BUILDING BRIDGES

So, I'm supposed to be excited because I got knighted last weekend. I probably would be if simply receiving a doctorate was my aim. Yet my goals are so big that I've had to build a bridge just to get them across. Meanwhile I am often haunted by the sense that I am lost in time and tumbling in space all because of my intent to be raised beyond average into the advantages that greatness brings. But it isn't advantage I seek but the chance to speak to the nation about our uncommon situation, which we mask because we shun the task reform requires, at least until Destiny hires us in its service. Only then are we able to see beyond the surface and the superficial, perceiving what is fundamental (and flawed), and which also gnaws at our hearts. Most people, however, refuse to acknowledge the pain, even in the dark when they are alone with themselves.

TURNS AND TONES

Waiting our turn changes our tone.

There is a time when we are shadowed and sheltered because the weather isn't fair enough for us to manifest what we possess deep within. So, billows of clouds accumulate and descend. Even then, however, others sense our presence but not our essence, our capacity to convey transcendence, going beyond what blocks them. Still, our light is yet dim. Yet "dim" must be endured if we want to be assured a place in the sun, which can only happen when our time comes. So many, however, believe that theirs has passed. So they live in the past, punishing their promise and potential, both of which are fundamental if our lives are to be guides for others to follow. If not, we live with circumstances which, metaphorically speaking, are hard to swallow.

TYING KNOTS

If it doesn't work keep working because you aren't finished.

It will work, especially if we are at our end. Most of us fail, however, because we aren't. On the contrary, many of us refuse to entangle in the interim knots that are inevitable. So, we double our dilemma by tying one in the middle, upholding what hinders our success.

SUCCESS AND SANITY

No one smiles when a friend is ill.

Sanity demands that we laugh at ourselves. In fact laughter heals the soul, according to Solomon. But if it persists it could signal sickness, because sane people don't let years lapse without pursuing their dreams. Nor do they don apish grins when asked about their goals. If so, their laughter is sickness not salutary. Sane people don't use humor to hide their hurts or to silence their haunts (indefinitely at least). This is a tactic of the insane who use mirth to mask their lunacy. Yet beneath their hearty humor is a hurting child in need of healing.

WORKING DREAMS

Moods prevent some and moats prevent others from transforming themselves.

Dreamers labor when failure follows. They battle because they are determined to succeed. In doing so, they create the conditions that nurture their dreams. Characteristically, they use luck when it falls and fear when it stalls and discourages. During these times, moreover, they celebrate themselves for enduring because they know just how easily failure discourages.

ON CONCEIT

Imagine having no habit that required no concern. Imagine being flawless and debt-free. How would you handle this mantle? Is conceit as inevitable as we say when too many things go our way? Or can we be accomplished without being tarnished thereby?

THE BLOCK

Rappers blame "the block" excessively. Everything fierce happens here. Girls get pregnant and guys get murdered for being on the wrong corner wearing the wrong colors. Metaphorically, the phrase conveys the miseries of poverty and the pursuit of fleeting gains. Other artists exploit "the hood" instead, stoking its streets with beats that embellish its quality.