I heard it again today!

I tend to always notice this train of thought from folks – especially sisters - after something bad happens in this cruel make believe world we live in.

I was eating lunch in the food court at the mall when I over heard three of my sisters talking about how the world is so close to its last days. One pretty professionally dressed sister was so passionate in her plea that the recent earthquake in Turkey was a definite sign sent from God above that His Son was about to visit us soon and Armageddon was close to fulfillment.

The BBW of the group was quick to pick up on and comment that the recent school shooting’s were definite signs that the basic fabric of our world was so close to being ripped apart. She firmly believes that her son will never have a chance to grow up and see adulthood.

The third sister in the group just nodded her head in agreement before adding that she believes that many third world countries had nuclear weapons pointing straight for our shores and was just waiting for the Devil to give them the order to fire.

My initial reaction was to just laugh at their overacting and silliness to the world we live in, but I used every ounce of my control and continued with my meal.

I’ve heard this kind of talk my entire life, but I have a problem with this kind of thinking because I don’t see how any black person cannot love the life we are living in today!

Yes, there is crime, drugs, despair, and abuse interlaced into the lives we live but there is also a world here our ancestors would have died to live in. And, many did die just so that we can have what we have now. My grandmother who was born in 1903 never had an opportunity to learn to read or write, much less have the chance to author a web site. She was born on a plantation in Mississippi and was denied all of the basic rights we now take for granted. I still remember watching her write her name on documents and realizing that she had no idea what she was signing because she could not read and the only words she could write was her name. My 7-year-old daughter reads on the 7th grade level NOW and she’s only in 3rd grade. She has been blessed with the opportunity to attend a private "black owned and operated" school. The school has its own gym, basketball and tennis court, and computers in every classroom as well as teachers who give a damn. This is such a big jump from having the right to learn denied to you because of the color of your skin to having all of the tools and love needed to learn on an entirely different level. My grandmother would be so proud!

My grandmother and grandfather lived in a five-room house that was blessed with love. It had a small living room connected to the dining room that also held 2 small twin beds and a gas stove. The kitchen was tiny by today’s comparisons and the bath was connected to it. The bath had one of those big old tubs in it that dominated the room. The final two rooms held the grandfather and grandmothers bedrooms. They always slept in separate rooms in separate twin beds. The house was beautiful but it was a rented house that my grandparents struggled to pay for. I am a proud owner of my 4th home. The house I have the honor of raising my kids in can fit three of my grandparent’s houses into it and I own it. My how times have changed! Can you imagine how silly I would sound whining to my parents and grandparents about how tough the world is now?

Lets talk about more than the material things now. I can hear someone out there reading this and thinking about how material things do not make a better world or a person happy. But I say bullshit! Having the right to compete on all levels – make that most levels, the boardrooms today are still all white males – as well as the training to compete makes a big difference. I can go and do what I want when it comes to most things. I can remember my Daddy telling us of the time he was pulled off of the public bus because he refused to sit behind the "for colored only" sign. Bad enough he was in uniform having just gotten back from Korean War in 1958 but there was no one on the bus but one other white man. This particular cracker was incensed that my father wouldn’t sit in the back of the bus and flagged down the first police car he saw. My father was dragged off the bus and beaten by a group of cops then left on the curb to die. Why didn’t the world cease to exist then? When was the last time someone told you that you can’t sit where you want to sit and beat the hell out of you with no consequences? I go where I want to go when I want to go as well as sit where I want to sit. It’s a better world to me. I don’t want it to end.

Why didn’t the world end when our women were being raped, when my brothers were being beat, and when we were treated like cattle – sold and bred for the benefit of our owners? Can you imagine a white man coming into your home today and taking your child and selling him or her on a whim? Just because he wanted to! Why didn’t God send his only son down when this shit was going on? Where was the anger in our God for the world we were forced to live in for over 340 years? Why was the world not condemned then?

I am proud of the world we live in but I am not satisfied. I will never be satisfied with abuse, violence, ignorance, prejudice, and dependency on drugs and alcohol that are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this world’s problems. But I will not buy into the irrational thoughts that the world we live in is so much worse than the one our ancestors have fought to get away from. I will not fall for the theory that this world is totally corrupt. I believe we were put here to endure and grow but not in a "perfect world" scenario. I believe that no matter where we were and no matter how far we go we will always have strive and drama to deal with. This is reality not HEAVEN!

So the next time you hear someone tell you how bad things are now and how close we are to seeing the last days before the coming of our Savior, remind them of how great you have it.