I understand that I AM to be the righteous representation before my children. If they don’t believe they can by my righteous example, I have just sold them into a broken system. One thing I never aspired to be as a boy was president. What I did want to be is compassionate, benevolent, and family-centered.
I desired to be like my Daddy and my Smoke. Smoke was my grandfather. Were they perfect men? No, but they were better men than any politician, pastor, or professor, or player I have ever watched. Elder Ron Mosby explained why to me in a very important way that is foundational for me: Fathers give significance and Mothers nurture.
We have a generation, a society even, of individuals who rely on the ideas of positive images outside the home. Parents, instead of being their highest Selves, as encouragement to their children, instill this sense of aspiration that those who look like them being in the spotlight means they can do anything.
What about all those people who were the first of anything? I don’t mean the first “black” president, the first woman vice-president, the first “Latino” coach. I mean those who tapped into their Inherent significance and dared to be something completely unique that doesn’t demand an association with any group for validation.
Kamala Harris being elected to the office of vice-president isn’t for my daughters. My wife loving herself, me loving my wife, us building a dynasty together, her being an example of virtue, me being the image of provider, protector, peacemaker… that’s #forourdaughters. Them seeing their Mother and I as lights in the community is #forourdaughters.
I understand how and why a people who have perceived themselves as marginalized, ignored, and oppressed for so long would view this as progress, but true progress cannot come from the White House, Capitol Hill, or the Supreme Court. True progress occurs within the heart, and within the home.
When are we as a people going to stop encouraging our children to become and LOVE them enough to just allow them to be? The more we encourage them to aspire to become like someone else, the more we actually instill in their subconscious that they are not good enough. Instead of “You can be anything you want to be because Kamala is vice-president”, let’s teach them to be who they have always been. This way, they maintain their power, and search within for their answers.
The one who fully knows Self is unable to be stopped from manifesting Heaven in Earth because that one lives life from within out. Whatever is meant for each of us is inherent. With our eyes on others we can never realize our own significance.
As I have evolved, I AM realizing just how profound Charles Barkley was when he said “I AM not a role model”. It is only when Fathers fail to give significance, and Mothers refuse to nurture that children rely on representation in the public eye.
