tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23222560.post-1150856792531858182006-06-20T21:58:00.004-04:002010-08-04T13:54:09.454-04:00<span style="font-style: italic;">Our father which art in St. Frances hospital<br />...for hypertension.<br /><br />Our father which art in jumpsuits and prisons,<br />...federal detention.<br /><br />Our father which art in dark bars and alleys,<br />...lethal injection.<br /><br />Our father which art in denial and delusion.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This cannot happen again. </span> </span><br />(saul williams)<br /><a name='more'></a><br />I'm not big on "days" for much of anything. But <span style="font-weight: bold;">I enjoy talking with my dad</span> and so I just wanted to share some of that positivity with the world. I think we need it. My dad ain't a big shot. Just a regular man who has <span style="font-weight: bold;">aquired an extraordinary amount of wisdom</span> in his [young] (ahem!) age. As a young man, I can only imagine how much <span style="font-weight: bold;">more difficult life would be without a dad</span>.<br /><br />He hasn't laid the path out for me, but he's definitely set some ground rules that I am thankful to have. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Humility</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">balance</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">humanity</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">consideration</span>... if you find any evidence of these qualities in me, that's one of the main <span style="font-weight: bold;">sources </span>of them.<br /><br />It may sound very cliche... but for all the things that my mother has been to me and done for me (and no question, I'd say that she's done more for me than my father and I think my father would agree) however, being a man and thus <span style="font-weight: bold;">giving me a reference point for how to be a man</span>, she could not do.<br /><br />I recall talking with my dad and him telling me stories about his childhood friends <span style="font-weight: bold;">being decimated by crack cocaine</span>. This one's in prision. This one just got out. This one is dealing. This one is strung out. This one beats his wife. This one just died... He would tell me (with my 4 or 5 friends), "wow it's good to see so many of you..."<br /><br />I think of my own <span style="font-weight: bold;">friends growing up</span> and at this moment it really escapes me to think of <span style="font-weight: bold;">ONE who had a dad</span>. How lucky am I? Then I think of my graduating class and I can recall <span style="font-weight: bold;">less than 5 of us black boys who went on to graduate from college</span>. My friend whose grandma's house I used to go to in the morning before the bus came and watch cartoons sits in prison for the rest of his life <span style="font-weight: bold;">to this day</span>.<br /><br />I have a lot to be thankful for. We <span style="font-weight: bold;">need </span>our fathers.<br /><br />"This <span style="font-weight: bold;">cannot </span>happen again."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/23222560-115085679253185818?l=weblog.liberatormagazine.com' alt='' /></div>achalibrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13098780056183717730noreply@blogger.com27