Life Improvement Tips For The Wise Few

Life isn’t getting any easier and the best way to move forward is when we have a group of like minded people working for the best and bringing out the best in each other. We have to start wanting the best for ourselves and for everyone else we know.

Being black is hard as it is, and a constant attack at each other isn’t helping anyone of us. Why can’t black people look out for each other? Why can’t black people build stronger ties in our community? I do believe we can, but the picture that we are painting today has to change.

Let’s try to see the big picture that is being painted today:

1. Making kids for many different men isn’t helping out, you got to see that there is something wrong with this. Today there are parents with four, five or more children all from different fathers. What’s wrong with that picture? They invented birth control with no color barrier, and still many are making babies like they are a bargain.
2. It is hip to wear you pants below the waist line, and walk like a duck. Man, get real, this has no face value to me. I can’t picture the top executives walking into a meeting room to negotiate a million dollar deal, with such a dress code. No one will take you serious. So why is our youth wearing their pants that way?
3. Education is available to all whom wish, yet, many of our black children are dropping out of school before the age of sixteen. Do we think that the future lies in becoming a professional Basket ball player, Football player or maybe a famous rapper (they all carry the trade mark of the “Drop Down Pants Syndrome.”) So why is our youth lacking in the school benches?
4. Our teenage girls are not getting the chance to even enjoy marriage, it is just all about sex, they are letting themselves be video taped by their so called boyfriends. Trust me, if he loved you that much, he wouldn’t be taping you, he would be too busy making love with you. If he wants to tape you, just ask yourself what he would do with that video once you and him are no longer together? Guess the answer is obvious! Something is wrong with the amount of videos of our teenage love struck youngster. Help me paint this picture. Why are they letting their boyfriends tape them? Haven’t they just seen the last one from someone in our community?
5. Teenagers getting pregnant at such a young age, it’s like children raising children all over again. When will the cycle stop? How can we change this picture, are we raising children so they can just get pregnant at a very young age?
6. Many of the children hanging out on the block, can’t even write nor read their own name if you snubbed it right under their noses. How will they ever be able to sign a check or get their own bank account, much less get a great JOB? Something is wrong with this picture, hanging on the block is not cool.
7. Young girls hanging out with a group of boys until late in the evening, I have seen this in my own neighborhood. don’t these youngsters have a mother or a father? This picture, let’s me to see that boys and girls hanging out late at night means, our own parental skills are lagging.
8. Look at the checkout counters, all we are seeing is young black girls, working for minimum wages. Will they grow up and start a family of their own? How can we change this picture and capture the better jobs that are available?
9. Parents attacking the teachers, is it the teacher fault, or is it the teachers responsibility to discipline our children?
10. Now, I am taking a great example from my little Island St. Maarten. Many of our youngsters are ending up in prison. Whenever a crime is committed they blame the foreigners, well, wake up people this is not true. Our prisons are becoming to small, they are filling up with black folks, and many of them are local Antillean kids. What’s wrong with this picture.

I can go on and on, and create a really big list, but I do think the picture has been painted, and I do know you see what I see, and understand where I am coming from. If you don’t then that means you have living with your eyes closed and not accepting the fact that we as black people are failing miserable.

At the time of this writing, Barack Obama is running for president, and he is a black man. Yes, we have come a long way, and we should be proud to see this. I am proud to have witness this event in my life, because it shows that some of the black people in the world are painting better pictures. But to few and too little to brag about. What is the first picture you think he would wish to change?

Do you think it’s Obama’s job, or our job to work together and starting pushing each other up the ladder. As black people we have to stop fighting and putting each other down. We have to stand up and unite and help each other improve. To make this world a better place, it starts with you, you have to change that picture that many of our black folks are painting, and it starts with you, not Obama or any other person.

We have to stop playing the blaming game and start facing our own responsibilities with open eyes.

We must become the change we want to see in the world… “Mahatma Gandhi”

We have to also start educating our kids and getting them to start striving for better in life. Change their mental image of what life is supposed to be like. Let them see that to be different is something great.

This is not a black or white issue, this is not a teaching problem, this is a problem we are facing daily and if we don’t start pushing each other up the ladder, we will find ourselves living in bondage again. Just enjoying the meager wages and living in the poverty stricken neighborhoods.

Let’s all change this picture, and do something today. A small change in our thinking and our attitude, will help propel more of our black people to do more and strive for more. Let’s start with the first change, and that is to change yourself, forget about changing the world or another person, just change yourself and that will enable just one more black person to shine, together we will make a difference.

I want to leave you with a quote from Robert Holden’s book: Shift Happens…

Today, be what you want.

If you want love, be loving.

If you want peace, be peaceful.

If you want fun, be funny.

If you want “NEW”, be different.

If you want adventure, be open.

If you want success, be alive.

If you want joy, be kind.

I can’t say enough great things about this book, Shift Happens, it is just inspiring, amazing and fun to read over and over again…

Growing leaders for tomorrow starts at home, and it starts at a very young age, and it’s up to you to inspire your children to greatness. Do you know how to inspire your children to greatness? If your one of those parents that is thinking that your children will turn out great on their own, you will be in for a great surprise. Your children needs guidance and molding and most of all inspiration from you.

When it comes to my own children I do my best to teach and show them right from wrong, I don’t just spank and scold and leave it at that, after every disciplinary action I try to show them what they did wrong and why I responded the way I did.

To create leaders out of your children takes communication, you have to speak to your kids as if they are grown ups, and their age is not important. Communicate in a way that will show them what you expect of them. Picture the life that you have in mind for your kids, and let them know what you expect of them.

There is nothing wrong with high expectations, but there is something wrong with pushing your children beyond what they can do, and pushing them in a direction that you wish for them, they have minds of their own, you just need to show them the right path.

You can’t live your life through your children, they have to live the life that they want. At times, they will not have a clue what they wish to become, and that is where you come in as a parent. You have to see what they are capable of, see exactly what it is that they like, and once you discover their passion, then slowly lead them in that direction. That can be done by purchasing books for them to read, even getting videos that shows them what that profession entails. Carry them on field trips to visit companies that cater to their field.

No knowledge gained at a you age will be lost, it all starts with a simple idea. The best ideas came from people with very little education, so don’t believe that it is all about having top degrees and becoming a lawyer or a doctor. The small and over looked ideas created millions for those who dared to dream big.

When you look around you today everything that you see was created by someone, from a dream or what we call: “A ah hah moment”.

To inspire your children to greatness starts by talking to them about life, and about the ways to start your own business or the work fields that can create high salaries. Inspiration is what will drive your kids to greatness, you have to constantly show them the bigger picture, get them to dream big and to think big.

I don’t have a problem with low level jobs, but I have a problem when I see our youths growing up to work those types of jobs, when there are much better jobs available.

If you have to start with a low level paying job, great, but do have your mind set that this will be temporary, and that is why you should show your kids that they have the potential to be much better than you and have to them grow with the mindset that they will have a much better life than yours.

Another overlooked point is money.

Teach your kids about money, show them how to deal with money, give them an allowance and watch what they do with it. If they tend to spend it on unnecessary things, explain to them why it’s not worth it and how to make better use of their money.

Make your kids to understand the value of money at a very young age, it’s not about the love of money, it’s about what money can do for you.

Many folks talk down their children, telling them that money is the root of all evil, and that the rich don’t enjoy their wealth. Well, trust me, your child should understand that the love for money is a problem, but having money is the way to a better life. Don’t be a slave for money, but learn how to make money work for you.

Teach them that money is a good thing, if your kids grow up thinking money is bad, then they would end up living a mediocre life, while the greatness that life has to offer can only be seen when you live a honest and trustworthy life with or without money. It’s not the amount of money that you have that will create happiness, it’s the way you feel about money that makes you happy. Be generous and thankful for the little you have and it will grow, and show your kids the value.

A broken home isn’t a happy home.

At some point in life, many marriages fail and that single parent takes on the roll of a bittered Mom/Pop, and they show that bitterness towards their own kids. But I don’t believe it should be that way, I think you should do with what you have, and accept that it was not meant to be. From now on you should show your kids that being a single parent is something that can happen to anyone and that you should make the best of your life under every circumstance.

Their are situations where single parents has created the most successful children that we know of today. And that is because those parents were really busy inspiring greatness and molding their kids to have a better life than what their parents had.

Married couples that argue and fight constantly

Another sad family affair that I have often seen, is two people living together like cats and dogs, fighting and cursing each blessed day. That’s not good for your children, it brings them up with the mindset that fighting and cursing is a way of life.

It’s not, and if that’s the case then you are better off being a single parent, because your kids won’t be ready to face life, and be able to raise inspired children of their own.

Kids raising kids…

I think it’s time we start to educate our kids about “sex”, and to stop thinking that they won’t get pregnant. If you teach them how to protect then there would be no surprises in your family.

If your not talking to them about sex, trust me on this one, at some point in their life someone else will.

Teach them to protect or to know the consequences of what will happen. You can’t stop it, and your kids won’t ever tell you everything, so forget that idea. You can only try to improve your communication gap with your own children and that is what will help build strong bonds.

As I end to day I leave you with this:

You have to be a role model to your kids, so push them and show them how proud you are and that you live an honest and sincere life. Be there for them and help them through the rough times, but let them learn from their own mistakes, ad talk about the things that they will confront in life and the different people they have to meet when growing up and how to deal with them.

Be honest and open with them, and they will be honest and open with certain things, yes, they will keep certain secrets from you. Show them love at home, and empower them whenever you can. The role you should fulfill from now on is that of a parent who is always asking this one question: How To Inspire Your Children To Greatness?