Sunday, March 29, 2009

Get Dirty

Yeah... these brotha's had to work.
Yeah... there were probably some lighter skinned cats chilling in the big house - sneaking sips of cool lemonade.
And you know there had to be some of the dark dudes sitting under a tree in the shade complaining about how rough "we" had it.

But of these three groups, who actually had a valid complaint?
I'm not talking about those in the house.
They probably complained about how bad "we" had because they only got the second cut of meat and had to wear uniforms.
Or that they had to listen to the massa' talk bad about them.
They were probably a little more articulate - so their complaints were probably taken as those of the whole.

Then we have the shiftless brotha'.
He would complain the loudest because he was trying to avoid having to do any work.
The more he complained, the less he was required to do.
This is the brotha' that would always eff it up for everybody.
He had to rape the massa's daughter, steal the pie from the window or hate on those who were trying to make things better.

But the men in the photo were the only ones getting dirty.
When ish jumped off, they took care of it.
When it was illegal to read, they would hide and teach their kids from pages of the Bible.
When one from the other groups complained, they were the one's punished by having to do more work with less resources.

Are all views valid? Sure, but whose view had a greater positive effect on the whole?
So unless you're down here (I came out of the big house to help those in the dirt, not just talk about it and give directions) in the dirt getting dirty - I don't want to hear it unless you're down here with me - your complaints are almost laughable.
(At least come down to visit sometime to get to know the real issues)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should've called this one here's where I stand! Some people stand in the dirt some people tell them where the dirt should go and some people never get dirty. The goal is to find the strengths in everyone.

Everyone has an opinion but it's from their experiences. If you teach who you reach and I teach who I reach we'll reach double the people. If we try to sword fight over the right approach we defeat ourselves.

brohammas said...

From where I stand they are all justified in complaining.
The men who enslaved these men, both the shiftless and the one's inside, went to war over taxation with no representation... let alone personal ownership.

ranking the crabs in a barrel does not get any of them out of it.

RunningMom said...

I know for a fact that I need to do more community service. The women in my family are planning to work on a Habitat for Humanity house in the spring. But I know I need to do more.

uglyblackjohn said...

@ RunningMom - No, you're fine. Start with whatever it is that you CAN do. Habitat is a good start.