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By Julie Borders
On January 21st of this year, we celebrate the nationally recognized Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday (http://www.thekingcenter.org/) that Coretta Scott King & many others worked so tirelessly to establish. We are grateful for this 1st family of the Civil Rights Movement’s sacrifice, commitment & perseverance in keeping the Dream alive, despite the loss of its primary Dreamer. Today, January 15th, 2008, Martin, Jr. would be turning 79, if he still occupied that particular suit of flesh & bones. Martin’s spirit, of course, lives on in those who accept the mantle of truth, justice & unwavering faith in the intrinsic goodness of the human spirit.So today I sing praises to and express appreciation for the ancestors & parents who birthed him and the community that raised/raises him up, physically, mentally & spiritually: family, friends, teachers, preachers, doctors, lawyers, statesmen, street sweepers …women, men & children, past, present & future, generously sharing their individual journeys to our collective greatness. Thank you for the yearning & learning, desiring & inspiring, motivating & emulating, poking & prodding, loving & leaving, signifying, rectifying & testifying. Thank you for asking us to do what must be done to be all that we can become.
We remain steadfast in the inner knowing that the Dream is in our grasp, if only we choose to courageously reach for it. What action can we take today to transform the darkness of poverty, disease & ignorance into the brightness of abundance, wholeness & enlightenment? Let’s not just KNOW the answer, let’s BE the answer to the divinely human challenges that make life worth living. Atlanta’s Center for Civil & Human Rights (http://www.cchrpartnership.org/) represents an outstanding opportunity to tangibly weave this work into our everyday lives. So I ask you now, how do YOU remember, celebrate & act in these most holy Civil & Human Rights days, weeks, years & millennia, in this & every precious moment?
Faithful readers. By now I’m almost bored with pointing out when Hillary Clinton steps in her own poop, but I have to weigh in on this one. It’s too important.
Unless you live under a really big rock that doesn’t have cable, you know that this week during an impromptu Fox News interview, Hillary told a reporter that:
“Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done.”
Now, this morning CNN is reporting that Hillary and Bill are in full damage control mode, doing the news show rounds, and accusing the Obama campaign of “distorting” her words regarding Dr. King. As if we’ve all been inflicted with some sort of collective brain disorder that renders us incapable of hearing and comprehending on our own. Sheesh.
I hate to be the one to break it to Hillary, but there is no going back on this one, and African Americans around this country are correct to be incensed. What she said was not taken out of context, it was not misinterpreted, and none of us have heard incorrectly. Hillary Clinton thinks that Martin Luther King Jr’s efforts during the Civil Rights movement were just “a dream”, and that it took Lyndon B. Johnson, a politician, to swoop in and make his and the dreams of millions of socially, financially and physically abused Black Americans a reality. Wow.
What a terrible mis-step. Even I, someone who is no fan of Hillary Clinton, and who really just wants the Clintons to fade into history, don’t really believe that she really believes that Martin Luther King Jr. had no substantive part in the Civil Rights Movement. Only an idiot would believe that, and Hillary’s no idiot. But are we distorting her words? Heck no. She said what she said when she said it, and now she must be made to pay the political piper. Hillary Clinton has proven yet AGAIN, that in the heat of the moment, when her back is against the wall, she’ll say and do anything to try to portray herself in the proper light. So in trying once again to do so, whether she meant to or not, she dismissed the historical importance of the man who without argument was the catalyst, visionary, and leader of the Civil Rights Movement in this country.
It’s mind-boggling. What Hillary said to that reporter makes her seem like someone who just doesn’t understand the power of a movement. That’s the real problem. At a minimum, in stating that Lyndon Johnson was really behind the change that occurred during those perilous years, she once again has shown that she just doesn’t understand what any of us means when we talk about real change. And at worse, if she really DOES believe what she said that day, then she really is the soul-less being people portray her as, and so entrenched in the Washington political machine, that unlike another famous ‘matrix’, the biggest red pill in the world won’t snap her back to reality.
If Rosa Parks had never stayed seated on that bus that day, if Reverend King had never inspired the masses to protest the injustices of that time, if Malcolm X had never stood up to say that we will achieve our freedom in this nation “by any means necessary”, if all the other fighters, the ordinary people of that time had not organized, marched, chanted, listened, rallied, and worked tirelessly to change hearts and minds – President Johnson would never have been moved to act. Period. Get it now, Hillary? Lyndon Johnson may have put his blessing on the law with the stroke of a pen that finally legally validated what so many people fought and died for (including of course Dr. King), but it was the architect of that movement, and the many everyday citizens who would not take no for an answer that made it happen.
Now – enough of Billary. I want you to dare to dream with me for a moment. Imagine if you will that the architect of the new dream of a truly United States, actually was the President. Imagine what it would be like if the man who was challenging the nation to think of what we could one day be, unified, together, working to tackle our nation’s problems as a collective rather than as a group of labels actually occupied the Oval Office. Imagine if he had not only taught us that the dream possible, but was actually in a position to make that dream a reality.
In Senator Barack Obama, we’re going to have both an inspirational leader and a courageous chief executive, and that my friends is what this nation both wants and needs. We want to be inspired; we want a moral leader, someone who can step up on the world stage with courage, free of scandal, political baggage, and the shackles of a history of self-aggrandizement, ready to say what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done to solve the nation’s and the world’s problems.
So let Hillary and Bill waste their time with their endless political rants. We know that we have so much more to look forward to in Senator Obama. Unlike the Clintons, Senator Obama is not the least bit interested in twisting or distorting anything in the hopes of getting the desired reaction for the moment. And that’s why he will be the Democratic nominee, and the next President of the United States.
One more thing – any African American that votes for Hillary Clinton after this doesn’t deserve to benefit from all that Dr. King and our forefathers fought so hard to give us. Pass this one along.
By Kim Bettie
The great debate continues. Is it really possible for women to have it all? An even better question is, “Can we handle it all?” We want to get more joy out of life. However, the number one killer of joy is burnout. For nearly 10 years I worked as an executive coach for General Motors. The executive women I coached were breaking the glass ceiling, but at the expense of their peace of mind.
Despite our best efforts, it appears the evidence is stacked against us. Given the demands and pace of life today, our quality of life is suffering. Finding balance can literally mean the difference between life and death. Many of us complain about being over extended. As a result, we are not taking very good care of ourselves. One in three Americans is overweight. Our eating and drinking habits are responsible for six out of ten deaths. Coronary heart disease is the number one single killer of women over the age of 25. The effects of chronic stress are major contributors to our escalating health concerns.
So many women are growing weary of unsuccessfully juggling multiple roles and sacrificing one aspect of life for another. The meaning of work and related time commitments must be balanced with the time, energy, and satisfaction devoted to family and friends. Women who put work first, or give work equal priority to their home life, are experiencing higher rates of depression and role conflict than those who put relationships first.
I will never forget the robust conversations with my mother about how my life would be radically different than her life. Unlike her I was going to have it all: health, fitness, the perfect career, a loving husband, and adoring children. I believed I would have the time and energy for my husband, children, home, church, community, as well as, me-time. I got all I asked for and more. However, this was no fairy tale ending.
All of my successes came back to haunt me. Instead of living my dream life, it turned out to be a nightmare that ended in divorce. I had no time for myself, very little energy, and even less joy. I struggled in every way imaginable to find balance and fulfillment. Unfortunately, I was not prepared to live my new life. It would take a major shift in perspective for me to overcome the barriers to really living my vision and enjoying my life.
As I considered my condition, I was reminded of a parable in the Bible that warns “No man puts new wine into old bottles: else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.” “Bottles” were made of goatskins sewn together at the edges to form watertight bags. New wine expands as it ages, so it had to be put in new, pliable wineskins. An old wineskin has become too rigid and will burst under the pressure and spill the wine. This is what I believe is happening to women today. We set out to live a new life of promise, but we put the new life into old “wineskin”, and many have reached the breaking point. We need a fresh perspective, a life-changing new method…a new “wineskin”.
In 2004, I started my own business. I decided to use what I learned in corporate America to reach my own life goals. Now, I am privileged to make a living coaching hundreds of people – mostly women – as they make plans to live the life they always imagined. The majority of my clients are between the ages of 35-50. Most are African-American professional women. Some are married, but most are single or divorced. I take them through a process to shift their mindset to success and create a strategic vision for life.
We must be liberated from the inside out with a new life-changing mindset. I let my version of a perfect life go, and created a shared vision with God, using Proverbs 31. This rare and valiant woman juggled many more roles than I ever could have imagined with grace and dignity. As I focused on Proverbs 31, I began to change from the inside out. I embraced with joy the roles that once overwhelmed me, as actual gifts from God. I have found peace that surpasses my own understanding. I have stopped complaining about balancing my different roles in life. I now pray for renewed strength. This type of balance is about being poised with the gracious tact to cope and handle every aspect of life.
“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She gets up while it is still dark; and she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it and out of her earnings, she plants a vineyard. She sets out about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for the tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable; her lamp does not go out at night. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
Her husband is respected at the city gate where he takes his seat with the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come, she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed: her husband also, and he praises her, ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceptive; and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”
It is a best practice to find a real life role model to bring more focus to your vision. We are in dire need of role models to demonstrate the successful navigation of a woman’s life in the 21st century. We need a variety of role models to represent all of the women in America today. Lately, I have been hearing more and more women refer to Michelle Obama as their role model. A woman recently came up to me after a speaking engagement. She said, “When you talk about the Proverbs 31 woman, I think of Michelle Obama.” She was excited about the possibility of her being our First Lady.
I believe Michelle Obama embodies the true spirit and poise of this woman of biblical proportions. It has been helpful for me and others to see and hear her speak openly about how she achieves balance, as she supports her husband’s campaign for President. God has uniquely fashioned us to have a potent effect on the behavior of others with the visible strength emanating from us.
Kim Bettie is a life coach and partner with The Greater Advantage, Inc. Kim has 20 years of executive, career and life coaching experience. She shares strategies for success in workshops, teleseminars, and private coaching sessions around the country. She has developed a variety of do-it-yourself coaching products to help you shift your mindset to success in business, life and love too. She can be reached at lifecoach@greateradvantage.com.
An Open Letter to America
January 27, 2008 in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Commentary, Did You Know?, Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Michelle Obama, Politics, Polls | by bfwo | 1 comment
We have turned our backs on our children. The highschool drop out rate in some areas of our country is as high as 52%, and 15-year olds from Poland, Luxembourg, Finland and the Czech Republic all have higher rates of math literacy than ours do. China now leads the world in the number of university graduates, and we don’t have enough highly skilled workers to fill the jobs and provide the innovation that will ensure our place as the technological leader we have always been into the future.
We have lost the ability to build and maintain strong families. We have no moral grounding. Our leaders have by their example sent a message to the nation that it’s okay to do anything you want as long as you don’t get caught. Hypocrisy is the norm and no longer the exception, and our leaders by their behaviour have kept us mired in scandal and have been an embarassment to us before the rest of the world.
We have lost control of our borders. Our lust for cheap labor has resulted in a torrent of immigrants who, though hard-working, have taxed our resources, degraded the quality of education our teachers are able to provide our children, and made the process of legal immigration seem no longer necessary.
We are saddled with a healthcare system that continuously fails us; we leave innocent children to die at the whim of big healthcare congolmerates, and our elderly have to choose between medication and food. Even those who provide most of our jobs in this country, small businesses, are having a harder and harder time affording coverage for their workers.
Worst of all, we have seen our political process descend into chaos, rendered immobile by a level of partisanship and polarization unlike any we’ve ever known. And so the problems that plague us, the social and economic puzzles we desperately need to solve continue to confound us, because we cannot seem to unify to find solutions. Our politicians seem to care more about holding on to power than what’s best for our country; they lend their attentions to the highest bidder, and leave the American people to fend for themselves, unsure of how to change things, but certain that our Government is not working and can’t help us.
America – it doesn’t have to be like this. We can work together to solve our most pressing problems, we can be the leader in educating our children again, we can rebuild our families, strengthen our borders, and fix our failing healthcare system, but not if we continue to try to do things the way we’ve done them in the past. Doing things the way we’ve done them in the past will only ensure that we will not have the brighter future that we long for.
America – it is so much easier to fight than it is to love; It is so much easier to doubt, than it is to find the courage to change; and it is so much easier to cling to the past than it is to have faith in the future, but as a nation, we have NEVER done what was easy. We have never let people who only have their best interests at heart try to dictate ours, whether they be from other nations, or from within. As a nation, we have always found our greatest strength when we’ve banded together, each and everyone of us to rise to a higher purpose. Well that time is now, America. It is time for us to find the bravery to shake the shackles of the past, respectfully acknowledging that our past leaders have been what we’ve needed in the past but that it is now time to begin to build our shining future.
What that means to you America, is quite frankly up to you. For me, it means having the courage to elect a leader who can step into office on day one, unfettered by the ghosts, scandals and baggage of of his political past. A leader who has demonstrated by his example a fervent desire to give the government back to the people, and who has no sense that the nation is obligated to elect him to office for no other reason than he (or she) says it should be so.
For me, it means having the courage, and the wisdom, to elect a man who has himself exhibited profound courage and wisdom in the face of attacks from the most skilled and organized political machine this country has ever known. Because I love this country, and everyone who lives in it; because I KNOW that we are meant to turn towards a brighter future, and not stay mired in the past; because there is no other way to repair the damage that has been done by the familial dynasties that have had a strong hold on our political system for almost thirty years, I will do all I can to ensure that Senator Barack Obama becomes the next President of the United States. I’ll do it for you, I’ll do it for myself, but most of all, I’ll do it for my eleven-year old son. It’s just too important.
It is our job to leave our children with a better nation, a stronger one than we found, America. The kind of nation that only a new perspective, fresh ideas, and honest to goodness unity can bring about. I am not afraid to let go of the past, America, and you can’t be either.
Love,
Patricia Wilson-Smith