Daily THOUGHT #69 "My Dear Ole Normal"

HAPPY HOMECOMING BULLDOGS!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's Homecoming Week here at Alabama A&M University and I must say that I am very happy to be here! I hope that all is well with everyone. I am doing pretty well today, just dealing with the daily tests of life and observing these signs as the Lord shows them to me daily. Open your eyes for just a little while and I promise he will begin revealing things to you that you never would imagine. See for yourself, don't just take my word for it.

1969 was a very important year. Broadway Joe becomes the first QB to guarantee a Super Bowl win and does it over the heavily favored Colts. America sees the first ATM machine and very fitting for this week, Scooby/Doo airs for the first time...All my MMW Screamin' Demons will understand that importance. And while we are talking about things on "The Hill", this was also the year that Alabama A&M became an official University, retiring the AAMC abbreviation. This was also my Father's freshmen year, how symbolic.

Anyone who has had the privilege of attending a HBCU knows exactly how beneficial it is. I feel that a student here truly learns the way of the world and is able to reflect upon the experiences, in hopes of one day making a difference in the world. We hear so many times people complaining about the way things go, but quite frankly, I believe that all things are for a reason, anyone who knows me knows that I feel like this strongly. The way we are as humans, we always tend to pull all of the negative out of situations rather than observing lessons and finding ways to build bridges. It's so amazing when I look back on all that W. H. Councill did to ensure that minority students would have an opportunity at education, even in one of the most racial regions in the United States. This is indeed powerful.

What sacrifices would you make in order to help out others? Would you be willing to give up your own opportunities and chances at self manifestation in order to bring justice and possibility to the lives of those who may be quite hopeless? I like to think that those who truly observe their surroundings and analyze their most trying situations would live with great chance of doing so. So many times we look at out life experiences and say why me? I look at them and say thank you! Sure enough I have not always been like this, but now that I am able to see that the future is more important than anything that I am thinking is vital presently. I must use these daily tests and signs in order to help others.

Many people come from various backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common and that is that we can do all things that we truly put our mind to. When I was a freshmen here at AAMU we had to take a course called Survival Skills. Now sure enough they still take it now, but they don't have to do as much as we did. Now this may seem great to the incoming freshmen, but in the eyes of someone who can look back on the past, that might not be as rewarding as they anticipate it to be. We have to truly learn how to adapt to the world all while analyzing out THOUGHTs.

Every THOUGHT that you have is for a reason and is meant to be displayed to the world. Now whether it is for our best interest or not, that is up to you to determine. Great deliberation well help you understand what should be shared and what should be kept. What we have to do is start expressing the THOUGHTs that we know are meant to better mankind and life in general. We have so many glimpses of how things could be in our mind, but do we ever share them with the world?

Live your dream my people and believe in yourself, that you can accomplish whatever it is that you set your heart and mind to. The founder of Alabama A&M University made these truths to be self evident and for that we are grateful. Again Happy Homecoming fellow Normalites. May the true spirit of service be shared with all citizens of the world! Be blessed. Peace!

-rjhii

Daily THOUGHT #68 "Backs to the Wall"

"Even when the image is small, you can still see the goal..."

Hello there my people! How are you? I hope that all is well with everyone. I am doing pretty well. My apologies for the inconsistency with the blogs this week. I should have a new laptop next week, so all of that will be changed. There won't be a World News this week because I want to get these two Daily THOUGHT's out today. I feel like writing about a few things, so I want your focus to be on that. I will however make sure things go back according to plan next week.

Man I love football season. I realized how much I love it two days ago. This was my first game on the Johnson High School Band staff, so I got to witness a lot of things, from the fans, cheerleaders, football team and of course the bands. The energy is so different from collegiate games. In a sense the spirit is more intense on the collegiate level, but the pride seems to be a little more dramatic for the high school fans. You know when you're in high school you really don't worry about what people think of you when you express yourself emotionally or physically, whereas when you get to college people tend to look over there shoulders a little more to see who is watching. I wonder why people do that?

The game went into overtime. Anyone who knows the high school rules is knowledgeable of the ball placement after regulation. The defense definitely has a test in front of them having to defend their goal that close to the end zone. Of course people tend to argue that it balances out, seeing that the number of play options the offense has is slim, but I tend to disagree...it's just a matter of creativity. A lot of times coaches don't get clever with their playbook for several reasons, but whose fault is that? I think it would help prepare students better for college sports if they were challenged more at a younger age, something like teaching a kid a foreign language while they are young.

Imagine your life as a football field. You have an end zone, which represents your sanity, happiness, understanding and lifestyle to protect...all while trying to reach a goal that is 100 yards away. When you stand in one end zone and look to the other that is a long way away, not to mention you have 11 other setbacks that are waiting to prevent you from getting where you need to be (all you football fans, I know you like that writing-comparison humor...corner backs, defensive backs, setbacks, get it?) Anyways, what might these set backs be? Well there is confusion, procrastination, laziness, being unorganized, speedy deadlines, lack of information, other "more important" obligations, lack of resources, untimely incidents, a crumbling society and of course your haters...They are like those people who blitz all the time, you tend to dislike them with a passion. If you don't have a strong enough playbook to contend with this, you are end for a long game my friend.

The enemy will throw all of this at you in order to slow down your progress. You must realize that his ultimate plan is to make you give up and give in. This must not take place or the order and balance of the earth will be thrown off. With you as the the quarter back you must know what your center focus is at the time. Allow your center focus to give you what you need to run the plays of life, the ball is in your hands when this happens what will you do with it. Some offensive coordinators like to run the ball, tire out the defense and go up field piece by piece...hogging the time and beating up on the opponent. This is a great approach, but whoever is running the ball for you better be strong, reliable and able to take a hit. Other coaches enjoy being flashy, creating fancy plays for their receivers to catch the ball in various locations for different distances, they want to beat you with speed. This is great too, but you better have several different plays or the opponent will catch on eventually a stop you in your steps.

When traveling far distances, there needs to be time to fuel up, time to eat, time to go to the restroom, time to site see and of course time to rest. A balanced playbook will allow you to do just that. We find our backs against the wall because we are leaning to one way of doing things more than another and in all situations, that is not necessarily the best thing to do. Offensive programs that have a balance of running and pass plays tend to do way better than an offense that is one dimensional. How is your life? Is it one dimensional or is their variety? We tend to get so closed minded because of society instead of opening the mind of society from being so closed...We should work on that. Now this does not mean that all times will always be great or that you we always be away from the wall if you add variety...but it does mean that you will be able to handle yourself in any situation regardless of the circumstances.

Many teams have come back to win, having to score coming from their own red zone. Are you able to do that? Sure you are, you just have to put your heart and mind to it. When you feel yourself getting pushed backwards that's when you need to stand your strongest. This is when you need to strategize in order to change the cycle of things around you. We have the ability to do so many amazing things, but because of doubt and fear (the evil referees that always cheat) we tend to push ourselves back and never have any forward motion. This is the time to make two things certain...Number 1 we will move forward in life and we will do the things that we need to do in order to be successful and number 2, regardless of how hard life gets, how bad we have to endure or how many people attack us, we will still stand strong and firm and push on until we accomplish the goals set before us. I have faith in you my people. Fulfill your purpose. Have a great weekend! Peace.

-rjhii