Black August: Mind Body Soul #31WriteNow
Every summer, I ponder on Black August and its significance in my life. July 31 seems to crash into me all too soon as I try to determine what comfort I’ll forgo during this August month of reflection and celebration. The procrastinator and timid over-thinker in me carries my spirit into ever increasing levels of guilt and shame as I realize I will never be as anti-consumerist, community-conscious, self-sacrificing and revolutionary as my greatest heroes and elders of the Diaspora. It literally becomes a false humility battle of egoes within myself and an image I memorialize of my elders. And every summer, at the stroke of midnight on August 1, I hit my ¡aha! moment realizing what I’ll remove to honor the sacrifices of political prisoners and my elders.
Well this year, my ¡aha! moment revealed not what comfort I’d remove, but rather, what discipline I’ll add to my life for these 31 days (and hopefully beyond). As I ponder on the miracle of George Jackson , I realize that with every right and comfort denied of him, he matched those with calls to action, an increase in discipline, and an emboldening of his voice. Mind Body and Soul is the theme for these 31 days for me. I will sharpen the tool of my mind by reading (instead of playing temple run on my commute to and from work), temple-build (my body) with scheduled exercise and nurture my walk with God through daily intentional prayer time in the morning and at night. Liberation through disciplined transformation. yes. I am here for this!
