Lessons Learned

Every situation is lesson learned not a burden earned. The trials and tribulations that endure, are not presented to us to bring us down and to break us. Every good & bad relationship is placed in front of us to help us develop all the proper skills used in marriage but if you choose not to learn the lesson your on your way to another "bad" relationship. One of the hardest things to do in a situation is to step outside of it and recognize what you might've done wrong. Once you realize what you did wrong the first and hardest step is to forgive yourself. In this book I am reading entitled The Shack they talk about the importance of relationships and how even though our greatest hurt may come from relationships...so does our greates happiness. You cannot be estranged and afraid to love whether it is friends family or your significant other, a life without love is a life without life.

Challenge What Controls You

Something that I find myself doing now more and more is challenging myself, whether it be mentally or physically. I like to push myself and step outside of things that I feel comfortable doing. I call that RAGE (Rage Against The Establishment). I recently found out a friend of mine is afraid of the dark, I told her to be careful in telling me that because I am looking for the first oppurtunity to make her challenge her fear and realize that it does not control her. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Do not be afraid to challenge yourself and also you can not be afraid of failing failure is simply an oppurtunity to gain better knowledge before trying again.

This is a poem I recieved that talks about challenging yourself and your abilities:

The Comfort Zone Poem (author unknown)

I used to have a comfort zone

where I knew I couldn't fail,

The same four walls of busy work

were really more like a jail

I longed so much to do the things

I'd never done before,

But I stayed inside my comfort zone

and paced the same old floor

I said it didn't matter

that I wasn't doing much,

I said I didn't care for things

like diamonds or furs and such

I claimed to be so busy

with the things inside my zone,

But deep inside I longed for

something special of my own

I couldn't let my life go by

just watching others win,

I held my breath and stepped outside

to let the change begin

I took a step and with new strength

I'd never felt before,

I kissed my comfort zone good bye

and closed and locked the door

If you are in a comfort zone

afraid to venture out,

Remember that all winners

were at one time filled with doubt

A step or two and words of praise

can make your dreams come true

Greet your future with a smile,

success is there for you!

Purpose

We are all here for a purpose, sometimes objects presented to us in life distract us from our path and that is ok because we are all human, we have to be able to forgive ourselves and regain our footing on our path.We have to remember to help, love, and appreciate every person that we encounter even if they do not show the same in return. We are but people but it is our similarities that bond us, we cannot let our differences separate us.

This is a poem that moved me:

Integrated or Desegregated?

During the civil rights acts, laws were passed that stated that segregation was illegal, and forced integration in society. But as I look around my campus now, and reflect on how my high school was I do not believe that we as a society are integrated but,we are more de-segrated. Integration to me means interdependence, interconnection, and interaction between people of all races. I say that we are de-segrated because we interact with one another but in most cases that is were it ends. All students seem to drift toward the same clique or group of students that are similar to them. That is understandable, tracing actions back to primitive times, we as humans are more comfortable with things that are familiar. But what makes us all familiar is that we are all human beings we all have feelings, we bleed red, and we all have the capacity to love beyond a level or superficiality. I hope that we as a campus can become closer together and actually make good use of the diversity at hand.

"Can't we ALL just get along?"

It Moved Me

This is probably one of the most profound things I have ever come across:

I don't even know how to be here

Life n Times of N.A.B.

The man upstairs...

Recently I had a decision to make, a decision that had me wrestling with my thoughts, poking and prodding at my mind for answers. I was recently put into a position to make a big decision in a family member's life, out of respect I won't say who...When asked to make a decision,there I was without answer, stuck, without a clue or starting place. I searched my mind looking for friends to call, I asked advice of my closets friends, I even called an ex mine lol. I name all these options to point to my final but most important decision, and that was to take it to the Man Upstairs, I trusted him and asked him, and sat back and I watched the solution unravel itself before me.

S.N.

Passion-fill Post

The Entire Senior Class

did you read the reports? No...thats because it is considered too positive. The entire senior class at Chicago 's only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to four-year colleges. At last count, the 107 seniors had earned spots at 72 schools across the nation.

-Our nation can report on everything else, but let a group of African American students do something positive and it is no where to be found-

Side note this picture was taken March 5, 2010 more than 1 month ago