Father to Son

© 5 December 2009, the Griot Poet (a.k.a. Pop)

Son: I could quote Langston Hughes and tell you “Life ain’t no crystal stair,” (so cliché), and by the way, the squiggly line that automatically infused by Microsoft Word under the colloquialism and urban English, I might be remiss not to correct my sentence.

Yet, that does not change your situation that you seem to run into each and every day you strive to achieve the prize that God has for you. And every level you conquer, there is another that wants you to QUIT.

It wants you to give up, go away, accept mediocrity, nap, pity your circumstance, let some man/woman/system/institution define and demand what you are.

I could run to your rescue and baby you, get in someone’s face and defend you, yet… it was stress that caused you to go from rolling/to crawling/to bouncing/to standing and taking your first steps.

You fell when you tried to ride a bike. You fell when you first tried to skateboard. You failed to make your first basketball team in middle school. You failed at your first karate break. You have since mastered all of this!

I could protect you from the forces that will label you “threat,” “mugger,” “rapist”; “n----r.” Yet, these were the same forces that made your Aunt Mamie march in the streets and brave fire hoses, police dogs and beatings. She survived.

And when the Apostle Paul asked God to remove the splinter from his side, Omnipotent’s reply was: “My grace is sufficient for you, for MY strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

And you have dedicated hours and hours of study with people you could not have probably met had God not been in your corner – Luther “Ticky” Burden, Richard McMullen, Marquette Wilkins – for He is Pro-video/provider, the One who “pre sees” your needs before you do.

I could minister to you and quote scripture from the ONE who made you, and remind you your name exemplifies your purpose on this earth “God has given.” So, let’s do some IMAGINEERING, as coined by Disney – a fitting job description for creating a park of fantasies:

You could get recruited by a D1 school before May (or in the summer in AAU after June);

You could get recruited by a D2 or D3 school and still make history in the Cedar Park city as the FIRST to do so.

You could one day play for the NBA… or OWN a team of your own.

You could be a walk on and defy the expectations others have tried to label you with.

You could triumphantly (as I), go back to where you were despised and say: “see, I did it, despite you.” Living well is truly the best revenge.

No son, as Langston said in his poem “Mother to Son”: life ain’t no crystal stair.

But as long as I’m alive, from your first breath to my last, know that I’ll do my best to represent God in the earth and be there for you… I love you.