It’s a Thanksgiving time like no other I have lived through. It seems as though it’s a test of how thankful or not we truly are. America has elected a new President and is watching as the old President is refusing to go out quietly, as he seems to be trying to figure out if he can serve a second term without getting the winning votes. He is trying to turn America into Russia where the Presidential term is unlimited.
For our church, First AME Pasadena’s live streaming service, last Sunday, November 22, 2020, my wife, Ruthie and I were asked to read the scriptures by the Pastor. The Scriptures were Luke 12:22-32 and speaks of the blessings we all have from our food and our clothes, and comparing it to the birds and wild flowers of the field. The message being a pronouncement that says in effect, if God takes care of the Wildflowers in the field when they do not believe in him, surely he will take care of us when we believe in Him. Elsewhere in the scriptures they remind us that most of us eat food we didn’t plant, and live in houses we didn’t, build and for these blessings, we should be thankful. Our Pastor, Rev. Dr. Larry Campbell, kept emphasizing that God woke us up this morning and allowed us to keep on past the local mortuary, and for that we should be thankful. Personally, I have much to be thankful for; prostate cancer, both hips replaced, and a stroke, but I’m still kicking, even though it’s not high, but I don’t think the Lakers are looking for an eighty year old forward. I’m still driving past the funeral home. I can even walk past it. I am still married to the same person my mother told me to marry, some soon to be sixty years ago. A brother and sister have gone on to meet their maker, and I credit my wife for helping to preserve me in good shape. She feeds me, reminds me of taking my medicine, checks my blood pressure, and checks on whether I’m doing my exercises. I truly believe she was sent to be my helpmate. For that I am thankful. Other blessings I have to be thankful for is an immediate family of seventeen including children and their wives, grandchildren and a great-grand all created by Miss Ruthie and me. The grown-up members of my family are productive members of society. We are proud to have a BA, a PhD, a professional musician and entertainer, a professor, a Dean of a college, an artist, entrepreneurs and other careers to be proud of. I don’t say I’m lucky. I say, “I’m blessed”, or as some say,” Too Blessed to be stressed.” I’m thankful that I spent my earnings in a way that gave some return to benefit my family. I’m blessed to have lived to see the American experiment produce a black man become President and a black woman become Vice President elect, and a black Congressional Caucus of over fifty black elected officials, Black mayors , Lawyers, and state officials, especially those in the Southern United States. There are numerous descendants of those who were brought here in 1619 as slaves and built this country and its wealth with nearly 400 years of free labor. I am also thankful for the likes of the present President of the United States because during his term we all learned that Racism is still alive and well in the so-called Leaders of this great Country. We have been reminded that white supremacy is alive even in the White House. We watched brown babies and children be put in cages as a so-called deterrent, we watched as military dollars weres put into building a fence to keep black and brown people out of this country. We have been reminded of the Central Park five and how they were treated by the sitting president who still has not apologized nor given up on punishing five innocent black and brown boys. I heard minister Calvin Butts, of Abysinnian Baptist Church say that “Dr. Martin Luther King and his soldiers opened the doors and streets to Civil Rights and everyone else, white women, Latinos, gays and handicapped rushed across the street.” Now that we have been reminded of the past, let’s move to progress in the future. Happy Thanksgiving! |
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