Hey you! Yes you. Give me a minute of your time. Are you still here? Listen: you deserve happiness.
No one has the right to mistreat you. You don't have accept scorn or ridicule. You are not a doormat. You don't have to tolerate abusive behavior. Thanks for attending my Tedtalk!
Too often comfort causes us to accept treatment we know we shouldn't tolerate. We are convinced that our current situation is better than venturing into the unknown. This happens all the time in personal and professional relationships. All of us have stayed somewhere or with someone too long. Change is scary, but we don't have to let fear have the last word.
It takes courage to step into a new season. They call it a leap of faith for a reason. We are allowed to change the way we think about the future. Instead of finding reasons to fail, why not embrace change and chase destiny?
You might fail. But in the words of Sameul Beckett, "Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
I don't know who needs to hear this, but: you don't have to spend your time and energy dealing with people who think ill of you. You don't have enough time or energy to change their mind.
It's okay not to be liked by everyone. Too many of us are so infatuated with the idea of being liked that we change who we are. This is a tragic mistake. It's better to be respected than liked. Cutting against the grain and standing on your principles is enough to make people hate you.
Face it: there are people who don't like you. There are people who don't want to see you grow or succeed. There are people who need you to struggle in order to feel good about themselves. There are people waiting for you to fail. Get. Over. It. Those problems belong to them.
You don't have to inherit anyone's mania. You don't have to engage. You ARE NOT responsible for their feelings; however, you ARE responsible for your happiness. Do yourself a favor and quit trying to be liked by everyone. Focus on you and risk failing while trying to reach your potential. You may surprise yourself!
There are a lot of people celebrating Brandt Jean’s forgiveness of Amber Guyger. I don’t know Brandt Jean, so I won’t comment on his faith or motivation. That’s his heart, his conscious and his brother. I wish him and the family all the best moving forward; however, this is a moment we can reflect on.
While some are basking in the glow of this amazing sign of grace and forgiveness ask yourself: how many innocent men, women and children would be alive if our “Christian” nation practiced this kind of forgiveness?
We execute Americans every year for the crime of murder. We dropped two atomic bombs because we couldn’t forgive. There are hundreds of thousands dead Iraqis and Afghans because we couldn’t forgive. When innocent Americans are killed we call for revenge. We have bombed countries for less than what Amber Guyger did.
What if America responded to 9/11 like Brandt Jean responded to the murder of his brother? Think about all of the American and Allied Forces soldiers who lost limbs. Think about all of the soldiers who lost their lives. 18 years later we are still sending troops into those countries. Why don’t we practice more forgiveness when it comes to jurisprudence and international affairs?
How much PTSD could we have prevented? How many suicides could we have prevented? When was the last time our Christian nation showed such forgiveness?
The tradition of forgiveness cultivated and nurtured inside the Black church has been a strength and a weakness. Grace shouldn’t be reduced to a quid pro quo, but what has all of this turning the other cheek gotten our communities? Black folks have been forgiving America for things she won’t even apologize for. This was a senseless tragedy. I hope we don’t allow this sign of undeserved love to be used as a form of absolution.
