Goodbye Christ: Hello Spirituality

In my survey of American Literature class, we were assigned to write a paper on a poem of our choice that we had read in class. I chose a poem by Langston Hughes 'Goodbye Christ.' Because of my christian background and all the years of spent on both sides of the world (good and bad in a way) I was able to put a twist on the poem with how I feel about religion. If you have not read Langston Hughes poem I suggest you check that out first. I did a little explanation on what I was about to write and then I did the poem which you'll see at the bottom. Comment and tell me what you think! http://donbryant.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/goodbye-christ-by-langston-hughes/ A single mind has no power, only so many outlets, only so many perspectives. But the minds of millions together have a power misunderstood even by the few that control it. We lock on an idea and force it to be true, one yes at a time. With each yes, each nod of approval it gains power. Now that seed that one man carried has become even greater than the beanstalk that Jack struggled to climb sitting amongst the clouds. Its strength reaches into each of our brains giving us full belief. It’s just one of the many programs that are double edged swords, but even with the bad, it is a must in a structured society. These old proverbs and parables that we lay on paper have become iconic, worshipped and followed yet not fully understood. They’ve been passed to us jumping through centuries, and despite the forever growing knowledge and new technology of our changing world, they never budge. But the people have, moving with the decades and opening their minds while several dozen of our parents and grandparents hold onto the rock that is religion. As Hughes stated, “And step on the gas, Christ! Move! Don’t be slow about movin’! The world is mine from now on-.” Well, even now people continue to carry the rock on their backs as everyone sprints by them. That song has sang its last tune, danced to its last encore, turned its last page. With the combination of a growing free world, the development of capitalism, and the millions of citizens with their faith, it was not hard to predict that we would be here. Christianity has become one of the biggest businesses (that is not a typo, I know you thought I would say religions) in the free world. Its credibility has been tarnished with the huge temples and leeching preachers and its spill into the entertainment business. They saw a chance to make a dollar off a Bible, and they decided not to stop there. And my generation has had enough! We are more educated, we have more access to information using modern technology, our logic has been expanded. All this with a combination of a more competitive job market and we have pushed the bible aside and pulled out more textbooks. We need results, and sitting in a church for three hours while also paying tithes isn’t going to cut it anymore. A religion that has dominated in families for generations stops here. Why keep giving the man upstairs money if we could save that to buy that home that we keep praying for? Its not that we don’t believe anymore. For many of us, it has been imbedded in our minds for so long that we will always look up to the sky, but a shift has taken place. This world is moving along and it’s moving fast, and Jesus is not keeping up. People are attempting to pray their way into the big office on the top floor of the building while their co-workers actually stay working late nights to get it done. Our greed has become a virus, spreading creating more sharks out of tuna on a day to day basis. Like one of my friends said, “life is simple, your either standing up or sitting down.” Alright, Chris, I see your still floating around, Your spirit is light in the trail of dead presidents. On the top they rant and rave about you while they stand in glorious temples. On the bottom they do the same in their shacks with empty pockets. They are blinded by their ignorance, For if we are all equal, why is there such a difference? We worship the same being, yet we get different result. We watched them as children, Singing out of their hearts only to get hope in return. Praying out loud only to get hope in return. Paying their tithes only to get hope in return. Well it all stops here, Years of anger and frustration will not allow us to go any further. So back up Jesus, We don’t want your Bible, We don’t want your teachings, We don’t want your pamphlets. That is not going to help us live the dream, The dream that our grandparents never got to see. And to replace you, We need nothing but what is inside. Individuals before us helped create this and were shot down, But we have a crowd now. We have opened minds now, We have more books now, We have living idols now! So Goodbye Chris, Hello Spirituality! Because we don’t want progress, we want results!

Music Decoder!

My love for music cannot be touched! My large selection leaves my friends and families with thier jaws dropped. I believe every song has a message, different for different people. But whether its a club banger or what I like to classify as 'pondering music' every song has a purpose. And to celebrate that, I will start breaking down some of my favorite songs and everything that comes with that. Every song I listen to tells me a different story, takes me back to a certain time, helped me get out of a dark tunnel. I think its time to decode these bad boys and see what everyone else thinks!

The stuff you dont wanna hear: The Psyche of Western Civilization Culture

For some reason Ive been hearing over and over again that one Im radical and two that Im "different." At first I was upset by these remarks but the more I thought about it the more I stick my chest out even to this day. I did alot of observing this summer (more then I usually do) and more and more Im starting to realize the sad truth; most of us as Americans are psychologically trapped. Were trapped in a place where by design we dont think for ourselves we just follow and emulate what we see. And on the forefront of this machine are our main forms of entertainment; music and television. With alot of us having a household of only one parent (if that many), were left alone to find our own way. Just think about it, how many of us grew up sitting in front of the television watching Sesame street and Reading Rainbow? In this situation, we were left to find someone to follow, almost setting a blueprint to the rest of our lives. Obvously shows like Sesame Street taught us the simple things like words and numbers, but as we got older we needed more answers. In our teenage years people like Jay-Z and 50cent became almost big brothers to us through the TV. I seen my friends model thierselves after them, walking thier walk, talking thier slang, almost becoming them in a sense. We see thier success and the people who envy to be them and we take them as a blueprint to growing up to be successful. This is one of the major reasons I fear for our next generation, with many of them growing up without a father figure or any good example that will teach them to think for themselves were gonna see alot of people wanting to be like the likes of Souja Boy and Kim Kardashian...imagine that! The truth about this whole machine is that we are the drivers of this culture box we call America where fads and stars come and go but the fans will always be there looking for an example they can relate to.

Just think about this: we work day in and day out to the bone in the night hours slavin'! Most of us at my age arent in our careers yet so we not makin no more then $15 an hour at some job we most likely dont like. We work 40+ hour weeks dealing with angry bosses, testy customers and even some annoying co workers. Year in and year out you work, working dreaming of a better life. You get your paycheck every few weeks or so and what do you do with it? You go buy the newest $150 Jordans, the $300 purses, the $400 cellphones, even the $50 shirt that you might wear once. You spend a whole paycheck or months paying off credit card debts because of what? All to impress each other, meaning your boys, your family, or more then anyone else the opposite sex. We do all this to either cover up our own insecurities about ourselves or to try to stand out among the everyone else. So we work day in and day out to the bone on 8 hour shifts to buy stuff from people who not only know nothing about our lives and our struggles but dont care about nothing else but how much money you have. Our willingness to sell out our own inner self so we can fit in with the rest of the world is not only sad, but its unbelivable that its gone on for this long. And people dont understand why people are so depressed and afraid to open up to the outside world, people are tired of being judged because they dont have the newest Jordans.

This note wont change anything. People will continue to spend all thier hard earned money on stuff they dont really need only making the rich richer in the process but its at least my job to help you understand what your doing in the process. I know people hate reading so if you do anything check out this video an old  friend showed me a while back that I found VERY interesting. Remember, Im not here to make you hate the new proda bags or those $400 phones we all love to buy Im just here to make you think.

**Just be yourself!! if people dont like you for who you are then your in the wrong group, dont waste your entire life being miserable and being something your not!!

Heres the link:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Its the falling in Love.... Part 2

Theres a battle that has been going on way before any of us were even born, and to this day its all around us, a mental tug of war that to be honest will never be won. The moment you were born and they said boy or girl is when you chose sides (with some exceptions), many of us being culurally raised to fight mentally or sometimes physically against the opposite sex. This would be the battle of the sexes, yes many men are wondering why Im about to do this to myself but its my job to talk about the things that nobody wants to talk about. 

In this tug of war we play, there are alot of mind games involved. There are alot of arguments, and hearts being broken some broken to never be fixed. In my observation Im seeing that there is alot of bridge building going on, meaning people are not cleaning the skeletons out of thier closets. There are some people who are still mad about things that happened years ago and to this day they are taking it out on thier partner, or even worse a whole other person they are dating at the time. The day we understand and learn why we must let things go is gonna be a huge step for all of us. Nobody can ever have a healthy relationship when their carrying baggage into it from the start, that is unfair to the person your with and even more very troubling for yourself. The problem is pride, nobody wants to look weak in front of a woman or vise versa because we always feel like were gonna get taken advatage of, its a giant circle of broken hearts, broken trust, and misunderstanding.

Just like humanity in general, I believe until somebody is willing to put thier pride away and show some compassion trying to right the wrongs we have done we will never break this circle. Nobody wants to show emotion anymore, were all so mute and believe we must keep our armor clean. Showing emotion and being wanted is part of being human, so in not doing these things were not being human! Everybody wants to be excepted, if you say you dont youve just been hurt so many times that youve locked yourself away not letting anyone in, and thats how you end up alone and depressed. 

Love is just a place where these issues are the most obvious, people dont understand why people are committing suicide and going around killing people like animals. America's culture which is a "me first" independent mindset has us all pulling a "every man/woman for themselves" mentality everytime any kind of pain is brought upon us. Alot of us are alone, but what makes it worse is our pride has broken in and wont allow us to admit this. 

My question is when there comes a time where were all gonna need each other (and there will be) how are we gonna respond? Are we gonna let our pride get in the way and not do anything? As the days go by and I hear people giving up on other people this seems to be the inevitable answer for us. 

Its the falling in Love.... Part 1

Its spring, well....you wouldnt know that from the weather but its that time of year we all love. The tempature starts rising back up and everyone is starting to come out of hiding. That time of year where you just wanna chill outside for just a little bit longer just to see if you see some new beautiful faces walking around the corner on campus. Of course with spring comes breaking and building of relationships left and right, everyone is working out getting ready for the summer when the "games" begin. Dont act like you dont know what Im talking about we all at one point were the victim or heartless lover who took an axe to someones heart.

Talking to some people and even just over the years Im starting to see that people are afraid to fall in love anymore. Weve all fallen into a cycle where we dont give people our "whole heart" and at that we pull on several strings at a time just to play it safe. Thanks to popular culture, lust has become the new love in America, in a country where the divorce rate is sitting at a coin flipping 50%. Everyone getting married is looking for that "hollywood romance" relationship where at the end everything is just perfect and romantic. The day men and women wake up and realize it will never be like that will be the day we save some serious time, hollywood has put it in our minds that a perfect marriage has a happy ending.

On the dating side of things, its not that nobody wants to be faithful, its just that everyone is afriad to, a domino effect has started and everyone is just falling in line with it pressing the safe button keeping thier options "open." And those poor ladies and gentlemen who do fall in love and give thier heart to someone (the ones who didnt get the "options open memo) end up getting drop like a sack of potatoes. Some of these people will be resilient and get back up and try again, while most of the other will fall in line and follow the cowardly method we have going on right now. 

For those people who have actually been in this place we call love its something you will always remember. Its a world where your mind has no say over anything, your heart and whoever your with runs the show. You can go ahead and say it, your love drunk, stupid, whatever your friends who dont understand call it. But its like having a massage for the first time; it felt like heaven, every once in a while it creeps back up on you again to make you smile, and you always want more. I dare someone to say love is stupid or it isnt real, those people either have never been in love, or just have been hurt so many times that they refuse to let anyone in anymore. 

I just got one question for you, when your 50+ years old alone with your pet cause you didnt wanna risk giving your heart to someone, whos fault is it then?

*Read*Think*Comment*

Distractions...Distractions...Focusing in the 21st Century

Anyone that is like me, in college always on the move busy understands that your time is very precious, and anyone whos anal like me wasting time will change your mood really quick. Once upon a time managing your time and doing what you needed to do had a few distractions, but it wasnt hard to push these things aside. You didnt need to take time to discipline yourself on how to move the bs out of the way and get stuff done. Well thats not the case in 2011, where the internet has found a way to be another factor along with, television, videogames, and cellphones. I find it funny but also chilling at times that most of us in our everyday routines are staring at screens more than anything or anyone else. Besides our usual circle of friends we see everyday most of us talk to friends and family using social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. Theres nothing wrong with this, as it expands our world and helps us keep in touch with others. But at some point this went over the line from being a luxory to being a problem. I cant tell you how many times Ive logged in on Facebook and was just looking at stuff playing games messing around doing nothing, and I look at the clock, and about three hours has went by! That is about the most frustrating thing to me knowing I just wasted time doing nothing. In todays world we have to be even more focused then ever if you wanna get something done,learning to balance business and play has become an art in its own right.

Once again Im not saying that Facebook and twitter are bad at all, the leaps and bounds we have made in technology are unbelivable. I feel like with this new technology we have not learned to adjust to it and be able to move on getting work done in our everyday lives. The bottom line is we must remember that the long term is much more important than the short term, dont let checking your Facebook go from a five minute blink to a two hour operation! Now in honor of me writing this I cut it short so you wouldnt be reading for days. Now get off of this computer and get some work done because I guarantee most of you are supposed to be doing something right now (I know I am!)!

21st Century Ambassadors: African American Icons And thier Influence in America

I'm quite sure out of all of us growing up as little kids very few if any of us were saying we wanted to be like Martin Luther King Jr. trying to keep all the kids getting along on the elementary school playground fighting for recess and snack time rights. There were most likely more of us singing TLC or trying to emulate Usher's moves in his videos (I know I got a few old heads reading but you guys gotta bear with me I guarantee someone is searching TLC right now). I can definetly speak for black people when I say the entertainment industry had a great influence in our growing up and how we went about our everyday lives. As much as I hate it, I fully understand and see we look up to these people and emulate them. Biggie Smalls being a great example, he told stories in his music of the struggle and how hard it was to be successful let alone break out of the poverty ridden ghettos in Brooklyn. 2pac told us to keep our heads up and to not let them above us bring us down, and Nas told us we could be whatever we wanted to be. These and many more artists inspired and motivated us on a day to day basis to push forward and to be the best we can be. I can't even count how many days music has brought me out of a hole and helped me get through the day. These people represent us, they pull us up and motivate us to do better, they are our 21st Century Black Ambassadors. 

With all the love we give these Ambassadors, almost twice as much jealously and hate is received through the media, and even from other Icons in the industry. Any man or woman who inspires millions and helps bring about a wave of change is bound to criticism, no matter who they are. Look at it this way; it would be a lot easier to go after the leader of the flock rather then to take down all his followers one by one. That bird represents the best of what they have, someone every single one of them looks up to in some way and is very proud of. So they attack the flock leader, they make up lies about him, start rumors, destroy their image the best way they can. And if that person is that much of a threat they might even go as far as kill them, even though their message will still live on. Thats what Jesus Christ was, thats what Biggie was, what Malcolm X was, and more then anyone thats what Michael Jackson was. 

All these men at some point even with their drive and will to succeed at their respective purposes in life at some point came to a conclusion that it had become bigger then just them. They carried a city, a country, and in some cases the world on their backs, never having the intentions to let them down. And we followed, knowing that they were maybe not our only hope, but without a doubt our biggest. 

Each part of the country had or has their own Representative; Biggie Smalls was the East Coast, 2pac was the West Coast, Lil Wayne is Louisiana,  I could go on for hours. Everyone had or has their own representative that they praise and poster up on their walls. And just how Barack Obama is blamed for everything that the U.S. does from the outside in, so are these guys for their respective areas. But when it comes to star power and their impact on the world nobody comes even close to our biggest African American Representative; Michael Jackson. Say what you want about Michael, but his impact on the world even after his death has been amazing. His music brought millions to their feet, his heart and willingness to give to the less fortunate has touched the hearts of millions. Hes brought people from all kinds of backgrounds together like I've never seen before. And like I said before when you get as much praise as this man has, the false accusations come, the rumors, the lies, the harassment. Their objective was to take the best of us and make him look like a fool, like hes nothing, tearing all of our hope away from us. They were jealous of Michael, even worse they were jealous of us, because he was the best of African Americans! Sadly for many blacks I talk to, their view on Michael thanks to the image created by the media is at the least bad. Blacks don't understand that this is what they wanted to do, this was their intentions, to tear Michael down. People lost hope in him, they called him all these names, mocked him and made him into a joke. This was the best of us, and yet everyone went and turned their backs on him, yet he did nothing wrong but care. Nobody had it as bad as Michael did, and yet he kept on fighting. 

I'm not trying to make you love Michael Jackson, or hate those who oppress him, I'm just trying to make you think. Black Ambassadors represent hope, they represent every single one of us  in some kind of way. So for anyone to just off and turn their back on them the second they're accused of something, is a mockery in itself. Thats like Biggie Smalls going off and writing a I hate Brooklyn song its just straight up being a traitor, he would never do that to us. You didn't see white people turning their back on Eminem when he wrote a crazy ass song about killing his ex wife. Take pride and love in what you got, because just like 2pac, or Biggie, or Malcolm, or Dr. King, or even Michael as were all learning now you don't know how good we got it until its gone.