Course Correction

A Change of Focus   

 

      After nearly four years on two blogs (Blogdog's Expose', The Progressive Mile), 1153 posts (mostly copies of other people's articles) and 11.311 page views, I have decided that I need to change the focus of my articles and to write mostly as myself rather than as a blogger. The reasons being are these.

      First, I have come to the conclusion that people, especially black people, have become apathetic (uncaring) for many reasons. Some of us don't care because we feel that our vote doesn't count anyway, so we won't engage in politics or any other activity to improve our society. Some don't care because we have managed to work our way to a comfortable place in our society. Once we do that we become unconcerned about others and just want to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Well there is definitely nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy the thing you have worked for. After all we should "take time to smell the roses along the way". But in our success we should still be concerned about others AND the society in which we live. If not, just what is happening, will happen. Our society will begin to deteriorate. And the deterioration is picking up steam. All you have to do is pick up any newspaper or watch any tv news broadcast to see what I mean. All kinds of crazy things are happening. I'm  not just speaking about America in general, but right here in Lake Charles. In years past I had thought that we in this city were blessed in that many of the things that were happening in other places were not happening in "our neck of the woods". Just the other day a12 year old shot a 15 year old. The 15 year old is in critical condition in a local hospital. And that is just the latest shocking incident that has happened in our city in the last few years.

      What could be the cause of these things happening. You may disagree, but I have a few ideas as to the reasons. I can tell you that as a young man growing up in poverty, I had a hard time feeling that anybody cared about me. So as I grew up, my heart began to grow cold over the years. I had no love for others in return, and I did anything I felt I could get away with. I also felt that what ever I wanted to do that was wrong, I was too smart to get caught. When this is your attitude, you'll do just about anything your mind can imagine. And now we have a whole city and society full of young men and women who have come up that same way and who are raising children the same way. And what about the white community, especially the rural white community? Why do their children Bring guns to school and want to kill everybody in school? Could it be that they are isolated in the country and are being taught to hate people who don't look like them? In the meantime they are being given these weapons of war and then being left to their own devices and neglected by their parents. And in the meantime it is the people who look just like them who are bullying them and making their life hell. They have the means, the reason, the motivation and the opportunity. Who are they gonna kill?!

If we don't find some kind of way to reach out to, and convince our young people that we're concerned about them, it won't much longer before our community and country are torn apart.

      But there were a few of what I call "Divine Interventions" that happened to change the course of my life. The first was that my mother, even though she didn't go with us, sent us to Church on a regular basis. I enjoyed going to Church and playing with the other children AND learning about God. It gave me a foundation for living my life. Next was the fact that there a few teachers who encouraged me greatly during my school years and whom I felt DID care about me. And the last thing but surely not the least, was that somehow the right woman to help me struggle through this life was just dumped right into my lap (maybe I'll tell that story some other time). The point I'm trying to make is that, if we try, lives CAN be changed for the better. 

       And now we come to the part for my course correction in my writings. You see our problems aren't political in nature, they are spiritual. Politics, nor will any politician ever make our society any better. As a matter fact. our politicians, of both persuasions, have our government on a course to destruction as we speak. Government has never been the problem, it's the people who control the government that's the problem. A corrupt government will corrupt the people.

      As far as people are concerned, you can't legislate better people. You have to build better people. It will take spiritual power to do that. I know that many of you don't know what I'm talking about, but it's time to find out FOR YOURSELF. If you want to build a better  And we all have to take part. It will not be a " spectator sport". It's gonna take a lot of work throughout our society. It CAN be done if we depend on help from God. The alternative is that our society will go the way of all the rest of the supposedly great societies that decayed from the inside. And make no mistake about, it will happen in the next few years. Our eyes will see it. And so, for those reasons I have decided to focus on the spiritual aspects rather than the political realm. When it comes to politics, we can never be fully satisfied. There will always be some disappointment. But for those of us who trust in God, a time is coming when there will be TRUE justice and Righteousness. So while I am not completely abandoning hope for politics, from this time forward my focus will be mostly of a spiritual nature