America the Bootyful

Red, White, and Blue... Patriotic through and through? A God fearing Constitutional nation that believes in life, liberty, and the right to pursue happiness? Whose right to pursue?

Malcolm X to say that "WE" didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us. 

Marcus Garvey campaigned that all people of African ancestry should go back to Africa, the Motherland. 

And what if... Plessy vs. Ferguson was a law that passed and was intact today? 

Me personally, as an American, I tend to side with Morgan Freeman. 

www.cbsnews.com/videos/freeman-on-black-history/

I don't want a Black History Month, I want to recognized as an American, as a man, and one minus the stereotype. I want to celebrate my independence as well, and I want it to have meaning. 

I, like "our" president, have an uncommon last name. The doctor that delivered me is deceased now, and I don't show just anyone my birth certificate, or my drivers license. But I'm not running for any office either. What I am running for is true equality. Running from self victimization, and insecurities that make myself and my people weak. My people being the American in every shade that's dealt with a struggle. 

Am I proud of my ancestry? Indeed! From my African heritage, to my Cherokee, and Portuguese, who by the way, played a huge part in Atlantic trade. Yes, even slave trading until the Spainsh took control, but I'm proud of those that opposed such practices. I am proud of the humanitarians that fought to secure freedom. 

I am also proud of my Scottish blood! Proud to know that even before President Obama took office, there were good men around that did not discriminate against skin tone and color, but admired and appreciated the beauty in the variances and hues that make up the one race that's most important... "The human race!" 

So to my fellow Americans from every walk of life, and from every ancestral background, Happy Independence Day, and may God bless our nation, and all His children in it. 

MiStakes...

Mistake

1:  to blunder in the choice of <mistook her way in the dark> 

2 a: to misunderstand the meaning or intention of: misinterpret <don't mistake me, I meant exactly what I said about my shoe>

b: to make a wrong judgment of the character or ability of 

Intrans.

To be wrong <she mistook the statue of Jesus in the park for a (bearded) lady>

Noun.

1: A wrong judgment: misunderstanding

Those are the Merriam-Webster definitions of the transitive, and intransitive verbs "mistake," "To blunder in the choice of..." "To be (very) wrong..." And last but not least the noun form, of the word "mistake," "a wrong judgment." 

Sivart Pooknyw's definition says, "Something one does to keep them from continuing on their way." He looks at the word a bit differently. 

His definition derives from the Latin "mi," and Middle English "stake." Mi (pronounced like the English "me") in the Latino world translates in English to "my." Stakes in the standard English could mean something at risk, or something that is holding another object in a state of being inanimate. Stakes keep things in place. 

Mistakes according to Sivart Pooknyw can do one of two things for a person. 

1: they can allow one to grow (mature, learn), because they teach valuable lessons in ones confinement, or 

2: the confinement grows (becomes GREATER) because the individual does not. 

We may learn from our mistakes and become greater individuals, and ultimately find freedom from those mistakes afterwards because of the lessons that we have learned, or we may continue in them and find ourselves stuck, confined, tethered, staked in the same mess we've always be staked in. 

If you're a pup who enjoys being off the leash, and not being of the leash (confined by the dog tie stake) then Siv's "First" is the direction you should be leaning in. 

My grandfather would use the dog analogy in a little different light and say, "Never let the same dog bite you twice." 

Another dog analogy could read like this:

Every weekend one of us goes to a club and says, "He/she doesn't love me, he/she lied to me, but what goes around comes around! Karma is a b¡+€#!!!" 

For those of you using that form of dawg analogy, please note that THE only thing going round is YOU! YOU are chasing your own tail, when you chase a different tail (lustfully) every other weekend. Also just for clarity's sake, if you're looking for tail in or out of a club every weekend or for "a" weekend you're chasing in lust. I've learned that the hard way a time or two as well, that you don't physically look for love, but rather that the SPIRIT of love finds you. 

Albert Einstein once said something along these lines... Insanity is expecting a different end result while you are stuck in the same beginning actions. If you aren't willing to change your ways, habits, and actions, then don't expect your consequences to change either. 

To close on a Bulldog baseball note, my stake needs to be pulled (and I'm preaching at self), the hitch in my swing needs to be removed, my mechanics are off, and causing me to strike out! Congratulations, if you hear those words, and you're truly making the CORRECT changes... It means you are on your way to freedom. May your MiStakes be SweepStakes to freedom. 

Blessings... SP