10 Year Old World

What’s happening in your world, I asked a 10 year boy recently.  “nothing much” he replied.  Aw come on, you mean nothing is going on in the world of a lovely Black young man like you? I responded. 

Then his answer made my eyes prick with water.  Oh, someone got stabbed he said and died on the stairs near where I live, yeah and of course there was someone else who hanged himself because the teacher took Pokemon cards from him and some white boys and gave the white boys back their cards but kept his.

 

Oh and we went to a meeting where they talked about it and he wrote this letter and ………

 

Gosh!  I could not have imagined that I would get that kind of response by simply showing an interest in the life of a young 10 year old Black child.

 

Critics have told me time and time again that I should stop saying ‘we are in trouble as a race of people” because in their ‘I’m alright Jack’ opinion I should not blow things up out of proportion.

 

I am recognised for being passionate, some might say too passionate about my people.

 

Yes I cry when I hear that another one of our children has been murdered, and another misunderstood brother or sister has been ‘sectioned’ or someone else has been given a heavy sentence for a crime they did not commit when another person found guilty is given a lenient sentence or a warning. 

 

I laugh out loud and throw back my head when my spirit is amused, by the antics of a toddler or the jokes of an elder demonstrating their ability to storytell with parables and wisdom.

 

I dance to the beat of an African drum when I am happy, sad, mad, tired, seeking inspiration and I rock too and fro with style when a little baseline surrounds the drum.

 

Don’t tell me that to demonstrate spiritual elevation I should not be emotional.  Our ancestors got very emotional, for without motion there is no movement.  It would be a catastrophe if the only movement became the technological advancement that is causing the arrested development of our senses.

 

To elevate spiritually, we must exercise discipline over our emotion but not be emotionless or emotion’all’.  We must develop an ability to control our emotions and employ choices and engage consciousness.

 

So, right now, I am choosing to be distressed that our (collective) 10 year old children are speaking less of play and more of murder.  For the day I withdraw my emotion is the day I am truly disconnected.