A profound brother by the name of Shawn Carter, in the context of a musical composition, once said, " Wish I could take us all on this magic carpet ride through the sky..."
I happen to know how he feels. In fact, I have felt that way for some time now, but I recently heard the song again, and that line jumped out at me and encapsulated all the things I felt. Lets talk about it.
The word "blessed" is one of the most overused adjectives. Sure, if one is religious, or even theist, one recognizes that he or she is blessed to take another breath, or see another day that the Deity owes no being, but has given that being. Nonetheless, I find this phrase to be an empty cliche, latter day catchphrase, with people uttering it without ever really considering its meaning. You know, "How's it going?" "I'm blessed." Or current answering machine favorite, "Thanks, and have a blessed day." I am not a religious skeptic, and in fact I recognize the sentiment to be true, but I refuse to employ a word or phrase just because it may be the order of the day. Maybe I'm wrong, but such is my view.
That being the case, I now turn to my current life situation. I am on the cusp of completing my studies in the field of barristry. I have done quite well academically and socially, and I feel as though my triad of years spent studying in New England have been an invaluable experience in crafting the man that I am to be. The continental United States have proven to be my oyster in terms of where I wish to embark upon a practice of the craft, with offers of employment finding my ears from each region of the country. I have selected a place and venue to begin to hone my craft, while many of my contemporaries have unfortunately not been able to find jobs. In all modestly, I literally feel as though I stand on the very doorstep of something extremely large. I say none of this with a boastful tongue, but only to factually illustrate my good fortune. I only mean to say that without resorting to popular cliche, I really am blessed.
Furthermore, I know, understand, and appreciate the facts that I have earned none of this, that I have thrived because of the sacrifices of many who came before me, and the grace and mercy of Dios. For all of these, I am eternally thankful. The future is bright beyond limit.
These things being as they are, I was not always so fortunate. My parents certainly worked hard to provide for my sister, brother and I. We were never without the essentials, the basics. We did qualify, however, for me to make the statement that I am honestly from a humble beginning. As a black boy in a black family in the south or the midwest in any given year, my family clearly felt the stinging, prolonged effects of trickle down economics that never quite trickled to the down where were. We made cut backs that I am very confident that most of my current classmates know absolutely nothing about. Some things were simply not an option, so we knew not ot ask. Computer in the home? Cable? Vacations? New Cars? No. Didn't happen like that. To put it lightly, the majority of the time, it was real. But we did have each other, and we had our dignity, and we had our God. And that proved sufficient.
When you are from humble beginnings, that means that 97-99%, (if not 100%) of the people you know, love, and are associated with aint got nothing either. That's just how it is. I was of the hood, and the people that I knew my entire pre-New England life were of the hood. Yes, this was true even in college, when I studied with other city kids of modest means but ample dreams. I mean everybody was poor like us. The churchfolks, schoolmates, our friends, our mama and daddy's friends, kids at the boys club, my teammates growing up, all that. Whole population of folks caught up in the urban struggle, which was not always so beautiful in the Kwelian sense. I'm talking about a time when the city I grew up in was the absolute
per capita murder capital of the WORLD. No exaggeration. Seeing cats that you knew get popular from joining gangs, then seeing their mamas in the discount suit shop looking for that burial fit. I'm talking about coming up at a time when the crack agenda reached new, flabbergasting heights. Talking about watching as the AIDS epidemic blasted off. Talking about watching my neighborhood crumble in the wake of white flight. Crack, white flight, gangs, Reaganomics; whew...man, I cannot overstate how devastating these things were to my home. Can you imagine the type of public school system that these factors combine to produce? Think about it real hard; and then imagine it as 10 times worse than the worst case scenario that you imagined. That's where I'm from. It was, and is, real in the field.
So when you come up like that, and these are the people you knew, loved, and associated with, it is predictable that I and my brother are the only ones completing our course of jurisprudential study. Not to be outdone is our sister, an extreme success in her own right. The thing is, that most people don't come up out of that. Sadly, I know many people that passed away from violence, drugs, disease that they didnt have adequate health care to treat, or from just having lives more difficult than thay should have been and their bodies eventually caving in. I know many, that if they are not physically dead, they are mentally dead; strung out, liquored up, or so far into the life of a street hustler that they live as savages. Even more are just still caught up in the very same vicious, savage, nefarious cycle of poverty that they were born into, never really having had a chance to get out. Sure they will marry and procreate, but there will never really be an escape hatch, and they will likely exist all their days in the mire and clay of the struggle.
So where am I? How do I fit it? When I look back at the world that I knew before Boston, the world that awaits me upon my return, I think of all these people I have named by description. The thousands that I knew, and the millions that I don't know, who my words fit appropriately nonetheless. These people did not and do not deserve the bitter pill that life has dealt them. They literally did nothing but be born into a messed up situation. They deserve something better. Something more. Something. Anything. Maybe like the something more that I have a legitimate chance to acquire for myself and my family in a few short months.
I could say something snide and cliche such as how I was prepared when opportunity knocked, or I worked hard and never gave up, or any number of ridiculous epithets. I did nothing to receive something that the masses are not privy to. Yet my future is brighter. I am lucky. Better yet, I am blessed. And when I look back at all of the other people, my people, I can only think that "I wish I could take us all on this magic carpet ride through the sky."
So what can I do? I must take those that I can on this ride. And I have to stand tall, defend, and advocate for those who could not make the trip with me for whatever reason. God bless you all. God bless
US all, each and every one. Heaven help us all. I will do my best, my absolute best, to never let us down.
