Nothing in particular… Obama and Michelle’s weekend retreat… and on wisdom… sex psychopaths…

Yesterday I got soaking wet.  Today I went out thinking it would be warmer…but I quickly found out I was wrong.

When I first stepped outside yesterday the sun was shinning, and all was well.  But while standing at the bus stop the skies suddenly turned dark…and shortly thereafter came 1 little sprinkle followed by another.  And before long  it was all over I was soaked, and the bus was nowhere in sight.

Today, while riding on the bus…which is why this month I decided to buy me a bus pass since my son started complaining about me using his car.  It is just as well…I really don’t mind…though the buses are a bit small and can be not as clean as I would always like.  But I got tired to listening to my son sounding as though I’ve been taking advantage of him.  So, I bought me a bus pass…now nobody can complain.

But while riding the bus today I overheard a woman say-

“They got 2 feet of snow today.”

I do not know who they were…or where they was.  But I do know that that sounds bad for us.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/blankets-246326-northeast-snow.html?pic=1

Here it is almost May…and it is still snowing.

Yes, it sounds very bad for us.  Because I know that the snow is on its way here too.  There is no getting around it.  Plus, it is cold.  And cold enough now to go back to wearing our winter coats.

It is hard to believe that just a few days ago it was in the 90′s.  But that is gone now…and been gone now for more than a week.

But least ways when I went away for the weekend this time…I didn’t come back to any frozen water pipes, and water all over the place.  And I didn’t have to worry about the cat being left in a cold house due to our furnace still being out.  But if  all things work out this summer my winter will be very different come October, November, December etc…etc…of this year.   Yes…very very different.

So, we were on the road again this pass weekend, and needless to say we had to travel through some rain.  But it was beautiful nonetheless.  And one of the best parts is…is that while on the road we saw no accidents.

That is not to say that we did not meet up with some traffic.  But there were no accidents.  And I just thank the Lord for that.

I now have grown to not only pray that we travel safely but also everybody on the road with us does too.  And though I never thought of  it before…it does indeed make a lot of sense to do so.

Just think about that.

When I started this blog I thought that I had a lot to say.  But right now I can’t think anything outside of the weather…and I’ve already mentioned that.

What else did I want to talk about?

I just do not know.

I was awaken from my sleep early yesterday morning.  It was one of the church ladies calling me.  She had called me saying-

“We lost Deek last night at about 11:30.”

It made me think of the last time I had been with them.   I was in New York City and it was the night before the New York City Marathon.

I had gotten into the city late and had found a great parking spot not too far from their apartment building.  My plan was to get up early…about 4 or 5 AM and move my car as I knew that the Marathon went right pass their building.  But when I went out to move my car early that morning…it was gone.  And all I could think about was the New York City Towing Hell that I was bound to be in due to getting towed.

First of all, the car was a rental and that was a problem right there.  Since, when they tow in New York they want you to submit papers on the car…all of which were inside the car.  Since we didn’t own the car…it meant that they were going to send me to the rental place to have them give me documentation on the car and that I was going to have to be the valid driver.  Of which I was not…since my son had rented the car for me.   And he, of course, was hundreds of miles away back home.

So, this meant trouble.  I could hear my son talking to me as I stared at the spot where the rental car had been parked.  And I dredded calling him.

Because it meant that he was going to have to get up, get dress and now drive in to New York City…something that I knew he was not going to want to do.  And certainly was something that he wasn’t going to be happy of doing it either.

So, I put in the call.  He didn’t answer.  And I took a deep breath of  relief…it was after all now just about all of  4:30 in morning.

The street was clear…no cars anywhere.  But the roadway was filled with squad cars riding up the avenues and crossroads making sure everything had been towed.  Turing I went back into the building feeling that I was in for it now…and wondering how much all of  this was going to cost me?

By the time I got back upstairs and explained the situation to Deek and his wife…he ask me-

“Did you go and look on the other streets?”

That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard.

Why would I go walking around to look for my car when it was obvious that it had been towed?

And all I could think about was how mad my son was going to be hearing this.

So, I finally decided to go back downstairs to try and find out where  they had towed it to.  And get directions to get there.

By this time Deek had gone out on the balcony trying to still tell me that  I should walk around looking for my car.  I thought he was loosing it.

Why would they pick up my car to tow it just to set it back down somewhere else outside of a car bound?

Was what  I kept thinking in my mind.  When they tow your car in New York City…you are in big trouble.  And you better have cash…if you want any hope of getting your car back.

Downstairs I walked out to the street and flagged down one of the police squad cars to asked them about my car being towed.  And they directed me to call the precinct.  And when I did it was just like Deek had said.

We laugh about it now.  I have to smile every time I think of  it.  It makes me think of  wisdom  every time…this story…and those of us who lack it.  We don’t even have good enough sense to know wisdom when we hear it.  We pass it up thinking that it is foolishness.  That is what I thought Deek was telling me…foolishness when he kept saying that I needed to walk around looking for my car.   

He had wisdom over a situation which I thought I knew everything…after having been towed more that a few times in New York.  Sometimes we can be so foolish because we think that older people don’t know nothing.  That they are off the mark…far removed from things…and even at times lack real understanding of things…or knowledge of things.  But nothing can be further from the truth.

Oftentimes given a chance their wisdom far exceeds any mere thoughts we could have on the matter.  As such was this case.

To me it sounded ludacris that my rental car was picked up to clear the roadway for the Marathon runners only to have the City of  New York without any profit to themselves re-assign me another parking space.  But that is just what they did…and Deek knew it.  While during the whole time  I refused to pay him any attention.  And you know…he never held that against me.

Even that shows great wisdom.  How many people would have been mad…or become upset because you discounted their suggestions or ideas?

But Deek didn’t.

So many older people get kicked to the curb and totally disregarded simply because they are older.  People refuse to believe that they have anything legitimate to offer…all because they are aged.  But age breeds wisdom.  It brings about a plethora of  experiences and knowledge.   A richness that we just should not pass up…or so freely let get away from us because we lack the wisdom to see just how valuable they are to us.

While on the road we caught the news over the radio that the President and First Lady, Obama and Michelle were taking a little weekend-get-away together.  I grinned and my sister turned to me smiling saying-

“I love them.”

And I just loved hearing that they stopped and got some ribs.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/bal-trav-obama-weekend-0423,0,6829607.photogallery

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003269-503544.html

I just happened not long ago to come across this story listed below.

http://www.aolnews.com/story/ny-wants-man-who-spread-hiv-locked-up/1035429?cid=10

And if  you took the time to read it then you realize that the story is about some black man who purposely passed the HIV/AIDS virus to 13 women.  And that there seems to be a debate about what should be done with him.

What are they debating?

Spreading AIDS knowingly is like taking a loaded gun, aiming it at someone’s head and pulling the trigger killing them.  So, what is there to think about? 

The guy should clearly be thrown into prison and never released ever again.

Why should he be allowed to walk around…enjoying himself  while he knows that he committing someone else to a death sentence?

AIDS kills…and not everybody has the resources of a  Magic Johnson to sustain them and their medical needs.  The medication for AIDS treatment is not only very costly but they have to take tons of different types of medicine.  I will never forget all the pills my cousin Vincent had to take daily.   And I have seen what that type of  death looks like…and it is not pretty.

I have seen youth turn into the very old…go from being very  fit and carefree to bent over and broken, with all types of medical problems and conditions that most of us never have to think about because our system works fighting off everything and anything that might try to invade our bodies.   But their system does not…it can’t.

I saw a 34 year old man turn into an old man before very my eyes.  He could barely operate his hands, walk or hear well.  Vincent became old…a senior man at 34 years of age.  Had I not seen it I would have not known anything about AIDS…but I saw how it ravaged his body and stole his youth and everything else from hm.

No one should be allowed to purposely inflict that disease upon anyone.  Such a person is quilty of  murder.  And clearly after reading what his mother had to say…I can see why he is the person he came to be.

When I was teaching…I recall one day that 1 of my student’s mother came to school to pay me a visit.  Upon meeting my student’s mother I realized why I had the problems I had with her daughter.  Or perhaps I should say…why she was having the problems that she was having with me.  Because in my class I do not have problems with students…but there had been some students who may of  have had a problem or 2 with me.

This girl’s mother came to my class and she…her mother…had to have been an utter embarrassment to her daughter.  The woman was very un-rulely and out of  order….but at the end some of  my students while handing in their work gave me their take on it that situation.  And you know what they said?

They said-

“I had my money on you.”

Smart kids.

I think that that girl’s mother thought that I was going to back down or become intimidated.  But that was far from the case…though she did everything she could to get me to be so.   Needless to say that mother never visited me again…and I don’t think I ever had any more problems out of her daughter.

But when her mother came to my class I could see why the girl was like she was.  She was very much like her mother.  But in my class and classes I lived by one motto-

“It was going to be either them or me.”

And I made up my mind early that it was always going to be me. I was going to be the one in charge and who ruled my classes…and not my students or any one student over me.  No…and that went doublely for mothers.

Some mothers are the reason why their children are the way that they are.   Many men children are not men because…

Well, because of their mothers.

The weight and impact of  ‘mother’ upon the lives of  her children or child is great.  It can either enable them or aid in making them become strong, fully thinking and functioning adults with high hopes of success in their lives.

http://hubpages.com/hub/DONT-BE-AN-ENABLER

Clearly, anyone wishing to get back at women or others because they have contracted AIDS is a person not willing to take their own personal responsibility in the matter.  There are so many people who go around blaming others for everything wrong in their life.

It would seem to me…not that I know a whole lot on this subject…but knowing that so much is out there besides AIDS, that it just makes sense to use good common sense and judgment.  Personally, I am an advocate of  abstining…but if you love sex that much that you can’t protect yourself then why blame anyone else?

I knew that there was something that I wanted to write about.  And now I have found it.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100428-noahs-ark-found-in-turkey-science-religion-culture/

Can you imagine that…the possibility of  possibly really finding Noah’s Ark?

It might just be some large ship that became ship wrecked many years ago.  I doubt that Noah’s Ark will ever be found.  It is not that I doubt the story…but what purpose would it serve God for Noah’s Ark to be found?

None.  So, therefore, God would not leave it around to be uncovered several thousands of  years later.

But it does make for an interesting story  though doesn’t it?

And before I close I have to mention this.  Perhaps my son has been so mad at me over his car because I never stop for gas.  And it was until we hit the road that I realized that the gas prices had gone up so much.  It was costing $4 plus in New York.  Mannnnnn……

While on our little road trip this weekend I also got my first chance to publicly talk about my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE.  And I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went.

And you know what?

I didn’t even think about getting nervous.   There was a time I would never have done it…and certainly not as freely and as well as I happened to present my book to these people this weekend.

I guess I am growing.

Well, enjoy your day…and night.

And God bless….

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2010

THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

3 comments April 29, 2010

Charla Nash… Fort Hood…AIDS and women

I just finished watching  partial footage of  Oprah’s  interview with Charla Nash, the woman who’s face was ripped apart by a neighbhor’s raging chimpanzee.  I recall a friend telling me about the story some time ago.  She kind of  joked about it…talking about how the neighbor and her lover,  the chimp…were having a lover’s spat.

At first I thought it humorous at the time…based upon my friend’s jokes about it.   But my goodness…it was anything but a joke.  Far from it.  But anything where a person is injured can never be  a  joke at any time.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking like this when my  friend initially  told me the story.   And I am  so ashamed to have laughed.

I never knew that such a thing could or would have happened to anyone.  I prayed for that woman upon seeing that clip.  And  I am not going  to show any pictures in  this blog…or put any videos in it…in respect to that woman. 

I feel for that woman very much…as someone who ran to someone’s rescue…to try and help them…and ended up being severely injured.  Injured beyond all recognition.  As half of  her face was torn off…and it seemed that her fingers and hands had been destroyed as well.

Her face wasn’t even a face.  Her eyes…it was like her whole mouth…teeth were gone too.   But I guess it was the best that anyone could do for her considering the intensitiy of  her injuries. 

It was a horror…but even more so something which really made me feel sad for the woman.  And I began to pray for her.

The fact that the woman went on Oprah’s show and discussed the attack was a sign that the woman has come to grip with her life as it is now.  Which speaks volumes for her.

But she didn’t sound angry…or furious with God over what had happened to her.  As so many people often do when tragedy strikes. 

What a woman.  Much can be said for inner strenght…and being able to connect to it…in order to see your way through any circumstance.

I don’t know if  I have that.  But I pray that if ever the need were to arise  that  I would have the strenght of  character to connect to it  too.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/02/18/2009-02-18_charla_nash_lost_eyes_nose_and_jaw_in_ch.html

One day after Veteran’s Day…I spent some time trying to digest what happened on the  grounds of  Fort Hood where 13 were killed and several others were shot and injured.

I wondered if this was the act of  one of  those buried or implanted individuals that we had heard so much about following 9/11?

You know…those who were trained aboard then shipped here for some appointed time to cause havoc while killing Americans in the wake of  it. 

There is so much killing these days…domestically that  who is going  to tolerate non-American forces or luntics of  any kind  coming here to add to the carnage?

If  indeed there are implants…persons angry with America and Western culture…sitting around and waiting on a time to attack.  Well, Americans are not going to sit back and just take that.

So, if  indeed that doctor at Fort Hood was part of  some kind clan…he will be dealt with very harshly.  And as well he should be.

Is it not enough that they went aboard and risked their lives in foreign lands…then to come home and be shot down?

From 19 to 62…so young and so dedicated to the US Military.  They did not give their lives…but their lives were taken…stolen.

http://news.aol.com/article/obama-remembers-the-fallen-at-fort-hood/761755

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/12/fort.hood.wounded.soldier/index.html

Since the medication for AIDS has gotten so much better…and people are living longer…we pay little to no attention to AIDS any more.  It is not the hot topic it once was.

Because Magic looks so good…so healthy…for many the fear of  AIDS has all but been washed away.   Many feel that it isn’t as great of a threat as it once was…and its affects are not taken as seriously any more. 

But unlike Magic…Natalie Cole doesn’t look so healthy.    In fact, she looks sick…aging and weak.

This past week  I came  across this article about  AIDS and that it is a leading cause for deaths in women.   You might want to read this  for yourself.

http://news.aol.com/health/article/aids-is-leading-cause-of-death-disease/759472

Hope you had a good day.  It’s late…after 2 AM…and I am planning on getting up early.  So, I hope that you have a beautiful day tomorrow and a beautiful weekend.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Add a comment November 13, 2009

Obama’s fight with the health Goliah… Corey Smith … Betty Nelson COGIC…

It is definitely clear that something needs to be done with the present health care system that we have here in America.  I don’t know maybe it is just me…but the system we used to have the one long ago sure seemed alot better than anything they have now.

A long time ago you used to go to the doctor…mostly general practitioners then.  Many of them did not even work out of a hospital or within some kind of medical facility.

No, they worked out of their house which they converted the downstairs into an office space, examining rooms and even had a waiting room…and they usually lived a few blocks away somewhere in the neighborhood.

But one thing about them though…you only had to tell them a symptom or 2…and those doctors…who were known back then as general practitioners…they knew right away what was wrong with you.

Now, today they have specialist after specialist…and  nobody knows anything.  Nobody can tell you anything.  They all say-

“I don’t know.  But lets run some tests.”

Now, how come the little old private practitioner could tell you exactly what was wrong…and all these big time fancy surgeons and specialist can’t tell you a thing?

What don’t they teach anything in medical school anymore?

Besides…how to make money?

There they sit in their big plush medical facilities…or hospitals…or whatever in white crispy starched shirts with their smocks on looking all official…but they don’t know nothing.  Except how to keep you running back and forth while milking you out of every dime your medical plan will pay them.

The other thing about things as they are today in the medical field that gets me…is REFERRALS.

Hate ‘em.

I can’t stand the way the present system is set up.  You can’t go anywhere or see anybody unless some doctor gives you a referral.  And then you can only go where they will allow you.  Or you have to beg and beg  just to be referred with the hopes that somebody else can tell you what is wrong with you.

So, yes…this system is in dire need of correction.

I had been experiencing excruciating pain in my right arm a while back…and I truly mean excruciating.  I had no idea what it was but it was constant severe pain 24/7…and it grew measure by measure.  Finally, I realized that the pain was not going and I could no longer bear it…so, I got out and went to see a doctor.

The doctor asked if I had shoveled any snow.  And I told him no.

Then he asked me had had I lifted anything heavy.  And I told him no.

Then he asked me-

“Well, have you done anything which could have caused the pain?”

Well, if I knew that I wouldn’t have gone to see him.

Finally, he said well go home and if it persists come back and see me.

And I did…a whole week later…where he again sent me on my merry little way after asking a few questions.

Have you ever watched the second hand on a clock ticking the time down?

That’s how my money was going.  Tick…tick…tick…visit after visit and my arm pain by now had grown way beyond unbearable.

It was like the 4th visit and still the doctor had not done one thing to help me or my pain…but take my money…or my plan’s money…which is my money.  As he was about to send me once again on my merry little way…I had a fit in that office.  And I mean…I HAD A FIT.   I started yelling and demanding.  The pain was too much for me to bear and my temperament was far beyond allowing me to continue in the state that I was in.

Now, I am a person who hates it when people tell me that I am yelling when I am not yelling.   Sometimes I may raise my voice a bit…but I may be a long way from  yelling.   I often have to caution people when they tell me that by saying-

“Oh, I haven’t started yelling yet.  But when I do you will certainly know the difference.”

But I started yelling in that doctor’s office…and mean I yelled.

I demanded a referral right then and there…to see a special…and told him that no I was not coming back again so he could continue to take my money while that pain was killing me…and for him to keep telling me the same thing.  I told him to give me that referral…and  give it to me now.

That doctor could not give me a referral quick enough.  And if he hadn’t…    Well, I was in so much pain I was prepared to start turning things over and throwing a few things in that office (I will have to tell at some other time about this restaurant where I did just that…and it was warranted).

I was in dire pain…and I do mean dire.  And I had had enough of this doctor and all of that going back and forth for him to have not done anything to help me.

The next week I was in to see an orthopedic.  Come to find out I had a torn rotary  cuff.   And I had to have surgery done to my shoulder…and that was scheduled a couple of weeks later.   But it took my getting upset in order to get it done.  And this is what people go through day after day upon visiting doctors today…continual trips to the doctor’s office without relief.

The real problem with the medical system is the ‘referral plan.’   It plays against the plan holders.  Doctors somehow seem to believe that they have the upper hand.  They do want they want and when they feel like it…because we have no control over the plans…and we need a piece of paper from a doctor to seek out any form of treatment from anyone else.

The plans control us…and doctors buy into the various plans knowing that they have a free and clear playing field…a cash cow as soon as you hand them your medical card.   Before when the doctor didn’t do what you thought was best…or if you thought that you weren’t getting proper care or service…you just got up and found yourself  another doctor.   But not so any more…those medical plans cut all of that out.

Also, before if you heard from a friend or someone…that this doctor over there was better…you just got up and switched…no referral…no nothing.  But you can’t do that any more either.  These plans have you locked into certain doctors…certain medications etc…etc…

So, there is little wonder why you can’t find a good doctor anymore these days.  Because they do not have to be…because you are not going nowhere no matter how they treat you…or not.  Because they won’t let you.  And this is what is really wrong what today’s system here in America.

Now, none of them need to be any good any more…because we do not have the right or the freedom to go see any other doctor who is better…all because of some stupid medical plan that has us all roped in to them which guarantees these doctors business no matter how bad they are.

So, yeah…Obama-

“Re-vamp the medical system.”

In my opinion the entire system needs a major overhaul.  And it is just too bad that nobody has thought of returning back to the system we used to have years ago where we were not treated like mindless little children.  Where we have freedom of will and could seek out the best care for ourselves.  Believe me…they would get their acts back together then…or starve.

I truly believe what somebody said a long time ago-

“If  it is not broken…don’t fix it.”

That is the principle which should have been applied years ago…then maybe now we would not be in the predicament that we are in today with all these large medical plans and pharmaceutical companies dictating things to us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/us/politics/06web-health.html?_r=1&hp

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12341496&ch=4226713&src=news

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&d=12336205&ch=422676720&src=news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_go_pr_wh/health_care_overhaul

I was just thinking about the NFL football players, Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper and other man, who were lost at sea this past week.  For some reason my mind keeps telling me that the search team should have looked east of where they were searching.

I feel for them…and their families…and I have yet to give up hope for them.

The families were disenchanted when the coast guard called off their search of the missing parties the other day.  I could not help but think…that rather than waiting on the shorelines their families should have been out on those waters looking too.

It was not like those football players didn’t have money.  Sometimes you have got to mobilize your own efforts rather than leaving everything up to everyone else.  When you love and care for someone…who can be more determine or seek them out or more fervent in finding them than you?

Their boat flipped over casting the 4 boat members into the sea.  Last week one lone party of the boat was found siting a top of the flipped over boat.  It all happened in the Tampa Bay area…in the city of Clearwater which is an island sitting with one part of it in the Atlantic Ocean…and the other side in the Gulf of Mexico.  So, you can imagine the amount of territory that would they had to cover in their attempts in trying to find the 4 men.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29454121/

http://news.aol.com/article/missing-nfl-players/363480

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/sfl-flspboaters03sbmar03,0,6839198.story

Well, it seems that the families and friends must have read my mind…but they should have gotten out there searching from the very beginning.  But you can read more on that by CLICK the LINK below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_re_us/missing_boaters_nfl

There is this woman in the Church of God in Christ, by the name of Betty Nelson, who tells this story of her daughter.  She tells how her daughter had taken to a wayward turn in her young life.  She started hanging out and got caught up in drugs and things.

Her mother tried dealing with the situation as much and best as she could…but her daughter grew worst.  Harder to control and was totally out of order because the drugs and the wayward life had taken her over.  Eventually Betty Nelson said that her daughter ceased coming home.  And over this her mother shed many tears…and many long nights and days praying to God that her daughter would come out of the life she had fallen into.

Finally, Betty Nelson says that she decided that she was not going to let her daughter be lost to the streets.   She says she called out saying-

“Devil, you can’t have my daughter.  I don’t care what I have to do.  But I’m going to find my daughter.  And I’m taking her back…out of the drugs…out of the prostitution…out of…”

She says she hit the streets searching for daughter.  Searching and searching until she came to some crack house.  She says the place was run down…with people’s children laying everywhere all strung out on drugs…but she did not let fear overtake her.  She walked into that old broken down crack house and began searching through it looking for her daughter.  And in the midst of that house she found her daughter…all drugged out…and out of her head.  But she says she took her daughter out of there.  And she says that she dared anybody to try to stop her.

It is funny about a mother…with a made up mind.  She cannot be swayed when it comes to her child.

Today, Betty Nelson’s daughter is free from her addiction and is a living testimony of a mother’s love for her child…and how sometimes we as parents have to be willing to do the unthinkable…and the seemingly impossible in order to save our children from themselves.

I am a believer of  ‘tough love.’ But sometimes being too tough can prove to be worst…and have more dire consequences.   There must be a balance.  Be tough if it is required…but never unloving…or uncaring.

Gandhi Items Sold for $1.8 Million

It was an auction of  items once owned by Mohandas K. Gandhi, including a pocket watch and spectacles, which has touched off outrage in India as its government continues to talk with the items’ owner.

It seems that when you are dead everybody wants a piece of  you.

Had those items meant so much to the government of India it would seem to me that it would have tried to acquire them before the auction.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/india-rejects-owners-proposal-on-gandhi-items/?hp

Well, the Obama’s are working hard to ensure that their daughters do not miss one moment of enjoying their childhood…and rightly so.  The girls, Malia and Sasha were pleasantly surprised last week by a new addition in their new back yard.   And it looks like so much fun.  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/ny-usswing0306,0,7640326.story

Well, the dignitaries are starting to come ‘a visiting.’  On yesterday, Gordon Brown the Prime Ministry of England came a courting.  It would be interesting to know exactly what they discussed.

The one good thing about Obama…and there are many good things about him.  But this I like best of all.  He is not a chump.  He walks, talks and carries himself like a man…and he is not afraid of speak up.  And another thing…that I like about him.  He is not a game player.   Not a person who relies upon lies and deceit to get over on us…the voters of America.

I guess that is what we all saw in him…and that is why he is now President of the United States.

I am so glad for a breath of fresh air…that breath of fresh air called Barack Obama.  I was beginning to suffocate.

Well, at last it stopped snowing and now we have mounds of it all over the place again.  But…yes…I LOVE IT.

Last night I made up my mind that I do not care how hot it gets this summer…I am not going to complain.  I will merely pull the fan a little closer…and remember this winter…all the snow…the cold…and furnace being blown.

So, yes…I love looking at the beauty of winter…but I will sure be happy when summer comes.  And weather like today’s…makes me long for it all the more.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

CLICK the ABOVE video a COUPLE of TIMES and just ignore the text.

1 comment March 6, 2009

Snow…Venus …Morgan Freeman …and accidents

Buried under it today…and it is piled high.

I awoke to more than a foot of snow outside this morning. And it is still coming down steady. But I wanted to get a head start on the shoveling…so, I got up and out in it while it was still light and fluffy. It is much easier to shovel that way.

It has tailored off a bit now…but still coming down…and has been doing so all day.  But I am still loving it.  I feel blessed just to be able to get out in it and shovel it.

I just got off the phone with a cousin…in the Virginia Beach area. And she said that most of the neighboring towns around her closed down everything due to the snow down there.

While I was visiting with one of my sisters this morning after shoveling…whom I stopped by to visit upon my deciding to treat myself to a large cup of hot tea and cranberry muffin at Dunkin Donuts.  Well, after all that shoveling…don’t you think that I owed myself something?

http://franchisesale.bloghi.com/2007/05/29/dunkin-donuts.html

But I never made it to getting my cup of tea or my muffin.   I did, however, end up having breakfast at one of my sister’s house…while there I saw a news segment on TV showing how the snow had hit as far south as Alabama straight up the East Coast.

Venus Williams has won yet another tournament.  She went from game to game with very little challenge to her masterful skills.

Boy, those Williams girls are busy raking in the money.

This weekend Venus picked up another hefty check…this one in Acapulco for $37,000. Not bad for chasing down a bunch of little yellow balls.  And they get to travel to some great places…like Acapulco, Melbourne, London etc…etc…all expenses paid.  That is what I call living.

Kind of makes you wish that your dad had gotten you up early and taken you out to some local court as a little 9 or 10 year old child…and just started throwing balls at you.

Doesn’t it?

http://www.football.virginmedia.com/pe/Tennis/Headlines/0,,12555~1575104,00.html

http://www.football.virginmedia.com/page/Tennis/Headlines/0,,12555~1574177,00.html

Okay…okay…I get the message.  You want more on this story.  So, here is the latest.

Since that story on actor Morgan Freeman first broke shortly after he ran into a ditch or hit that tree down there in Mississippi…Freeman is beginning to truly understand that old time saying-

“When it rains it pours.”

Well, as you may remember in my first blog on the story…Freeman’s wife, Myrna, didn’t waste any time hitting him with the divorce papers…like the very next morning.  And in doing so she put herself in line to reap a hefty portion of his loot…somewhere near $100 million if not more.  But as of Wednesday of last week…old Freeman was hit again.

Truthfully speaking…he would do better just running around in a dark alley carrying a couple of money bags with large dollar signs on them.  I doubt that robbers in a dark alley would be as bad or hard on him.

But here is the kicker…the woman in the car.  Yes, she was as I stated in the other blog …his white mistress…and ex-friend of his wife.  Well, she rallied up her own lawyers and now she is after old Freeman too.  She claims to have been a victim…injured party in the automobile wreck which left poor Freeman in the hospital with a busted up knee and other injuries as they had to be rescued from the damaged vehicle via the Jaws of Life…you know that heavy equipment used to prey open a car in order to get the occupants out of it.

The woman claims that Freeman was drinking excessively…one drink after another.  And that he was highly intoxicated went he had gotten behind the wheel.

Seeing him take one drink after another…and knowing his condition when Freeman got into the car to drive them to whether they were headed…motel or alleyway, I don’t know….but I guess she had her pick.   You really have to wonder why she got into the car with him knowing the state he was in…or at the very least…

Why she hadn’t offered to drive the car herself?

Perhaps, she too was drunk.

However, with all the drama currently in his life…there is  little wonder why Morgan Freeman hasn’t been looking much like himself  lately.  The good part…his vehicle was insured.  But if  Demarius Meyer…who suffered head injury during the accident…which could mean memory loss, soft tissue damage, whip flash, neck and back injury etc…etc..well, if she gets her way…poor ol’ Morgan will have to pony up plenty more money.  And this being taken into consideration…she could reach way pass whatever his insurance policy allows and put her hands directly into his pockets with regards to her claims of injury.

The thing about accidents…the injuries are not worth the money.  And I don’t care what the amount is that someone may get in compensation.   It is not worth it.   Better to have not been involved in the accident in  the first place…far better.  But if you get injured…there is no option but to file a claim for injury…somebody has to pay for the medical bills that follow.

Once while going home from New York…I was traveling via an interstate bus…and the bus driver fell asleep at the wheel.  There were about 6 of us on the bus…as prior to the driver falling asleep our original bus had had a mechanical problem so we had to wait on another bus to leave Port Authority.  But the other bus did not have enough room for all of us.  So, myself along with the driver and a few other passengers had to wait for the company to dispatch another bus for us.

It is funny…just laying here with my son’s laptop and typing this story now…I remember something I had forgotten.  While waiting on that 2nd bus to come and pick us all up.  My mind kept saying to me …I should go home.  As you read this blog you will come to understand…that I really should have walked across and caught a city bus to the subway and done just that…gone home.  And yes…I really should have gone back to my apartment that day.   Just like my mind kept telling me…and it kept saying it over and over to me.  Now, let me continue on with this story…

I always try to sit on the first seat across from the driver.  So,  that is where I was sitting…and because I had gotten up early to catch the first bus out of the terminal going my way that morning…I had awaken  before 4 AM that morning.   So, by the time I got on the bus…I was very tired.

So, when the bus driver fell asleep at the wheel…I was fast asleep.  When I awaken I was on the opposite side of the bus.  As my eyes came open I thought I was coming up out of my sleep…but I had really been knocked out…and was then knocked back conscious.  I had been bounced from one side of the bus to the other…and it was my injuries that eventually over time told me and my doctors the story.

Therefore, by the time I was awaken…when I hit the other side of the bus…I had really been knocked back into a conscious.  When I opened my eyes the bus was shooting off sparks as it scraped  against the middle divider separating the on-coming traffic of  I-95.  I had no idea as to what had happened…even the fact that I was on the opposite side of bus had not registered in my mind at that time.

The bus driver eventually pulled off the concrete girder and continued to drive as if nothing had happened.  A number of cars pulled along side of the bus blowing their horns and pointing to the side of the bus.  The driver finally pulled to the side the highway and stopped the bus.  I think that he was in shock himself…and maybe very much in denial.

I never knew what happened…but the driver started talking about how he had been up late…how he lived with an 85 year old woman etc…all kinds of crazy stuff.  I felt sorry for him because I knew it would mean his job.

When the driver stopped we all got off the bus.  At the time, I felt just a slight pain to my right arm…but I knew that we were all blessed to be able to walk off of that bus.  I decided right then and there that I was not going to pursue a law suit against the bus company…because I was just happy that we had not been killed.

We waited along the side of the highway for yet another bus to come and claim us…which did sometime later.  But no state trooper ever came to the scene…and none of us were ever checked out for injuries.  We were put onto the other bus and continued on our journey as if nothing had ever happened.  By the time I finally reached my destination…I never knew anything was wrong with me.

Later that night I was back in New York…and when I tried to called friends…I could not remember any of the phone numbers.  I didn’t think anything of  it…I just thought that it was nothing.  You know one of those times when you try to think of something and can’t.  But when I showered and went to lay down…and I was overcome by dizziness.

I had been involved in enough accidents to know that this was a sign that something was wrong with me.  I thought that I could be bleeding internally…or something.  I knew I had to get out and get immediately to the hospital.  Luckily, the hospital was right around the corner from me.   But by the time I started walking to the hospital…I was now fighting with an equilibrium problem.  I was starting to loose my balance…and things were becoming blurry.

I willed myself  into that hospital.  By the time I got there as they began to ask me questions like what was my social security number…my birth date…etc…etc.  I could not remember any of the answers…though as a rule this was information I could rattle off without much consideration.   But I could not that night.   This is when they rushed to admit me into the hospital emergency room…they also informed me that I had suffered memory lost from a level 3 concussion.  At that time none of that meant anything to me…but that was the beginning of many more medical bills to come including surgery…and as I have already stated in a prior blog…I never say yes to surgery unless I feel I cannot do without it.

They kept me in the hospital the whole night not releasing me until after 9 AM the following morning.   They had run every possible test upon me.  Because when I had arrived at the hospital…they took my blood pressure and told me that I had been a walking candidate for a heart attack.  All of this had been due to an accident…which I had already told myself-

“I am not going to pursue this.”

Because I thought that the only injury I had suffered was just a slight pain to my right arm…which was the very thing I had to later get operated on.  Later I found out from a friend of mine who drove for Greyhound that the driver of our bus, from another bus company, was suppose to have waited until a state trooper had showed up at the scene of the accident…and that none of us should have been allowed to leave the scene of that accident until a medical team had come and checked us all out.

That accident could have killed me…because I had no clue what had happened to me during it or the amount of trauma it had truly caused to my body.  I had been a walking candidate for a heart attack because of it…due to my blood pressure becoming so elevated.  And I do not suffer from anything like that or anything else.

I now tell everyone that I don’t care whether they feel anything or not-

“If you become involved in an accident…go to the hospital immediately and get yourself checked out.”

If I had not had enough sense to get out of my apartment immediately and go to the hospital following being overcome by dizziness later that night…I might have fallen asleep…become incapacitated…and died that night…but by the grace of God.

Once I had walked into that hospital, however, the medical bills started.  There was no option at that point but for me to have to pursue a legal claim against that bus company.

So, I have no doubt that that woman with Morgan Freeman during his automobile accident probably did get injured…considering the fact in particular that they had to be extracted from their vehicle by the Jaws of Life.

Once she had to start pursuing medical attention…she had a right to file a claim against him.  Somebody has to pay for the medical bills…and it should be the party at blame.

I really do not have much sympathy for men who cheat on their wives…or women who cheat on their husbands.  Oftentimes, the problems that emerge from the out of order relationship…are ones with great consequences as Freeman is now finding out.  It just was not worth destroying his 30 year relationship with his wife.   Not to mention all the money involved in their divorce and now the injury claims against him.  And he also has charges of DUI which he also has to answer for.

In order to replenish the large sums of funds flying out of his pockets…Morgan Freeman would have to work for the rest of his life.  And still may not earn it all back.

Yeah…when it rains it pours.

“Wouldn’t you say so, Morgan?”

And I guess that old Johnny Taylor hit, Cheaper To Keep Her…really is true.  Yet ,another lesson for Morgan Freeman to ponder upon.  Because his wife is definitely no joke…something which after 30 years of being married to her… he should have already known.   She is taking him to the bank…and beyond.  The other woman will just have to stand in line.

http://news.celebritywonder.com/2009/02/26/Morgan_Freeman Accused_of_DUI.html

Speaking of accidents…once many years ago while riding on the local street bus…I saw a woman run across the street.  She ran directly into the path of the bus and was hit by the bus.  She fell down then got right up and leap onto the bus as if nothing had happened.  The driver asked her if she was alright and he was prepared to take her information…and tried to make sure she was okay.  But the woman said she was okay and continued to the back of the bus and took a seat.  I think she might have been embarrassed…or in shock from being hit.

But I knew that the woman had made a foolish mistake…and I think the other people on the bus felt so too as there was a buzz about it.

She had just been hit by a very large bus.  Getting hit by any moving vehicle may cause you injury…and highly serious injuries no matter what the speed of the vehicle was.   Even if you do not feel anything at the moment does not mean that later on you won’t.  You might not feel anything for a year or years…and then it comes upon you.  But if you failed to put it on record…or failed to get yourself checked out medically…  Well, if you do this…you will not have any type of  legal recourse  regarding your injuries and/or your medical bills in the future…near future or far future.

When I was injured on my job…I was never going to write it up.  I was the person on that job who had the responsibility to file all the claims if a customer or employee suffered an injury in our building.  But if it had not been for some customers who having seen me slip and fall…had not they continued to say you better write it up.  I would not have done it.  I was embarrassed…and didn’t feel much pain.  I just felt a bit shaken up…and thought the little bit of pain I felt would pass in a couple of days.  And it did…or so I thought.  I never realized that I had began to become less and less able to do certain things.

I had slipped and fell in March…and it was not until August that I decided to go get it checked out.  It didn’t hurt me…I just felt a slight bit of pressure to my right side.  When I stepped into that doctor’s office…I have never worked again.  I had been seriously hurt.  And had not known it.

I went in to work day after day…and never realized anything regarding my developing limited physical capacities.   So, when I stepped upon that bus where the driver fell asleep…I was already injured.  That accident compounded my injuries…and I became worst.

Every accident can have serious consequences for you.  Get yourself checked out…if it turns out that you end up having no type of problems from the accident…then great.  But if so…you need to cover yourself.

Had I not finally decided to put in the paperwork concerning my own slip and fall…by the time I finally went to see a doctor several months later…I would have never have had any type of help concerning my injuries…or any type of legal recourse.   I would have had to suffer from my own foolish behavior of  being lazy…too lazy to put in the paperwork…too lazy to want to sit around in an emergency room all day or night..or .however long it took.

Following the accident where the bus driver fell asleep…and my decision to just let it go…had it not been for the dizziness that came upon later that night…which I would have just forgot about that accident.  But what would have happened to me if I had been one of those people believing I could take an aspirin…and aspirin away my problem?

The problem was I had injuries…many injuries and serious injuries of which I had no knowledge of until later…and even to this day I am still realizing things caused to my physical being due to that accident.

Be wise…take the time to get yourself checked out.  Do not be too lazy to go to the emergency ward following an accident.  Many accident injuries do not show up until years later…but you cannot wait until they start to show up to put in the report.  If you do…forget about your claim for compensation for injuries and medical bills.  It vanished when you fail to put in the report at the time of the accident.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

Add a comment March 3, 2009

Aretha’s diet…losing weight… finding someone

 Didn’t she look good?

Heard her talk about being on a diet…and when she showed up at Barack Obama’s inaugural in her grey suit with her Sunday morning go to church hat…she looked fabulous.

She was most recently spotted here on her way from the White House…pushing a shopping cart in Walmart.  Signed autographs and took pictures…and people crowded around.  I said I wanted to see the pictures…but my son saw them.  And he said-

“Ma, it was her.”

I thought it interesting when I saw that Obama’s oldest daughter made sure she got a shot of Aretha with her camera during the inaugural ceremony.  Those Obama’s are teaching their children well.   She knew Aretha and who it was she was looking at…and she wasn’t going to let Aretha get pass her without grabbing a picture.  Smart girl.

I didn’t know that Aretha had signed up with Jenny Craig back in 2007.  She might have lost some pounds…but evidently had like most…put them back on and then some.  But at the inaugural she really looked great.  And I was happy to see that she had shed lots of that extra added bagage…those dirty little pounds. 

Her plan was this…

I heard her comment on some show that…she eats what she’s suppose to for 4 or 3 days…then on 3 days eats whatever she wants.  I think that is a great plan…because it seems to be working for Lady Re.’  

Now, I have just found out what it really is.   She has a new somebody in her life.  It will make you want to do something… and real quick.   Get somebody…and see if you don’t want to make sure he only has eyes for you.  Oh, yeah…you’ll start losing real quick.  

And don’t have him look good.   Because if he looks good…you will want to look good with him.  No self-respecting woman would think any differently.  And Aretha is the real r-e-s-p-e-c-t woman…didn’t you know?

I just hope that this one is the one she has always been hoping for.  After 3 or 4 prior marriages…a bout with the bottle (many many years ago)…one of her mansions burning down…and some local legal worries.  I think it is about time…for plenty of happiness in her life. 

And I certainly wish you well, Lady Re.’  

One thing about Aretha Franklin…no matter what…you can always say that she has been a class act.  I remember when I had considered her for a concert gig…the price tag, however, was a bit too much for this little ol’ country girl…$65,000.00 with a quarter of it up front…and I think maybe a precentage.  Now, that is business.

But that whole diet thing is mind over matter.  If your mind is not there…then save yourself from the bother.  It won’t work. 

But if you can get your mind there…you have won before you start.

I know some people who did the gastric bypass and a few other things.   Though I must say…my friend who did the lap band raved about.  And she truly did look good.  But she told me that before she did it she went to meetings and read lots of information on it first.  And she said she spoke in great detail with the doctor who was going to handle her surgery…and she too told me she was on her way to the altar once again. 

I must admit to admiring women…and men who don’t want to just lay around with everybody.  And then find out that have nothing. 

Marriage is good…and if you are going to be with somebody then let them marry you.

But that gastric bypass…I have a sister who did it.  She can’t eat anything without getting sick to her stomach.  And the worst part is…though…yes, she lost lots of weight and even though she can’t keep much down…she is still over weight.  And it is all due to not having gotten her mind to where it needed to be.  Sick or not she eats and then throws up some of everything she eats.  I would hate to live like that.

If you really want to lose weight…learn how to put the fork down first.  And believe me…you won’t need anything else.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/05/30/aretha_franklin_chooses_celebrity_diet_t

http://www.singersroom.com/news/entertainment-story-841.asp

It’s Black History Month…so enjoy…

Wow…the kids do not have anything compared to this.

I hope all of this downloads properly…and doesn’t take too much time. Guess I got a bit carried away.

Enjoy your day…and this weekend. It’s freezing cold outside…but the funny part is that the house doesn’t seem quite so cold to me any more. Guess I must be getting used to it. My father would smile. All of my life I have been cold…because I am extremely anemic. I, in fact, am suppose to be taking iron tablets everyday…and I do when I can remember. But I have to really work on that.

Since, so many people have so much more to take by way of medication…and if I desire not to join them… Well, you know…   I better take what I have to right now. Because based upon what they say having a low number of red blood cells can be very unhealthy.  And I do not want anything to sneak up on me.

Between yesterday and today…it has looked like snow. In fact, there were flurries this morning. Might be too cold…it can’t snow when the weather is too cold. But I guess even in that we are doing okay…because Vee, my friend’s daughter in Chicago…had told me that Chi-town was definitely freezing.

Well, God bless…

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

11 comments February 21, 2009

Health and taking it seriously…Black History…

Today I woke up to the most interesting phone call.  It was from a daughter of a friend of mine.  I had been thinking of her since I had not heard from her for a few weeks and we usually try to touch bases with each other at least once a week, if we can.  But that just does not always happen.

So, yesterday evening while waiting on my son, I decided to give her a call and received no answer.  So, it was a pleasant surprise to see her number pop up on my cell phone when she buzzed me back this morning.

The good part was that she had not been sick…well…   She hadn’t had to go to the hospital this week.  Yes, I did say this week. 

Very early on she had begun having to deal with a series of health issues.  Many of which most people would have just given up and gone and crawled into a corner…but she didn’t. 

It has been a fight for her…weekly…and I have no doubt daily.  But she has remained strong through it.  And that is really the best part about speaking with her because through it all she has managed to smile and laugh her way through it…every single episode.  She always continues to see a brighter side.

I could not imagine myself having to deal with heavy health issues which have invaded her body since she reached womanhood.  For one thing she has what Bernie Mack had Sarcoidosis.  I don’t really know what that is…but it can cause sudden death and is considered a mysterious medical disorder.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-sarcoidosisaug12,0,5966562.story

But Vee, and I don’t often call names, also lives in Chi-town…that is Chicago for those of you who do not know what that means…just like Bernie Mack had.   She started off our conversation telling me how she has been fighting the severe Chicago cold and the frosty wind blowing in off of Lake Michigan.  And then she began to tell me about her ex-husband and how he was recently put into a hospice.

This was a guy whom when she was a high school teenager every other word that proceeded out of her mouth was his name.  It was his name and his name only.  I thought it interesting after years of having lost contact with her family…and upon finally becoming reconnected with them due to the death of her uncle, Tyrone Davis…whom if you are old enough know him by his hits…such as “Can I Change My Mind” and “In the Mood”…I thought it interesting that she had married him.

It was clearly a bad and most severe case of  ‘puppy love’…and Vee had it bad.  She adored that boy.  And it was interesting that someone whom she had adored so much she did eventually marry.  But through the years it had not worked out and eventually they got divorced only to find out that they liked each other well enough to be friends.  And it is nice when people can do that.  Break up but yet be able to pull and salvage something out those years together…and they did…and it was especially good because they had a child together.

Vee told me that he was now placed in this hospice suffering from having cancerous tumors all through his body.

http://www.aboutcancer.info/

http://www.medicinenet.com/cancer/article.htm

Warning signs are so important…but nothing beats a regular check up.  Even I am guilty of not always wanting to go to the doctors on a regular basis.   As I never get sick…but never getting sick doesn’t mean you don’t need to ensure a healthy you.

At the end of last semester when I was just finishing up with all my classes…after carrying 18 credits for the semester…one morning my right hand began shaking uncontrollably.  Since, I had to do a presentation in a few hours…I just thought I was becoming nervous or something.  

But near the beginning of my second class on that day…my right hand began to freeze up on me.  It would lock up and I could not open it…nor could I do anything with it.  By this time I knew it was something more than just possible nerves bothering me..and I began to think I was near to having a stroke or either a heart attack.  So, I immediately knew I needed to leave class to get to a hospital.

Have you ever had any warning signs?

Did you take heed…and realize that your body was trying to tell you something?

It is true…our bodies are like fine tuned automobiles…and when you start to hear some noise…well…in our case something starts to act up you better go and get it checked out.  I understand being fearful of hearing bad news. 

But what is worst?

Hearing the bad news while something can still be done…or hearing the bad news when it is too late to do anything about it?

I will never forget Mrs. Ripperton, Minnie Ripperton’s mother, who used to be a member of 6th Grace United Presbyterian Church in Chicago…down on Cottage Grove and 35th Street.  She would talk to me sometimes about Minnie and how much pain Minnie had been in before her death.  (Minnie’s daughter currently stars on Saturday Night Live…Maya Rudolph…who obviously has both of her grandparents sense of humor.  That Mr. Ripperton was so so funny…and Mrs. Ripperton called him ‘Rip.’  They were a great couple.  Wonderful family…Elaine and all of them.   I remember them all well.)

One day Mrs. Ripperton held out her arm and said-

“You see this…Minnie could take her arm and beat it against the table and not feel anything.  That’s how hard her arm had become and how filled up  it was with all the pain.”

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Minnie-Riperton-Biography/AC559ACE33FEC41248256A16001F13AB

I had known nothing about cancer…but that day Mrs. Ripperton told me something about it that has stuck with me through the years.  And I knew from that day that cancer was something I would never want to get.  But illness is hard no matter what it is that people have…and by hard here…I mean difficult to deal with.

So, it was interesting to me that Vee would have called me giving me the information on how she had been staying up talking to her ex-husband over the phone…praying with him and reading the Bible to him.  Though she said he really didn’t want to hear it…but she would read it to him anyway.

Many people say that they don’t want to hear it…that they do not want to have anybody telling them anything about the Bible or any more people coming to in to pray over them.  I have heard it…but when nothing else can help…you’ve got to learn how to call upon the name of the Lord.

A friend of mine in New York became very ill.  I had not seen her for a while.  So, one day I decided to run by her house which was only a couple blocks up and just around the corner from me. 

When her mother answered the door she told me that Jackie wasn’t feeling well…yet, another name that I have mentioned in this blog…but this blog is filled with so many people if I didn’t I call a name or 2…or 3…you would become confused.  When I went up stairs and her mother opened Jackie’s bedroom door to allow me in…I was horrified.  I was looking at death and I knew it. 

Jackie was not even a shell of herself…her lips were a bright red…her complexion was very very dark…all her weight was gone…she was curled up in the fetus position…and when I approached her…I said immediately-

“Let me go get Shirley so she can pray for you.”

Jackie refused speaking in a very low and slow voice saying-

“I have had a enough praying for me.  I don’t want any more prayers.”

But I kept begging…I was afraid for her and the only thing I knew to do was to go get somebody who get a prayer through to God.   I was not saved…but I knew the power of finding someone who truly could get to God’s ear.  Finally, Jackie consented.

I ran down the street and through the door open to Shirley’s real estate office and said-

“Shirley, you’ve got to come.  You’ve got to come and pray for Jackie.  You’ve got to come.”

Shirley got up and rushed out of her office leaving her secretary to handle her clients.  And we both rushed back up the street and around the corner.

Shirley had brought with her…her oil…and as she went into the room she began praying and anointing Jackie’s body with the oil.  I stood rubbing Jackie’s feet trying to pray as much as I could in agreement with Shirley as tears ran down my cheeks.  I cried for my friend…and I prayed for God to spare her life.

Shirley soon left but I continued to rub Jackie’s limbs…and before I left some time later… first I saw a toe move and then she stretch out one of her legs slightly.  Jackie was coming out of that fetal position.  And I could see strength coming back into her body.  Thank God for Shirley and the power of prayer. 

Today, Jackie is doing just fine…and I have no doubt that she will never doubt the power of prayer ever again.    It truly does changes things.

But I understood Vee’s ex-husband being bitter and angry over his illness.  He is young yet and a death sentence has been pronounced over his head.  That has to be harder than hard to deal with.  And then to be placed in a hospice…the ultimate declaration of death upon him.

But even in that state God is able to turn his situation around.

Which brings me to another story…since when I had tried to reach Vee last night and couldn’t…I decided to buzz someone else.  Tanya…and again I rarely called people’s names in these blogs…but sometimes I just can’t help it.  When you come upon outstanding people…it is worth calling out their names.

At first I thought I was awaking her from her sleep as her voice sounded funny…but she told me no.  She had just gotten out of the hospital…and she informed me that she had been there for an entire week.  Her lungs had filled with fluid and she had suffered a bad asthma attack…but while in the hospital she had shared a room with a woman whom she told me had been very ill.

But it is the treatment of the woman by her doctor that Tanya really shared with me.  Tanya said that the doctor had been so coarse with the woman who was…laying on her death bed.   He told her that they had  the papers from her health proxy to not resuscitate.  Tanya said the doctor was not kind or caring at all in his words…and that when he left the woman felt even worst.

But Tanya told me how she encouraged the woman by saying-

“Don’t worry, ma’am.  He doesn’t know.  You might not need to be resuscitated at all.  Can’t no doctor tell you when you are going to die.  You might even out live him.”

Because of the various medical plans that people now have to have in order to be treated…most medical facilities feel they no longer have to treat you with any type of respect, dignity or courtesy.   After all once you give them your card number they already have your money…it is as good as in the bank.   And this is a sad commentary but true. 

The medical field has gone to the dogs and pit-bulls…private companies have gone into the medical business as ‘for profit entities’…much like many prisons have also done.   They care nothing about trying to save people or making them better.  They would  have you come back and forth a hundred times…while pretending they are checking on this or checking on that.  While all the while they are just eating up your medical benefits.  It is sad…quite sad.  

But t is funny how God puts people in the right place at the right time.  Every now and then we all need someone in the right place…at the right time to encourage us when we are going through a rough time in our life.  And oftentimes…these people know and have not just a sense of who God is…but a true  relationship with Him as well.

One morning a couple of years ago, I woke up with a pain to my lower back area.  It was a very severe pain…so much so that whenever I moved I would scream out in pain.  As the day progressed the pain progressed…it got worst.  I could barely stand, walk, turn or lay down without that severe excruciating pain getting the best of me.  I, however, prefer to suffer pain rather than to take any type of medication.  So, I endure things until they pass…if they pass.  Thus far God has blessed me usually…they pass.  But this problem kept on growing worst.  And it inhibited me…I could not make the slightest move without screaming out.  

I had to push myself through this pain and it was very hard.  But I decided to drive into New York and to go to church.   While in the car the pain was bad but I didn’t let it stop me…and the funny thing about it was this.  When I got to the church and walked inside the pain was gone.  As if  it had never been.  It was gone throughout almost  the entire church service and I thought it had left me entirely.  And it had…up until the time the service ended.  And slowly the pain began to resume.

That night I decided to stay over in New York with mother.  Yes, the one I have written about in several of these blogs who recently passed near the latter part of last year.  Mother enjoyed my company.  And I…well, I enjoyed hers as well.  She was a very funny and witty woman…but she also loved the Lord and she possessed much wisdom.   I loved talking with her as she was well versed on everything from politics to the latest news topics of interest…as well as, the Bible.

She would often ask me to stay or come into New York to spend some time with her after I had left the city to return home to take care of some family matters.  But most of the time I would not…I did not want to infringe upon her or our friendship…though I knew that she did not mind.  But occasional I would stay over…and this was one of those times.

By the time we had reached mother’s apartment…my pain was almost totally back and occasionally I would screech out in pain.  But by morning it had gotten far worst…I barely got up off the bed…and when I did I knew I would not be able to lay back down.  So, I could not lay down and nor could I stand.  It was terrible…and I was at mother’s house to make it even worst.

Not wanting to worry mother over my condition, I decided I better go to the hospital.  Mother and I had lived around the corner from each other…and the hospital was right across the street from her apartment.  So, I made my way out the door…into the elevator…across the street and into the hospital where I told them upon stepping up to the reception window-

“I can’t stand and I can’t sit…I think you need to lay me down somewhere.”

And they immediately admitted me into emergency and they sent a person around to me to take all my information once I finally was able to get into a laying position.

A fairly good-looking doctor came and began servicing me…and eventually he told me my problem.  I had a slipped disc.  When I asked him about how I could get it fix…he told me I couldn’t.  He said that the disc has to slip back into place on its own.  I was in such pain…that I was willing to go up under the knife to never have to find myself back in this state again.  And that was rare…because I usually say no to such things…to operations if I felt I could live without them.  But every time I moved I was screaming out in pain that is how severe the pain was.  And I could do nothing.   So, yes…there are times when even I start to sing a different tune…and this was one of them.

The doctor had an ‘i-v’ hooked up to me and they began to feed me muscle relaxers and pain killers to cause the pain to subside.  And while laying there down there in a stall in the emergency room one of our church’s prayer warriors came in.  It was Sister Capers…this blog is filled with names today.   But she too has since passed…and I am sure she would not mind me calling her name as I celebrate her.   (though I doubt that calling any of the names in the related blogs would have bother any of my friends…but I just prefer not to)

Sister Capers had a long badge around her neck and said that the hospital allowed her full access to walk around to talk and pray for people.  She touched me and began to pray for me.  But it was the sight of seeing her…a friend come into that emergency room and stepped into my curtained off area that meant so much to me.   It was something I had not expected at all.

The pain killers and muscle relaxers began to work too…and after a few hours they released me giving me a couple of prescriptions…which I did go and get filled immediately.  And this time I took some of that medication…a couple of times in fact.  But I found it to be exceedingly strong.  And after taking it…yes, it helped the pain in my back…but I was left feeling sick to my stomach…in fact my stomach would be cramping. 

So, I stop taking the medicatjon.  Some medication today will correct one problem…but leave with something else to deal with.  If  that be the case…you should seriously weigh your options. 

What good would it have been for me to relieve by back pain (a temporary condition)…only to have burned a hole through my stomach?

Finally, the pain left…or rather I guess I should say….my disc slipped back into place.  But without having been at mother’s house I probably would not have gone to the hospital…nor would have known exactly what my problem was…and Sister Capers would not have been able to pay me a surprise visit and then pray for me.   I am happy that I elected to stay the night in New York.

So, you see in this blog that I have some friends who are going through some trying life circumstances themselves…yet because of their walk and faith in the Lord…they are bigger than what they are going through. They have managed to turn what many would say should have been their tears into smiles.   And in the process they have not been too pre-occupied with their own health issues to not be able to reach out and comfort others in their time of need.  I think that this is wonderful…and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with them as they shared their stories with me. 

I do know some phenomenal  people…they are special in every possible way.

I just could not let this day go by without sharing with you something about them.

 

After looking at these videos of the Whispers…I now regret having not gone through and done that ‘Headlights’ Concert which I had booked them for.  But when the tickets didn’t start moving…and the venue called  telling me that if I didn’t rush in there with the advance ticket money and bring in all the tickets that we had put out there in the various locations…that they were going to cancel the show. I felt was left with no choice.

So, as much as I didn’t want to make that call to L.A…I did.  I actually dredded calling L.A to have a conversation about cancelling the show…2 days before it was to take place.  But I did it.  I called the Whisper’s manager and told him that I was forced to cancel the show.    And this is what he said to me in response-

“What do you mean you are being forced to cancel the show?  It’s your show…your money. They can’t force you to cancel your own show.”

And you know what he was right…it was my show.  It was my money…not that large auditorium but my money that was on the line for that show.  The venue hadn’t bought the radio time for the spots…or placed any newspaper ads announcing my concert.  I was the one.

No, I was the only one invested in that concert…and I was the only one who stood to loose anything any kind of way it went.  Because I was the one responsible for paying everybody…including the venue…though I had already paid them a portion of it…that was not going to come back to me even after the cancellation.

But it was too bad I called the Whispers last…I had already pulled all the tickets…cancelled the remainder of the radio ads and then had the radio stations to start announcing that-

“Tomorrow night’s concert featuring the Whisper’s Headlights Tour is cancelled.”

That is when I realized I had had a slave mentality.  I had let that white man who booked the events at the auditorium dictate to me the lost of a very very large sum of money.  Something which will never ever happen to me again.  It was a life experience…and life experiences are made for us to learn from.

There are times when we can block our own success…by failing to believe in ourselves or what we are attempting to do.  But if you start a thing…you should be big enough to see it through.  Don’t try to second guess yourself.  Either do it…or don’t do it.  But do not kid yourself  by starting something that you are afraid of seeing through.

Monday is President’s  Day…so if you are one of those fortunate ones…I know when I worked in radio there no such thing as a holiday…particularly if you were at the low end of the totem pole.  But if you by chance you are one of those who does have the day off enjoy it. 

Isn’t  it wonderful…we now get to really celebrate that day.  I mean not that there were not other presidents who were great…but mostly they became great by being thrust into some difficult situations that forced them  to make during their times some very hard decisions.  But isn’t it interesting how being forced to make hard decisions can often work out for the good…when the right choices are made.  And make you great…as opposed to being  ‘just one of.’   Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Johnson may all be considered to be great Presidents because of the times and the decisions they were forced to make…and Washington simply because he was the first.

Abraham Lincoln did not have a great love for the freedom of slaves but he recognized the danger it caused to the union of all of the then 13 states of the United States of America coming together.  Slavery was the thing which tore them apart…so it made sense that slavery was the thing that had to end in order for this country to be able to move forward in order to be able to tackle the other events and things that a growing America would come to face as a nation.

It’s Black History Month…and I certainly salute it and celebrate it.  There are so many great people…inventors, doctors, lawyers, writers, news journalists, actors, orators, wise people, civic leaders, religious people, hard working desent black people who were purposely left out of the history books of this country.  I think it is time to right that error as well.

The road was not easy but they carried the torches anyhow… knowing that one day a change was going to come.

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

http://www.howard.edu/library/Reference/Guides/Hamer/default.htm

http://www.sweetsandbody.com/new_africa/newafrica.html

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Brooks-Gwendolyn.html

http://www.csu.edu/gwendolynbrooks/

http://web.co.wake.nc.us/lee/vf/cr/demo/19600319nsin/10600319nsin.htm

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009  

 

7 comments February 15, 2009

Things always happen when…

…when you can least afford them.

Yesterday, while finishing up on my all nighter trying to push out an essay paper for one of my classes and a presentation…suddenly my right hand began trembling.  Shaking like maybe I was nervous or something.   As first it began gradually I was not overly concerned.  But  then the shaking got a bit worst…as I had seen in the hands of some elderly people.

I thought back on my father’s hands and how later in his life he had develop this problem of his hands shaking.  I can’t imagine what he felt or thought when it first came on.  But daddy never complained about anything.

I know he also never sought medical treatment or consultation on it.   He was just not that kind of person.  Though he never said it, he was always concerned with the taking care of his family and he never let anything interfere with that.

The day before yesterday I was at Staples getting copies made for my class presentation project, when I happened to observe an older woman and the young girl who was assisting her.  At first I thought that the girl was her daughter.  This young girl kept encouraging the older woman through her process of making over $30 worth of copies.

The young woman and the older woman informed me that the older woman who was disabled was being challenged by Social Security which claimed that they had over paid her by $9,000.  The older woman was tired, nerves were acting up, and I realized that she would have probably felt defeated had not it been for the young woman with her.  She kept assisting the older woman with such a calming voice…telling her-

“You just sit down and I’ll do it.  You know what Grammie would say.  What would she say?  Huh?”

Then the young woman answered her own question saying-

“God will take care of it.”

I was very much taken in listening to their conversation between themselves.  I was taken by the younger woman.   As many people who may work for Social Security…I was sure that  none of them had anybody like that girl to go home to…or to comfort them…or to encourage them.   She was different in a way that became quite apparent to me right off.  It was her patience and the calmingness of her voice.

I thought she was the woman’s daughter.  But I later found out that the girl was the woman’s daughter-in-law.  And I told the older woman how blessed she was to have such a person in her life, as that young woman who heads and shoulders above many people I have ever met.  There was something about her essence and spirit that spoke volums about her and her nature.  She was unique in all ways.  And I felt blessed to be there in same space with them.

These people were like David against Goliath in the form of the Social Security Administration Office of this country.  But I could see where they were already the winners in the form of their daughter-in-law whom God had blessed them with.  Upon leaving Staples I told the older woman so and that I had no doubt that they would emerge victorious against Social Security too.  I just felt it…based upon that girl.

Well, the history of our family is that we are all quite healthy.  Outside of those childhood illness we…none of us ever had to go to the hospital for anything…outside of a bike injury.  And in a prior blog I mentioned that my parents had 8 of us, children.

As a child I missed no school nor was I ever sent home because I was sick.  During my college years…I missed some classes but they were never because I was sick.

So, to have my right hand to suddenly developed a severe trembling problem…  Well, yeah…it did concern me more than a bit.   About 2 hours later the trembling turned into my right hand seizing up on me.  Now, that was more than enough cause for me to become more than truly worried.  I was way past concern now.

Many times these things are just a warning sign for something much bigger.  It is important to be in-tune to your body.  And I knew that.

I tried my best to put together the pages of my class porfolio…of which I thought I was going to have to ask for some assistance to do.  Because the hand I use to do everything was suddenly not working…and I knew it was time to get out of that classroom and go directly to the hospital.  And that is what I did.

I had heard too many stories about how people began having experiences of various parts of their body either to the right side or the left side starting to act up and then BAM…they either suffered a stroke or a heart attack.

I did not know what was coming on…but I was not going to wait around for it to just happen to me.  No, I was not.  To the hospital I went…and I was there for all of 3 hours.

My speach began to changed.  I could barely answer questions asked me by the woman at the hospital window who asked me info.  And as they realized that something was happening…they took me right inside and began taking my blood pressure and a series of other tests including a CAT scan and blood work.

I was told that my blood pressure was high.  I know nothing about blood pressure as I have never had to consider it before.  Remember…I told you that I am healthy and have always been.   Well, almost…up to yesterday.

While I laid there waiting on the tests to come back and watching as the rolled people on stretchers by me, I began thinking-

“Thank the Lord, I am not in the state that they are.”

And then I began to praying to myself for everyone in that emergency room.

Here we are on our way to Christmas.  And I am just about finished with my classes and exams…and wow this happens.

But I didn’t lament my state…after all, all I had was a hand that now seemed to acting and do all the things it was supposed to while I was down in that emergency ward.

Have you ever noticed that?

Ever have a really bad tooth ache?

The thing killed you and kept killing you…until.  Until you walked into the dentist office to kill it.  Miraculeously no more pain.  Well, that is how it was yesterday.  I didn’t have any pain…but my right hand was just not working properly.  And then it just stop working at all…if froze up on me.  And continued to freeze up on me everytime I managed to get it back to working.

While laying on the stretcher awaiting my tests results I thought about David and how the Bible says-

“David encouraged himself.”

And I began to encourage myself…and I started singing to myself and praying that God would cover me.

My blood pressure went down…no medication…no shots and I was told that everything came back negative.  From that point on I was on my home.

And by the time I got into the house and started moving around…   Yes, you guressed it.  My right hand began to act up again.   Just as it is doing right now…but I pulled out my oil and anointed myself and did ‘what David did’ all night long.

I have never had high blood pressure in my life…  Well, except for yesterday.  But I guess it comes with the terrority.  You know aging or growing older.  Is something that you have to get used to…things not working as they used to…or various types of interruption in how they are suppose to operate.

I know a lot people some who died while I was still in grade school and some after graduation…and some after college.  So, I won’t complain.  I’m still around to tell the story…and to glorify the Lord.

Things always happen when you least expect them to…and always at the most un-oportune times.   Right on the last day of 2 of my classes…and when I had work to get out for both classes I loose control of my hand.  And had to fight against my body just to hand in my work.  But I got it in…a bit wriggled up…and not as neat as would have liked.  But I got it in.  And then I got to the hospital.

Be encouraged.  This too shall pass…and for God it is just a ‘light thing.’   I am in the very best of hands…and you can imagine who’s hands they are.

And I will be glad when finals are all over next week.  I can use a nice long sleep…and no more 8 o’clock classes.

God bless…and…

…pass it on…’ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com

God bless…and thanks for reading ©2008

1 comment December 12, 2008

Gloucester MA Officials have it all wrong… Baby Pact

What would make the Gloucester School Officials feel that they could possibly curved the current cultural trend of teenage pregnancy?

The first thing they see wrong is…is that the problem is only a local one.

The second thing is…is that they believe it can be curved by a little more sex education and some more condoms.

Before sex education arrived in schools in America there was far less sex and pregnancy going on among teens in school.

This thing is at epidemic proportions.  It is serious.

Today most high schools, and a lot of what used to be Jr. High Schools…called Middle Schools today…are also becoming highly populated with little mothers and dads roaming and running through their halls.

The problem…to you folks in Glouchester…is not more sex ed and condoms but teaching the kids how to abstain from having sex.  You need to show how having a baby…and or children in their early years can really impact their future years.  And then thirdly, rather than trying to make it easier on them by suppling them school day-care…you really need to let them struggle a bit with trying to get their child care arrangements and schedules together for themselves.  You might just find that there won’t be so many of them so willing to make pacts or babies either.

The truth of the matter is…is that teen pregnancy is a major problem in this country and it does not seem to be getting any better.  Clearly, it is an issue which sooner or later is going to have to be seriously addressed. 

These kids have no idea how important these early years are for them.  Not to mention for some of them they are making decisions which will clearly impact them and frame every important decision they will have to make for a very long time…and will certainly play a crucial role in most …if not all of the future decisions that they make.

Just the other day I found myself having to have a heart to heart discussion with one of my little nieces.  She just recently entered into the 9th grade this year…and she seems to have a problem getting to school on time.  I informed her that everything she is doing in school today is preping her for life after school.  And that if she couldn’t get to school on time now…she wouldn’t be able to get to work later…nor to her classes once she got into college.  Because what you practice now is important.  But it also gets down to responsibility.  I told her that it was her responsibility to ensure that she had success later on in her life by preparing for it now…it was her responsibility to get to school on time.  I told her it was her responsibility to ensure herself of a successful future tomorrow…today.  And that  cannot be done by making a bunch of bad choices at very early ages.   

Having children is no joke…and babies need responsible maturing people to handle the responsibilities that they bring.  People who are capable of making real and intelligent decision in terms of their overall care and invest in who they become as people.  No little grade school child can do that…as they are still babies themselves.

 http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_067063101.html

http://wbztv.com/local/gloucester.high.school.2.751873.html

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_267225458.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382021,00.html

http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/moreviews/21667254.html

Speaking of abstinence…isn’t it something most of us practice everyday?

Who doesn’t want sex?

But we don’t run out like little dogs or cats…or any animals trying to get it.  And if you do then you shouldn’t.  The cost of indulging like that could cost you your life or a lifetime of certain types of medication…just watch the television commercials of people claiming to have this or that.

Over time we have all learned to become responsible.  Some longer than most…and for me particularly so.  But I am there…or should I say here now.

As adults we have all learned to control ourselves.

Okay…well, maybe some people haven’t.

But in the end saving yourself and waiting on the right person can go a really long way…towards how much you have left to pour into that real relationship that you had been hoping for…but were too busy chasing after all the wrong stuff.

I can’t imagine sharing myself with everybody.  I have never let anybody just use me. 

I don’t know.  Maybe we should instill in our youth a sense of pride…maybe that is what they are lacking.

Enjoy your weekend.  It’s raining here…but I love it.  I love the rain.  And this morning I got a chance to step out in it and walk with the one I love…God.  It was just Him…me…and the rain.

And I definitely hope you are registered…this upcoming Presidential Election is so important.

Please be sure to share this blog site with your friends.

…pass it on…’ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com 

God bless…and thanks for reading  ©2008

3 comments September 26, 2008

In whose View…

 

A term of endearment????

Enpowering ourselves by taking it back…and calling us (each other that).   But you can’t use it.

What kind of lunacy is that? 

In this case Elizabeth wins.  She has got it right…why would you call yourself something that you don’t want other people to call you?  

Doesn’t that just sound backwards?

So, what you grew up with your family members using it. So, what!

Like your family members ain’t never been wrong about anything. And everything they did and said was right. Grow up…and get a brain.

Now, here’s Whoopi‘s view on the “N” word…

Here is what Rev Al Sharpton had to say about the use of the “N” word…and Jesse Jackson‘s use of the word in regards to black people.

How can we command respect from others if we cannot respect ourselves enough to stop continually abusing ourselves by using a word that is offensive and has been used offensively towards us…and was originated to demean, belittle and insult us?

There is no such thing as “taking it back”…because we weren’t the ones who originated the “N” word.  It was a word targetted against us meant to keep us in our place.

For Jesse Jackson to have gotten caught on national television belittling black people in America by calling them the “N” word and talking in such a way as to what he would like to do to Obama was glaringly offensive to us all as moral decent human beings. 

After getting in front of national cameras many times saying that the “N” was a word that is wrong and should never be used by anyone…well, you pick the adjective…hypocritical (somehow that word sounds a bit weak in regards to Jesse Jackson)…and even more so in regards to what that one word has done to us as a group.

Just listen to us on these clips.  And they symbolize the intelligent rational black folk…from Whoopi and that other woman on the View, to Jesse Jackson, to Al Sharpton, to Dr. Alvin Poussaint and Bill Cosby.  Yet they are so far apart in their thinking on this subject…that it is frightening.

How can one word have so much power… or conjure up so much pain and ill will…and division? 

So, then why would anyone or any group of people want to hold onto such a word?

African-Americans are as messed up as a group of people can be in regards to this word…and the reason is as Elizabeth, Dr. Poussaint and Bill Cosby state…home training.

Listen to Whoopi Goldberg and the other black woman on the View…she says ‘she grew up in a home that used it’ and that she uses it.

Whoopi says that saying it is okay because it gives us power. 

What?????

They, Whoopi and that other black woman on the View, have been desensitized to the word probably from growing up with it and hearing it all of their lives…as well as probably most of those rappers and three-quarters of the other black folk in this country.  As well as, many other people today who hear it on the videos, in the movies, in our personal language among each other, in the locker room, classroom, school hallways etc…everywhere. 

Not only rappers, or Jesse Jackson…but professional black folk use it…athletics…preachers…you name it…they indulge in the use of the “N” word.

There is some cultural relevance to this…it is called “self-hate.”  

We still have it…no matter what we say. 

Why else use that word and continue to allow it to perpetuate as if it is a cultural norm acceptable only when we say it?

There is something ill-logic with that thinking.

I grew up in a home that didn’t use the “N” word…nor did my parents…or most our relatives curse or swear. 

So, therefore, I am not desensitized by the word. It will provoke me to become angry…and I don’t want anybody…white or black or otherwise calling me by it.  And I don’t want them thinking it…and I can tell that too…and there are ways.  It is in the body language and certain behavors that make it quite evident.

I once got on the bus travelling to New York City a while back. A young hispanic guy got on the bus that day at the same time I boarded…during the whole ride he was at the back of the bus talking very very…very loudly. And every other word out of his mouth was the “N” word…and I do mean every other.  It irritated me.

It irritated me so badly that I had put into my mind…that if he said the word one more time there was going to be a racial incidence on that bus because I was going to get up…and we would have to go at it.

Now, what you need to know is this…anytime I put something into my mind to do…I do it.

And things were not going to be pretty on that bus…because I had already decided upon it. The good thing for him…as the thought came into my mind…the bus pulled into his stop and he got off.

I consider myself to be a nice person but there are somethings I am just not tolerant of…I am not tolerant of the “N” word out of anybody’s mouth. To speak it in my presence is like speaking a curse word.

We really have to grow up…it is not time to get over that word.   But time to release it…and let it die.

I have felt guilty since I wrote that blog about not taking my iron tablets.  I mean…I really have.   It may seem like such a little thing to have bothered me.   But the next day I started thinking about having made that statment…about not taking the tablets…but who does what they are suppose to anyways.

I started thinking about how all I have to take is this one little tablet.  It doesn’t make me queazy or up-set my stomach…or any of those things.  All it does is add some much needed iron to my system to aid in increasing my red blood cells.  No biggy.

When you think of all the different types of medication that people are forced to take daily…because they have to…they have no choice in the matter.  What do I have to complain about…not that I was complaining. 

But, my goodness…I am blessed.

So, why not take the one little pill that I am suppose to take?

When you think of the type of money people have to spend on medication in this country…it is unbelievable.  I have a friend who informed me that one bottle of something that she needs costs $300.  Wow…

And all I have to take is a simple over the counter…less than $3.00 iron tablet. 

It is very foolish of me to be so lackadaisical in taking something that might prevent me from ever having to spend $300 on something to correct that which I could have prevented simply by taking my little under $3.00 tablet today.  And that is why I have been kicking myself…after saying what I wrote in that blog…I realized just how foolish I was…and have been.

In the mid-80′s I lost my cousin Vincent to AIDS.  He had to take over 30 different pills a day.  One of the tablets he had to take was a bright yellow pill…which he had to take because he somehow contracted a parasite that only birds normally got.

I recall think as he held up the pill telling me about it and why he had to take it…I recalled thinking-

“My goodness he can’t even walk into a pet shop without walking out without something.”

I didn’t at that time quite understand AIDS…as most people did not at that time.  But I realized that living in New York City he could not even walk between a flock of peigons eating drops of bread without fearing getting something…that might mean taking another pill.

Since, I only have that one little pill to take…and really it is good for me to take.  Yesterday, I took my iron tablet for the very first time in a long time.  And now that I’m thinking of it…I better take it while it is still on my mind.  So, excuse me…hope you had a good day.   Its been hot here…and I am definitely thinking about the beach.

Have a good one….and…      God bless….

ps…well, technically you can see I am really catching on to this stuff…but it doesn’t hurt to be able to write code either (html)…baby, all those classes are paying off!!!

And thank you all for reading…don’t forget to share this blog site… www.bsmith101.wordpress.com   …with your friends, family, co-workers, the people on your block…your next door neighbor…your church…everybody…the people in the grocery store…the cashiers at the movie theater…the man down the street….even your ex….and don’t forget you can holla at a sisah every so often.   

You can reach me simply by writing in the ”comment” section below that is how to comment on these blogs or…if you wish to converse with me…you can reach me through it as well.  ©2008

Add a comment July 18, 2008