The Corner of Survival and Just Getting By

There is a saying that's been floating around and has been for awhile, especially in the body building world: What doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. I tend to disagree. I believe that what doesn't kill you , will fuck you up for the rest of your life. And the strong don't always survive. Those are just the facts. Reality is a bitch. Because the meek will never inherit this Earth. This reality, by design is structured on survival for the fittest. You can be predator or you can be prey.

Black people have been chosen or depending on your point of view, assigned the role of prey. Was it through no fault of our own? Or was it meant to be a lesson? If it is intended to be a lesson, we haven't learned it very well. Some in the religious community believe that we were assigned this role through divine intervention. I don't know about that. I am a fool. But any "God" that would purposely give dominion to some of "his" children over the rest of his children has some serious personal issues on a cosmic scale. That's just my personal opinion and coming from a microscopic piece of dust such as myself, means nothing. I admit it.

There are black people in this country who have done very well for themselves and there are those of us who have not. The majority of us exist on the corner of Survival and Just Getting By. We are not ready... for anything. We are still too busy arguing amongst ourselves to realize that something is coming down the pike, to coin a phrase. Have you black people ever heard of survivalists? These are white people who are getting their shit together. And they are not crazy. They are getting prepared. A lot of people are getting prepared. We as a people are stuck on a hill with our gears frozen in neutral and our foot on the brake, trying to prevent the inevitable and uncaring force of gravity from dragging us backwards and over the cliff onto the rocks below.

We are stagnating. The furthest that we will go into the forest is to rant about the politics of politics, not realizing that around the next tree is a very large bear trap that will spring close on our ankle, probably shattering the bone and sending us into shock. Reality, which has a very nasty and untimely way of intruding on ones life, strolls over and takes a big chunk out of our ass as our neurons go into overdrive and come up with this amazing protracted theory that no one will be coming to help us and sooner, rather than later we will have to contemplate the unsavory decision to chew our leg off, because that's what politics is all about. Traps. Very dangerous traps. And there's no help in sight.

At the other end of the spectrum there are those of us who are just plain lost in the forest. We went in too deep without a compass, because we figured we couldn't read one anyway, so what was the use of bringing one. And surprise. There's no cell phone service and we don't have any matches, because we don't smoke and oh yeah, food wasn't a problem. There's a MickyD's right down the road. So while we were contemplating the beauty of the forest and what it must have been like in Africa, we lost our way. And incidentally, there's no help coming.

At some point we, as a people have to realize that we are on our own. We are responsible not only for our own behavior, and our own well being, but how we define ourselves and the spirit that dwells within. We have to be prepared for what's ahead, because the worlds stage is being remodeled before our very eyes and we will be needing totally different costumes and scripts when the casting starts for the new mega blockbuster that's in production and will be coming to a theatre near you and if you don't have your back stage pass, you'll be left outside in the alley to fend for yourself with the rest of the people on the Northeast corner of Just Getting By.