To Live & Die In Bedlam – Our Moral Center Has Been Uploaded/Sent/Shared.

I don’t think we are ready to take responsibility for our destructive practices. Our practices and rituals have shifted from simply banging drums and dancing, to using the same as an excuse to express the plight of our community. In actuality, we are creating and perpetuating the plight, and we’re calling it “good music.” this so-called good music ( whether we’re talking Eminem or certain Beyonce songs) is but an endorsement of every violent, ratchet, ignorant sex practice that we stand against, cry about and abhor. At some point, we need to take responsibility for our practices and rituals. Maybe it’s just me, but I see further and further digression with every passing hour, to the point that we’ve lost all possibility for rehabilitation of our communities, of our bodies and of our minds. Every hood is having this conversation right now. Some of them can’t explain it. Others are screaming at one another and essentially inflicting verbal violence at the same time. Preachers are preaching hate, community leaders are proposing ideas and yet politicians are clueless. We are standing around wondering what happened, meanwhile our kids are dying as all of us sucked into the same technologies that are spreading the virus. We’re using cellphones to share naked pictures of high school girls, virtually killing a young woman’s future. We’re using cellphones, ipads and home computers to broadcast young girls strip-tease dancing for the world to see. This isn’t far from web cam girls, except its being done by the far-too-young. #WillowSmith There’s no policing, and on top of that no enforcement. And still, many do not understand it. Our answer to this when we know its wrong is to shake our heads and turn our backs, still with no answers.

There is no way to undo the damage that’s been done to us over the past few decades. We are dancing and reciting and bopping our heads to this insanity; in essence endorsing it all. Only the conscious, disciplined folk are going to unlearn what has been learned and control what we allow access to. Meanwhile, the free speech advocates will fight for the so-called “1st amendment,” even rationalizing why this stuff is not infectious to us and our friends, associates, offsprings.

“No, these images are not the reason Jody went in and shot-up the school.”  

Yeah, sure.

Only the conscious and the disciplined are going to flip the switch in their mind’s pleasure center in order to shut out the signals, images and inferences that have been littering our space over the years. The music influences our movies, the movies are influenced by the music. Its just an ugly cycle in our lives, how we are imitating the influences of the music, the movies, the TV shows; all of it painting a picture of dismay, disease and digression of the human spirit. And this is not a “Black and White issue.” What is a Black and White issue is that this technology which has suddenly become inexpensive and accessible. In the past, such access has always been expensive, available only to those of us with more resources. On the other hand, those of us who have not experienced great resources are now overwhelmed and finding the use of these technologies to be a sort of”release,” or a “freeom” to express themselves, to play games and to connect. Now that we have the most access to these technologies and that we don’t know discipline or patience, our youngest are going all in. And it isn’t simply our youth who are abusive of these technologies; you see our Third World brothers and sisters who possess the same lack of discipline or patience have also taken to this “cell phone-reporting.” People doing the most just for the exposure; whether its “the knock out game” or a school fight, or even dancing on electrical cables. So what was once known as innocence is simply ignorance and naivety, and as a result now the world has grown insensitive. Yes, there are the “pros” to having access, but the cons are deplorable: someone showing dismembered body parts strewn across the highway while the accident is still fresh & smoking… while the injured are laying there in agony. Once upon a time, those who have flipped-out their cellphones might be doing whatever necessary to help keep the victims alive. But not today. We’re seeing the most horrendous violence we can imagine; whether accident or planned/plotted schemed. Once upon a time there were levels to seeing violence, or you had to pay extreme amounts of money to witness it. Today, you can see all of this on your cell phone. Slowly but surely this all-access pass has eaten away at our moral compass. This is so much bigger then Beyoncé or the street fights or the executions.

 Yes, we have our freedom of speech, but we’ve lost our children, our teenagers and our common sense.

WHAT DO WE DO RELENTLESS?

If we try and insulate ourselves from the wickedness, we are haters, outcasts, or simply uninformed. Meanwhile the highfalutin set is judging it all as if they are the better of us, and so what about everyone else. They are suddenly more spiritual or more educated or smarter. In their own minds they are superior to everyone else. They walk that way, they talk that way and they act that way. Essentially they are no better and no worse than massa-Donald Strickland or Miss Jack & Jill with her Mercedes. Meanwhile their spirits are ugly and hateful, not even lifting a finger to help their brother with the surplus resources that they’ve hoarded. When a brother or a sister does not have access to resources they are forced to do one of two things; they will be disciplined and fight the good fight in order to survive that next day #Pyrrhic victory. Or they will become desperate and execute desperate measures. Maybe they will simply go into hiding/live with that aunt or uncle or family member who doesn’t mind taking them in and giving them a break in life.

Please don’t take this painful testimony as criticism or ridicule, as I am stuck in the same barrel with everyone else. I am affected by your decisions on the West Coast, the East Coast as well as in other countries. But now that I have your attention allow me to drop you some jewels…

1) find a few mentors in your life. These mentors should people that know better and do better according to you. And you should not lean on simply one mentor. You should have a crew of mentors. And you should not condemn these mentors to give you their quality time; you should earn it.

2) we should adjust or shift from our usual practices. I know I know you just love that R&B, soul and hip-hop. You can’t help listening to that same song or that same artist over and over again. But what you are doing is brainwashing yourself. You are modeling yourself. You are not opening your mind to the thoughts and feelings of other people. Essentially what you’re doing is you are impregnating your mind with the same old BS. Whether it’s relationshit, or stories of deceit or angst or a release of hostility, there are other forms of Intel in the universe that do or don’t have a hot beat. By brainwashing ourselves with the same old BS, we block out any other form of peaceful, relaxing influences. What happens is we memorize the nonsense, we adopt it and we end up saying and reciting and repeating the same. It all amounts to life imitating art. And that leaves one to question if you intend to be an imitation, a lamb or a trailblazer in your life?

3) adopt some sort of spiritual reference in your life. It could be meditation, or biblical preachings, or traditional church rituals. Whatever feels comfortable for you; just know that these influences have been around for ages. They are proven to maintain our diets, our state of mind, and our interactions with others. They work. Use them and abuse them if you will.

Enjoy your transformation and get back to me with the results! #Relentless #publishedauthor