DON’T” EVER GIVE
UP, JUST SHAKE IT OFF AND TAKE A STEP UP!
By Muslim Mansa
Lutalo Iyapo a/k/a Rufus West 225213, October 18th 2013
Recently my Brother named T.D. gave me this drawing that,
at first glance, appeared to be just a bird eating a frog. Above the drawing was a
caption that read,
"Don't Ever Give Up." After a closer observation I noticed that even
though the bird had half
of the frog's upper body in its mouth, the bird was unable to swallow it because the frog had both of his hands around
the bird's neck. The message that I drew from it was the frog was determined to refuse to
succumb to what most
would consider a certain death. An appropriate drawing for almost every trial and tribulation that I've encountered where, even
when the challenge seemed insurmountable, I didn't give up on myself by surrendering to my lower
self.
There's a chorus to this song called, "He Saw The Best In
Me," by a Brother whose name I'm unable to recall. The chorus goes, "He saw the best
in me when everyone
else around could only see the worst in me." That "best" in me
will always conquer that
part in me that wants to give up and be swallowed by life's struggles by grabbing them by the throat with both hands.
The challenge is not only channeling it in the heat of the moment, but sustaining it
throughout the endeavor. It's easy to give in to the systematic, psychological
traps that are designed to control via self-defeatism. If a person can control
you mentally by defining who you are, that person has nothing to fear from you
no matter how much you exercise or how many weapons you have because encoded within that
definition is a glass
ceiling. Unfortunately, sometimes there has to be a break down before there's a break through. When a blacksmith has to make a
sword, he starts with a clump of deformed metal. He heats it with fire then bangs it with his
hammer, cools it with
water, and then repeats the same thing for hours until what's left is the shape of the sword. He then sharpens the edges and
then polishes it. That's what the "best" in us is capable of: turning negatives into
positives. In George
Jackson's book, "Soledad
Brother," Jackson expresses that in order to survive he had
to revolutionize his thought process so that he could be in a better position mentally
to control his physical response to his oppressors' tactics. To him, this
meant emotionally detaching himself from everything tangible inside his cell so
that they could not be used by the staff to obtain control over him. In weakening
his attachment to materialism he strengthened himself mentally by showing
that he is not defined by what he has but by whom he believes he is. He didn't
give in to allowing his oppressive environment define who he was. His letters
share an insight into how he had to find a way to shake off the dirt of oppression
that was thrown on him and utilize the experience to strengthen himself
mentally.
When we give in to the dirt of negative stereotypes
associated with racism, penitentiary politics, religion,
sexism, culturalism or any other type of isms, we
are giving up on ourselves by allowing others to figuratively bury us alive instead
of shaking the dirt off and using it to stand on with two feet and ten toes.
SHAKE
IT OFF AND TAKE A STEP UP!
by
Unknown
One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well.
The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to
do. Finally he decided the animal was
old and the well needed to be covered
up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. So he invited all his neighbors to come over and
help him. They grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.
At first, the donkey realized what was happening
and cried horribly. Then, to
everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down into the well and was• astonished at what he saw. With every
shovel of dirt that hit his back,
the donkey was doing something amazing, lie would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's
neighbors continued to shovel dirt
on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of
dirt. The trick to getting out of the
well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not giving up! Shake it off
and take a step up!
