The Truth is a Skanky Bitch

I snatched the below snippet from Clutch. It says what I have been ranting about, only in a more refined way. I am not refined. I am a fool. The good thing about being a fool is the ability to say a lot of outrageous shit, because one aspect of the truth is it's outrageousness. Lies are always smooth and flowing. That's what draws you in. The smoothness. No matter how many holes can be punched in lie, you want to believe it, you're compelled to believe it, because, well...it sounds like the truth.

A lie makes the truth seem boring, especially when there's a tiny germ of that truth buried within the lie. Those are the good ones. It's a funny thing. A lie can be shown to be a lie with all manner of proof to back it up and the truth laid bare for all to see. But the truth is often so over the top outrageous with it's twists and turns that the majority of people would still prefer to believe in the lie and will be happy to kick the shit out of you in its defense.

Isn't human nature the funniest thing? It. Is. Hilarious. Anyway, the four paragraphs below were taken from the original article: Towards An International Black Identity and was written by Lexis B. who I hope doesn't sue my ass. Hey, you can't sue somebody who's not right in the head, can you?

We have thought of ourselves as separate for too long. This thinking has brought war at its worst and a waste of our richness as a group on an ongoing basis. As children of Africa we cannot remain divided, preventing cultural gold and intellectual silver that could be circulated for powerful growth from flowing because of the misconception that we are different. We must redeem our sense of unity to move ahead, because no one is going to help us, but us.

We are used to fighting to achieve our goals. But our final battle for oneness will be ironically be won only through the power of love. This story can help us make the much-needed switch in approach.

The first female president of an African nation, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was elected president of Liberia in 2005. At the time of her election, Sirleaf was a seasoned politician, but it was not her track record that got her elected. Sirleaf’s rise was fueled by the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, which unified a country that had been divided by civil war for 14 years. This small group of women sat in the middle of a war zone and refused to move until the warring sides put down their guns. Simple and successful, their movement put a woman in their nation’s top spot without throwing a grenade. President Sirleaf has used this power to rebuild her homeland based on the principles of truth and humanity. This amazing feat shows the power of the black woman’s spirit to heal and unite. The power of love to redeem old wounds and create oneness.

Self-value in our oneness as a people will help us recognize and purposefully utilize the African riches that have built up other countries for ourselves. No matter where we are on the globe, we are called by that familiar “Afro-“ or “African” preceding the nation where our ancestors landed — an eternal umbilical cord connecting us all to an immortal mother. No mother likes to see her children fight. Mother Africa wants to see us united and strong. We must see that no group of blacks is better than, less than, or immune to each others’ problems. We are seen as one, and we can achieve as one. We are one and we must unite.

Did you notice the use of the words, love, oneness, spirit, to heal and to unite? My favorite was/is "Children of Africa". It sounds much better than African American, at least to me. By default, I am an American. My spirit, through it's many incarnations is African. Thus I am a child of Africa. To any white person reading this, you can be a child of your country of origin too, whether it be the misty isles of Ireland, the white cliffs in England or the steppes of Russia. Children of the Sands sounds pretty good for the Arabian people.

I am reminded of a poem by Kahlil Gibran.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping; For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together; For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

This was a long post. But, I think, worth it.

A Fool's Story

Here's a little story the Fool has for you. It's taken from observation and experience. Make of it what you will. For those of you with ADD, it's a very short read.I call it:

One day in the Life of One Black Man

OK. check this out. Dashon is a temp employed by Same Day Hire temporary services. He is assigned to work at Acme Roto Machine Company. Dashon is Black and the job pays $8.75 an hr. with the chance of becoming permanent, which would up his hourly pay to $10.50 an hour.

Mark, who is also employed by Same Day Hire, shows up also. Mark is White.

They are both sitting in the break room waiting for Mr. Elki, their contact. When Mr. Elki comes in, he assigns Dashon to work with Mike and Mark to work with Gene, two of the older workers.

Mike takes Dashon over to a large pile of machinery parts and tells him he has to separate the parts and put them into the proper bins. After showing Dashon around, Mike tells him he will check back with him to see how he is doing in a couple of hours.

Gene takes Mike (the White temp if you're keeping up) over to the shipping area, hands him a broom and tells him he has to keep the area clean and empty the trash. Gene also shows Mark around the plant. They stop off at the lunch area to get coffee and get to know one another. Gene also tells Mark about the break and lunch schedules and just what his job is about. Then Gene escorts Mark back to his work area.

After a couple of hours Mike shows up as promised to see how Dashon is coming along. Dashon has a few problems with the parts he is sorting. It seems some of the bins don't have part numbers and he has had to make guesses as to where certain parts go. Naturally this has slowed him down. Mike is sympathetic with Dashon and shows him where the part numbers are stamped on each peice. He assures him he will go to up to the office "right now" and look for the parts sheet and get them printed out. He tells Dashon to keep up the good work and leaves.

Since it is now two hours into the shift, Mike is sitting on the dock with Gene for first break. Acme Roto Machine takes pride in how they treat their employees. Gene has taken a liking to Mark and has found out that Mark has a wife and a two year old baby girl. They are saving money to move out of mother-in laws house.

Later in the morning Dashon joins them in the lunch room, having worked through break and with the rest of the employees have a quiet lunch.

Dashon goes back to sorting parts. Gene escorts Mark back to his work area, but before leaving ask whether or not Mark has any experience driving fork lift, to which Mark replies "yes".

The day passes with out incident. Dashon is still struggling to sort parts alone, Mark is still sweeping and having conversations with the other employees.

At the end of the shift, both temps leave for the day. Mike and Gene are called into the foreman's office and asked for their assessment of the the two temps. Mike tells his boss that his guy was kinda slow and was having trouble sorting out the parts. Gene says that he had no problems with his guy. As a matter of fact, he learned that his guy could drive forklift and was trying to support a wife and kid.

Guess who got the job?????