You: Judge

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Keep talking.
Keep speaking things that you want to believe are not hate.
Sadly you can't see.
Yet you think yourself enlightened.
You are not the only educated one.
You are not the only one with resources.
You are not the only one God loves.
The burden you carry will only become heavier when you realize it's the weight of judgment you've passed on others.
Your scales are not just.
Your love is conditional.
Your understanding limited.
Your compassion reserved.
I see you.
I hear you.
I know you.
Your incongruity lost on you.
I don't say much.
But I see the grace you withhold.
And as much as it hurts.
I'll remain silent.
Watching.
Praying.
Hoping.
That your love is restored.
May LOVE find you and Honor guide you.

(Originally posted to my Facebook on this date, added here Oct. 29, 2015)

that day

I was 24 and I lived with my mother and grandmother. I was asleep. Mom called me, more like shouted for me to come into her room. Even in that haze, I knew something was wrong. I stumbled in and adjusted my eyes just in time to see the 2nd plane strike.

To say I couldn't believe it is more than understatement. But the nightmare I viewed was very real.

I worked as the frame shop manager at Hobby Lobby. On the bus, it was the consuming conversation. At work, we were all huddled around radios in every department. Customers as well. No one complained.

The stories poured in. We sold out of American flags and prints, posters of the World Trade Center, small packs of Kleenex and anything that said God Bless America. It was the longest day ever.

Shock. Inexplicable pain and sorrow. Numbness. Fear. Hope. Anger.

What happened? Was this how they felt during the attack on Pearl Harbor?

Why?

All those people. Gone. Their families forever changed. What did this mean?

All the neighborhoods that came together. Candlelight vigils.

The sound of a silent sky.

The tiredness and sadness and the fight to hold back tears and anger in the eyes of President Bush. 

What were we going to do?

Never thought I'd see this. Never thought I'd experience this. 

Never will I forget.

feeling some kinda way

www.quoteswave.com

This semester I'm taking a class called digital storytelling. We'll be focusing on telling stories through various media- words, pictures, audio clips, etc. We are setting up a blog dedicated to a general theme. For example travel, food, a hobby or pro skill or some such.

My new blog is supposed to be about Community- a look into diverse groups of people who are united by common interests.

However, the blatant disregard and dishonor that I consistently witness are making me want to change it into Rant (dot) com instead.

Can we actually choose to love one another any more? Or are we on a crusade to fault find, expose weakness and moments of poor decision making, as if any of us are exempt?

Empathy. Compassion. Unity.

I may not understand what you're going through but I won't deny the existence of your challenges because of unfamiliarity on my part.

I want to reach out to expand who I am by listening to others experiences. Will others afford  the same courtesy to one another?

Now I'm rambling. I'm done for tonight.

What are some ways you show honor, love, respect, empathy to your friends?

let's talk about: stuff

Well hello there interwebs, I'm here today for a moment to introduce a series, segment, something or other thing. I'm not sure what to call it exactly other than the title I've given it: "Let's Talk About...". 

Yes, I know it smacks of unoriginality, desperation, the hope of attracting new readers and fill in snarky comment here. In any event after nine years of writing here I think I'm finally finding my voice. There are times, even though this is my area to freely express myself that I hold back and I think it's time I stop that and start talking like me. Soooooo... 

Whenever I feel like chiming in on a timely topic or a new interest pops up, I'll tag it with this headline and go from there. Maybe it will start a dialogue or maybe it will just sit here until something crazy happens in my life and people Google me to see what I was thinking. Eh. In any event, I like to talk so Let's Talk About stuff.

Soapbox

Image found on flickr

When someone cares about race relations or gender issues in America, can we stop shaming them for it?

You know what I mean too. Many of us who have access to my feed know me and the people I hang with. The beautiful thing is we're all different.

Stop trying to pick a side saying only one side is right and the other all wrong. I'm not talking about gray areas either bit not everything needs to cause a polar divide.

Calling for justice for Mike Brown but that doesn't mean I hate authority. I weep every time I hear about officers or other civil servants who perish in the line of duty.

Just because I'm paying attention to Ferguson (and all the other places in America where people of color still face daily discrimination) does not mean I'm not aware of so many other issues like the plight of Iraqi Christians.

Sidebar- what about all the others who refuse to convert who are being massacred too? Do you care about their eternity or just the Christians?

Back to the matter at hand, this whole perfect victim thing is baloney! That guy who shot up the movie theater I Colorado, his narrative in the media was about how smart he was. The man killed people, injured people and I'm sure left emotional scars but he was taken into custody alive, not wounded.

You may ask what does that have to do with this? I'm play in the card many others are- it's called distracting. If people can bring up the fact that Brown liked rap music, and the lack of fatherhood crisis and the "nobody riots when cops get shot" then we miss the opportunity for dialog about the current issue.

All of these other things need to be addressed bit not when asking for justice not just for Mike Brown but for many men of color. This militarization of the police for should concern us all. What are they having to deal with that its come to this?

Look the desire of my heart is for unity. My prayer is that we would love and another deeply. But I'm not going to ignore the elephant in the room and hope it goes away, it hasn't and we have to deal with it.

I hope the members of the Church would come together and bring solutions not other distractions. I hope instead of staying in our own boxes we would break through to love.

As you hear all these accounts and see a video of a theft, that the officer didn't know about, remember Brown was someone's son, family member, friend.

You can relegate him to deserving to die for a petty crime if you want.

You can say it's because I'm black so I can't "really" see what's going on.

You can have your own opinion and I'll continue to have mine.

But while you're busy trying to pick a side, and prove a right versus wrong, I'm going to be here praying for all the families involved,  yes including Officer Wilson.

I'm praying for my city and its officials and my nation. I'm getting involved in it, serving in some way to move things forward.

*still on the box*

this originally appeared on my Facebook page