Lead and love by example…
Yes.
PLEASE.
THANK YOU.
The ramifications of not doing your duty as a parent is so soul crushing, a true parent who loves their child has no choice but to do their best, love unconditionally and give their all.
There are too many screwed up humans on the planet, make an awesome one…
DadFab and Efab. I was 13???
Dear Ballard Catchings,
I am thankful that you were my father and I hope that you are resting in peace.
Though our life together was tumultuous and we spent many years apart, I loved you and I loved what you did for me as a father. You taught me everything I know, even though you didn’t finish the 9th grade. You fled Jackson, Mississippi and never looked back.
You taught me that excellence was my right as a human being and that being Black did not exclude me from exuding excellence in everything I do. You taught me how to count by playing poker, spades and go-fish… I went on to graduate university with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. You taught me about social studies by making me read the Sunday paper with you. You told me to see the world, to date – I have been to London, Paris, Ireland, Belgium, and Amsterdam… and I plan to see much more of the world until my last breath. Even though you never left America, you taught me that being global was the way of the future and that I needed to know more about the world in order to be at the top of my game. You taught me about music. Sitting in the car listening to Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington on your 8-track you forced me to learn all my instruments through closing my eyes and listening to jazz for hours upon end in the summer time when I went to work with you. I became a DJ at the age of 27 and a damn good one at that.
You taught me about racism and how it was the cancer of the world. Even though your mother had been raped by the white farmer in which held your family as indenture servants and she died giving birth to his baby, you taught me that racism was a cancer on the world and it cheated people out of true friendships in life. You taught me to be open to all ethnicities, all nationalities and to be a good person. You taught me that there are really only two people: Good People and Bad People. You told me that I may find a long, great and wonderful lasting friendship in a white, Asian or another ethnic person and to accept that friendship because at our core we are all human. You taught me that being color blind is ignorance and accepting a person for all that they are is the way forward to having the world recognize my own greatness and making the world a better place. I want you to know I have friends of all races, all political preferences, from many different countries.
I want you to know your grand-daughter is both an American citizen and a citizen of the British Empire; she is both African-American and European-British, she speaks English, Mandarin and Spanish.
She is your legacy – she is the beautiful fruit of all the love and wisdom you put into me.
Most of all daddy, I want you to know that it was you that sowed the seed of greatness in me from as long as I could remember and though our life as father and child was marred with a long separation, it was that love, dedication and effort you put into me from an early age that set me on the path to “fabulousness”.
I am thankful that you were my dad.
I love you!
Yes they are…
I cannot hate you, we made a human! Damn. We are connected for life. Damn. Damn. Damn.
…and that’s one to grow on!
If knowledge is power, should we not share the power with the upcoming generation? Doesn’t that ensure some type of fair and equitable balance in the future? Your thoughts?
Many School administrators have this question: Why schools should adopt and implement technology. Let me start with, Why schools do not?
Learnist helps organize the internet’s knowledge, making it easier for students to find the information they need.
TwoDopeMoms 