To the Desperate
Young Man Who Stole My Tools
at the
Westchester parking lot on Wednesday afternoon, Feb 8th
Or how not to be
Soulful and Black
So many things that
I could say to you, my young killa, but then,
you would not know
what I was talking about,
first of all, me
being some random white worker, with a 'police lives matter'
sticker in my
window, and I have not found a “Black lives matter” sticker yet,
and you being a
self-described black 'man',
I know you are black
because you used the phone you also stole from me,
to go on Youtube and
watch videos only a young black man would watch,
and I can see the
tracks of your tears and the tracks of your fears,
and I feel bad for
you because you have already put yourself in a jail
of your own making….
And when you are
caught someday and put in a real jail,
you will still be
blaming others for what you have created in your own mind,
And you would not
know or care that I marched after King showed us the light,
and traveled my own
dark path on the way
to loving each
person for who they were, and not what color their skin was, and more
importantly, loving myself.
And you would not
know a lot of things because you are young and I am old,
And I have maybe
made more mistakes than you have already,
and have forgotten
more than you will ever know about a lot of things,
And I know exactly
what it is like, to feel desperate and alone and fearful,
-all mistakes in my
thinking,
but I do not know
what it is to be black, but I have had a taste,
but the big
difference between us now is:
my heart and mind
and spirit are free and you are holding yourself in chains,
the chains of your
confusion, your fears, and your anger-
for all the reasons
we all have-
because there is
plenty of blame to go around and no one is perfect,
and Man's world is
very far from perfect, and it is hard to see past our pain,
and I have broken
those chains for myself and I do not spend a minute of my life and my
precious time on God's Green Earth feeling angry and hostile,
or feeling afraid,
for all of us are the same and we all pull our pants on one leg at a
time and we all share the same fate and yes the same journey,
and we will all go
to the same place after this life.
And you know nothing
of this and spend your time being angry,
and thinking of all
the ways you can get over,
and avenge yourself
for the injustices and the confusion of Man's world,
and being young, you
are full of the thoughts of your mind,
and know nothing of
seeing life with your heart,
and seeing the good
in yourself and in others around you,
and you do not see
the golden gift of life that the Creator has given you,
and you hold no
gratitude in your spirit
for your spirit is
darker than your skin and you are a 'black' man without Soul,
and you do not yet
see we are brothers from different mothers,
and all of us spring
from the Creator and get to chose how we will live,
either in fear and
desperation, or in hope and peace.
So I write these
words to express what is in my heart,
because that is my
secret to being free in my spirit and not wasting my time,
or allowing my mind
or emotions to cloud what is real in life:
and I can buy more
tools and work my trade with pride, and
you will still have
no real pride in your right to be on the planet,
with two good legs
and two good hands to get what you want,
to be a part of
something bigger than just about what 'you' want,
and the only thing
that is soulful and black about you is your skin.
And I pray you will
wake up and take your rightful place in God's world,
and feel some real
pride in your power to chose what is right,
and not be caught up
in the old game of small-minded men,
of thinking of
getting even and how you can 'get over' on those
keeping you down,
when the only person really keeping you down is you.
