The Love Collective

I was waken up by someone firing shots in the neighbor hood (on the West side) It had to had been just a few blocks away! About 5 gun shots, then all u could hear was ppl running and screaming like hell! About a minute later, 4 gunshots were fired from a different gun and even more screaming. I didn't hear a single siren. Not even an hour later. Just screams and cries of devastation.

I am now wide awake. And... A bit sensitive, because. well.... Certain things will probably always bother me.

I grew up in Detroit. East Seven mile. The hood. Even though we (my brother, sister and I) grew up in the hood and was told to stay away from the windows (paranoid that we'd get hit by stray bullets during neighborhood brawls) I'm glad my mother and my father didn't raise me to hate, even though it was right there in our environment. They REALLY protected us from the outside world when we were children... They never suggested or subjected us to violence. They wouldn't allow us to understand the ways of the streets and they kept us in a straight line! Never wanted us to believe in the terrifying life or way of any Street corner. They feared and STILL fear of us being a victim to the violence and hate of the streets/world.

I hated how I was raised. 😂 Seriously! I did not like having this long list of things that I could and couldn't do! I thought my parents were mean and didn't want me to have fun at all! 🙅 it was always church, church, church!!! 😂 Couldn't play with the kids in the neighborhood or at school, couldn't wear the cool clothes or listen to the cool music. But as I grew into adulthood.... Well... I think REALLY began to understand their intent. More and more each day, I'm grateful for the love that they displayed, the safety and protection that they offered me and my siblings, and the care that they gave us. That trump's over the bad (and there have been some rough times) that we've endured as a family. one of the best parts about having family that you love and being is that I can do what I want and make my own decisions without feeling bad about it anymore. I'm just glad that we are continually learning how to love each other regardless of personal lifestyles, images and decisions! That turned out better than I expected.

I wrote this blog because I am a lover. I am a creator. A dreamer.

Sometimes I close my eyes and I imagine that the world some day, somehow let love and hard work be the only premise of the story. That everyone worked together to be well, to live well, to teach, to build, to contribute to world hunger, and save the planet and the youth. My day dreams look like shit on a stick after reality kicks in. I feel weighed down after imagining such things then struggling to see the possibility in these things ever happening. Along our journey we are collectively faced with warfare, violence, controlled by the government and the powerful, we face discrimination and hate...I try to imagine a world where people who don't agree on the same things or do things the same way could STILL LIVE and THRIVE IN THE SAME COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENTS TOGETHER SUCCESSFULLY, PEACEFULLY AND JOYFULLY. The fortunate thing about having to go through some things to get some place in life is that it builds character, makes you wiser, less ignorant, stronger, resilient and inspiring. 

I don't believe in the impossible. I believe that one collective can change the way we love, the way we live and the way things are seen and done, for the better. Forever. I am a part of that collective. People that I associate with are a part of that collective. 

Agape

In my heart and soul, I believe that we were created so that we may know, recieve and display love. I want it. Always. I crave love in the deepest capacity's. Love is beautiful. The kind of love without sexual implocations. The kind of selfless love that knows all about sacrifice. The love that is delighted in doing. A kind and benevolent kind of love.

"Loves capacity goes beyond the normal. It moves beyond self. Its capacity pushes through and beyond any struggle."  Anthony Gainey Sr.

We get caught up in this mondane, day-to-day living, struggling or way of existing and sometimes just get lost deep inside the darkness of ourselves, neglecting everyone and everything else. In that, we have neglected a tremendous obligation. Our job is to bring ppl closer to love. Ppl in the world have been misguided about love or have suffered and avoided love because of pain inflicted by others. There are ppl who avoid love or don't act out of love, even to those closest to them because of hate, because of childhood neglect, abuse, and so much more.... There are innocent ppl, who desire to feel love, and fantisize or imagine about what it could be, how it could possibly feel or what it may look like, but do not know much about love at all...... How can they who dont know what love is, display love? How can one save anything worth saving, heal amy inflicted pain or reach out to someone in pain or another to reconcile anything without possessing love or knowing what love is?

-Nobody can love better than the ultimate creator. We were carefully made. The world was intrinsicly crafted with love to keep us alive, so that we may be fruits of love, producing more fruit. Nothing can separate THE LOVE THAT THE CREATOR HAS FOR YOU. NOTHING!!!!

Look all around u. The next time u take ur next breath, sort ur butt on the toilet without pain or much struggle, when u step outside your doorstep and u look into the sky, the next moment that u feel the breeze and u see the trees moving with the wind, take that as a sign of the purest, most natural and greatest love ever known and get to know what THAT love REALLY is.

Selah.