waiting for me to finish up so we can have dinner before the next event that night which was an after party where several celebrities were scheduled to appear. We had just enough time to eat and chill a little.
Just then.............
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE!" I paused and thought to myself.......... If you truly are the greatest promoter alive and you do exist in real life, ...then why are you standing out here two blocks away and not in there? I had finally had enough and needed to eat. I meet up with the crew they were all loaded up in the truck ready to go. We went to have the closest thing you can get to an authentic Chicago Style deep dish pizza at Nancey's on Peachtree. We got there and ordered our pizza and all of a sudden it hit me,
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE !"
That chant was stuck in my head like the hook to a bad song that you hate but you cant get rid of. Stuck ........like a piece of well chewed bubble gum on the bottom of your shoe that only gets worse the more you try to get it off. Suddenly I felt like the biggest fool on the planet. Here was a dude who was willing to do what no one else was and didnt give a damn what anyone said.
Here is a man that believed every word that came out of his mouth. This cat had drive and conviction and again he said,
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE !",
like he meant it. He did mean it , he was serious while everyone else joked. The more I think about it....... I believe it. Instead of clowning I should have gave him my card and told him to call me. I could use a motivated hype man like that in my business. Through my own stupid arrogance I did not take one single solitary picture of this man. My loss. Whoever he does promote I am willing to bet you, we will hear from him again. It takes seven interactions or Seven times to hear something before it really sticks with people. What he said stuck,
"I AM THE GREATEST PROMOTER ALIVE AND I DO EXIST IN REAL LIFE"!
I wont soon forget that statement or him.

"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not".
"If you really put a small value upon yourself,
rest assured that the world will not raise your price".
and lastly............
Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right. ~Henry Ford

Please readers, Believe in yourself even if no one else does.