Previous Aftermath   

In The Big Deal we spoke about today's twenty year olds, but we all must admit—the children were not created in a vacuum or test tube; many parents had a part in this as well.  As children of parents ourselves, we often second guessed the rearing techniques of our parents—leading too, in many cases—results much to our chagrin,  Many of us resented the fact that we had to ask for everything we wanted—and in many cases—when we did, we had to earn it.  Well, many of us took different routes from our traditional families, thinking we did not like asking for everything we wanted and began giving our children everything they needed; as a matter of fact, some of us began to anticipate their needs and remedying them.  Instead of letting them struggle with those math problems, some of you all but gave them the answer!  Well, as Isaac Newton states in his Third Law of Motion, “For every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Many of the children from these endeavors to remedy our belly wailing and gut grumblings, simply lack ambition. They have become disillusioned by life's adversities, often ill-equipped to surmount the difficulties associated with living life; looking for remedies by somebody else.  Here is another example of throwing out the baby with the bath water:  These parents, through their lack of understanding of  our customs, have produced a bunch of ingrates; who have less understanding  of our ways and culture—with even less of a desire to acquire what has been forsaken.  Finding room for these sort of decisions, has fostered a world in which, many of the coping skills are simply unavailable for the brick walls they are inevitably running into.  Depression has been defined as a feeling of worthlessness; often associated when two worlds in conflict collide—with persons looking for compassion and understanding; and this typifies a lot of our youth.

I remember once asking a local community Black newspaper man, why he printed 25 cents on a newspaper which he provided to the community for free: To this, he replied, "Everything is accessed according to value.”  “Though people may want to receive free stuff, and even say Thank you [as a sign of appreciation]; these types will never regard such things with respect.  As a matter of fact—the act depreciates, the moment you extended your hand; unless your can make them see the act as a needed jester of goodwill.  When a customer looks at the price on my newspaper, subliminally, they will examine the paper—if only to find out whether they would pay that much for such a paper.  Of course, in my case, I endear to make my paper worth much, much more; only to prove to doubters, they're getting more than they thought they would: A bargain; And by that means, I make my value stick in their minds—rather than something given that depreciates, simply because it has so little value in their minds. . ."

Nothing builds appreciation, more than the things you earned.  Look around your place: How many of the things you currently own, were free things you got in the past?  You probably don't remember where half of your free stuff is.  You seem to have forgotten how those things got away from you: That's because it has no value to you; But now, stuff you had to earn, in order to have. . .  Same thing goes for women who push up on you, instead of your challenges; They don't usually last too long in your life, do they?

Without exception—the most skilled rich men or women, are the ones who helped build the company from the ground up.  That said person has encountered all the aspects of the business or trade that one needs to know about. So when their parents give them advice, it sticks—because experience teaches them the value of such things—they know just where to put it; They know when they hear sound advice!   The laziest, obnoxious, and most insensitive rich children come from the households whose children inherited their fortunes without working hard for it.  My dear old wellspring once said to my persons, "Son, you can't do nothing with spoiled food, except throw it away; Therefore, If you raise a bunch of spoiled children, that's what they’ll be: The throwaways of society."

Some of us followed in the ways of the West; but we chose many of those things on face value or blindly followed the example: Many of us  chose the ways of the affluent, on how it appeared to be, as opposed to critical analysis.  Many of us thought, the way we were reared was too hard—so we took it a little easier on our offsprings—and that became their undoing.  They never wanted for anything: Soon as your child needed something—there you were—giving it to them.  They never had to struggle to obtain anything: And by doing so, you knocked ambition right out of the children.    

Many of these children come to expect everything and don't want to work for nothing.  They don't appreciate what is given to them, because they don't know what sweat equity is.  They expect those things to just be there!   

In the art of body building, there is a saying: No pain, no gain!  J. Paul Getty never gave his son a cent that he didn't work for.  When his son entered the business, he gave him a small part of his massive gas business to manage.  Then when his son proved himself to be successful, he gave him another.  Paul Getty followed this pattern, until he made his son a tycoon.  Paul Getty started his oil business in 1964.  In 1971, The Getty Realty Division was formed to manage the real estate needs of the Getty stations.  The division was later spun off, but now owns the rights to the Getty brand.  Everything was evolved off of the labor of something else.  Nelson Rockefeller, and his Standard Oil company, was founded on a similar, "Pull yourself up by your own bootstrap" mentality.  When I was in my twenties, I used to walk by a mural created by a pan-Africanist, which read: "Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win."  It used to be at the corner of Chew & Chelten Avenues.  I never forgot that advice.

Many of today's youth may want to do things their way, but they lack social skills and refuse to utilize the wisdom of their families of natural birth.  They want to create their own way, without any influence but their own; yet they want to rely on the rest of society to remain a static constant while they do opposing things—which is mathematically impossible.  All society's change; for better or for worst: Sometimes societies change in unison or spirit—other times for growth and development; And it will progress, regress, and/or reject, on the basis of what the new thrusts (such as the new generations) will bring to them!  What our twenty-year old generation [from the date of this writing] are requiring of  society; is a secure backdrop to rely on (for food, clothing, shelter, and country), while they experiment and become unreliable while they explore; and in some cases contributing little or nothing to the society for it.  Many of them—during such times—cannot be relied upon, to vote, hold office, protect any previous values, learn about anything foreign to their point of view, or fight on behalf of them or hold down any decent means of securing an income; because they are not following any traditional ways so their actions will not be stable: Besides that, they can't be relied upon to return to the status quo or fold.  In other words, they believe: "All you old farts stay dependable and supportive, while I criticize and go flake-out."

First of all, there's nothing new under the sun!  Someone has thought the same things; maybe even carried it out—the difference maybe who, the way it was done, and at what ratios.  All creation—after creation—is based upon something else!  That is the rule of thumb.  It is the basis of education; learning is based upon the most common knowledge and added onto by relative things, acquired by others [the community], and tested thoroughly;  throughout the course of time—brought on by experiences.  This is also the basis of tradition and child-rearing.  People trust in what helped their parents through.  Tradition also brings taboos; based upon several wicked experiences, experienced by the community; throughout the passing of time.  This knowledge or belief is handed down until it becomes customary, through love, a concern for the protection of the family, the safe-guard of its members—and the preservation of social harmony.  The inexperienced wants to tackle the "Bear," without being taught on how to take down the animal, or follow the tradition of hunters.  And worst of all, they want to do it, while living under your roof; disrespecting your methods and way of living!  

No course in college is ever taught without its history, yet these young thundercats want to "do it or have it their way," and go their own way; while using your money and the resources of others to do so: Why, this is ridiculous!  If you are not open to suggestions by those who know, you certainly shouldn't be looking for those folks to dump money into an obviously bad investment.  It is unwise, inexperienced thoughts like these, which makeup the number one reason why young women get tricked into working at strip clubs by their jaded buddy—only to become repulsed by men's gropings, and finally get turned out by lesbian players; without any chance of reprieve.  It truly is ill-conceived contempt on the part of the perpetrator to slow-walk a greenie like that!  Not having prior knowledge, leaves you open to predators and opportunists; who can spot a greenie a mile away. . .      

What surprises me, however, is that while these new twenty-year olds want to do things their way, they don't want to take over managing the world they're living in.  Despite your sentiments, the young will be the one whom the baton is passed to.  If our young Black males are not considering ways to maintain their liberties, I am certain there are others on the opposite side who would like to take those liberties away; that's why, in the past, our people remained being involved in the political process.  But many of these young guns don't want to start their own jobs, run for political office, protest and hold rallies; or anything of that nature.  They want supplied resources a stable environment; so they can tweak the things they're not pleased with—within the things you do for them.  They want to come work for established elders, who just so happen to get the things they got, by embracing the old ways of doing things.  These young guns want to come into your place of work and tell you how to run it; so they can be happy with the way things are going: They want the harvest, but they don't want the responsibility of tilling the soil. 

A lot of this behavior is like coming in someone's house, without wiping your feet on the rug: Its like drinking the juice, without paying for the jug.  You got to punch your own ticket; just wanting to—won't do it.  You have to pay the cost to be boss!  This rule applies to Black people who live in America as well: Make your own help; you need it!  We cannot expect others to bankroll plans they don't have any belief in.  To others, it's untried, untested and unproven.  At some point, we all didn't believe in our parent's ways, but most of us kept our parent's philosophy like a hypothesis—that we kept in our rear view mirrors—because we also didn't want to fail or fall.  We knew they gained an understanding, they could take care of us with.  Growing up, I wanted the philosophy of ideas that I couldn't lose with, so I had to learn to be reasonable and observant; if I was going to find it.

When I say philosophy, I truly mean a love of wisdom.  To be wise, you have to see the interrelationship of all things around you.  Man is a social creature and belongs to a community.  Your love of your community is demonstrated by what you do for your community.  Believe it or not, you will inherit the position of being the ones who represent us as a people.  You have to want to grow, develop and change into a bigger and better you, or else you will stagnate.  "In order to grow, you got to know what you're looking at." And, those who came before, had the best chance to take a good look at what you might more than likely be encountering.  After all, didn't they teach you how to read and write?  

But I guess, "Some won't believe there's a ditch there, until they fall in it."  Nonetheless, we have to stop raising children by "trying to keep them happy," because it's destroying their sense of ambition and social responsibility.  Happiness is an allowed condition; built upon what we allow ourselves to associate our sense of happiness with!  Happiness does not come from the things we acquire: What you think makes you happy, will not make the next person happy (unless he or she is under the same proclivities or delusion).  You allow yourself to associate your sense of happiness to a particular thing, but you can train yourself to be happy with something else. 

Most people hold their happiness hostage, by fixing an attachment to something, then saying: "I won't be happy, until I get this."  Having a philosophy like this, is the dumbest thing you can ever do to yourself.  You're going to make yourself miserable.  A bum on the street can be happy, with anything to be happy about!  You are the maker of your own happiness.  Stop pursuing happiness and trying to make other people happy.  Happiness is an allowed condition: learn to associate your happiness to the right things to pursue. 

I don't mean to just complain and talk negative about you, young world, but I do want you to learn of your chronology, talk to your family, involve yourself in community activities, and start giving a damn about the world around you; instead of shrinking into a small group of free-agents—acting out chapters or scenes in Lord of the Flies.

But enough of this posturing; Things will never change, until the folks get tired of it.  I guess, that's the way of the world, especially in the land of the ignorant: "Easy to be led in the wrong direction, but hard to led in the right."  For further, man vs. society in a multicultural world check out the documentary: American Experience—The Amish: Shunned on YouTube;  (I know its not us, but the math exists in parallel issues). 

And as far as the Michael Brown incident is concerned, I know Whites are upset at the looting (as I am not an advocate of such behavior), but it seems as though we can't get their attention unless we act up and hit them in the wallet.  Now that we've got the attention of America, we need to put an end to White police officers patrolling Black communities.  There is now enough training of Black officers in supervisory positions to police our own areas.  The reverse of this policy (Black police--en masse--in White neighborhoods) is totally unheard of; making White police more of a military presence in Black areas.  I know that police are for surveillance and a matter of national security, but this policy only reinforces the idea that White America believes Blacks in America are potential enemies to the state; and their presence in Black communities, is nothing more than espionage.  WE ARE TIRED OF WHITE OFFICERS MISUNDERSTANDING OF BLACK PEOPLE [PARTICULARLY OUR YOUTH], ENDING UP IN OUR DEATHS WITHIN OUR OWN COMMUNITIES.  How can we ever feel that police are in our areas for our protection, when they are not only not part of our community, but know very little of our ethnicity?  This should be the first thing that should be addressed, once this civil unrest is handled by the appropriate authorities.

Once again, I leave you with a song.

Thank you for your consideration,

C. Be'er la Hai-roi Myers 

Peace.