What a burden it must be to feel the need to hang onto the past in that way. Imagine having so much (and most of us do), only to miss out on it because we are busy worrying about the past.
And so I do my little part to point out the joy, that joy in life lies towards the future and not the long ago past. Life is too short to think oneself into misery. Best,
I know. " When a young girl goes to school and learns about slavery and if that young girl can trace her ancestry to colonial Tidewater Virginia, our young girl is robbed of her racial innocence. She learns about American Slavery and is never the same. She must make a choice. She runs away from her ancestors as monsters or she grows protective of her ancestors and treats her ancestors as her children, warts and all. And that is a heavy weight to carry for any child understanding her world and her place in the world." -- On the Road to Oak Lawn: Truth, Reconciliation and the Twymans, p. 4. (self-published, December 1, 2018)
I think often about what my various ancestors went through and survived in order for me to be here today, and I am thankful. Living today as if one is experiencing the trials and tribulations of the past is a slap in the face to those who actually lived it. My abilities and skills are mostly in male-dominated areas, and I did live the antagonism and obstacles thrown my way in the 70's and later, yet I love watching young women and men today with opportunities wide open. I'm sad for those who lived through Jim Crow and who can't let go, and I don't judge them for the memories they carry.
Someone said recently on a podcast "I am my ancestor's dream." Savor the insight, gratitude, pietas and power in that sense of self. "I am my ancestor's dream." I often think the way lies in the spiritual and how we perceive ourselves, and our ancestors. See Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
Love the comment from the podcast and love Viktor Frankl. We are all here for such a short time and finding meaning in life is essential, imo. But I also believe we are "reborn" many times as we have various experiences to help us try and get closer to Sava (my word for The Creator). I use that word so all can fill in whatever they believe, and it helps avoid useless dogma arguments. I've met a few people in my 63 years that I've immediately sensed I've met before. I can remember listening to Peter Boghossian talk about meeting a man and they both instantly realized they knew each other, but they had never met in this life.
I know the feeling of vague recognition. For lack of better words, it feels like one is repeating an experience. The experience triggers pattern recognition. I am aware of the sensation, force myself to think about the sensation, and then the sensation slips away to return one day unannounced. Sort of like the time loop in Star Trek. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cause_and_Effect_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
Years ago, I was strolling through the internet. I found a fun site that claimed it could determine one's previous life based upon data points from one's current life. I gave it a whirl and the result was interesting. According to the site and in my previous life, I was a Polynesian female teacher in the 1600s. Maybe, my visit to the Pacific tropical island last year stirred my creativity because I was returning to source after hundreds of years. Who knows/smile! https://twyman.substack.com/p/the-souls-of-black-folks
"It is normal to keep historic slavery in the past, not to live in the slave past." Great line. The people who are the most oppressed, and making sure everyone else feels oppressed, are the least oppressed. Al Sharpton, Ben Crump Joyless Reid, and the cackling hens on The View, enjoy spewing the vomit of Blackness is Oppression. Nothing else matters. "The words we consume define our mental state." Absolute truth.
What a burden it must be to feel the need to hang onto the past in that way. Imagine having so much (and most of us do), only to miss out on it because we are busy worrying about the past.
And so I do my little part to point out the joy, that joy in life lies towards the future and not the long ago past. Life is too short to think oneself into misery. Best,
Reminds me of George Schuyler…
I know. " When a young girl goes to school and learns about slavery and if that young girl can trace her ancestry to colonial Tidewater Virginia, our young girl is robbed of her racial innocence. She learns about American Slavery and is never the same. She must make a choice. She runs away from her ancestors as monsters or she grows protective of her ancestors and treats her ancestors as her children, warts and all. And that is a heavy weight to carry for any child understanding her world and her place in the world." -- On the Road to Oak Lawn: Truth, Reconciliation and the Twymans, p. 4. (self-published, December 1, 2018)
I think often about what my various ancestors went through and survived in order for me to be here today, and I am thankful. Living today as if one is experiencing the trials and tribulations of the past is a slap in the face to those who actually lived it. My abilities and skills are mostly in male-dominated areas, and I did live the antagonism and obstacles thrown my way in the 70's and later, yet I love watching young women and men today with opportunities wide open. I'm sad for those who lived through Jim Crow and who can't let go, and I don't judge them for the memories they carry.
Someone said recently on a podcast "I am my ancestor's dream." Savor the insight, gratitude, pietas and power in that sense of self. "I am my ancestor's dream." I often think the way lies in the spiritual and how we perceive ourselves, and our ancestors. See Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
Thanks for your insightful comment.
Love the comment from the podcast and love Viktor Frankl. We are all here for such a short time and finding meaning in life is essential, imo. But I also believe we are "reborn" many times as we have various experiences to help us try and get closer to Sava (my word for The Creator). I use that word so all can fill in whatever they believe, and it helps avoid useless dogma arguments. I've met a few people in my 63 years that I've immediately sensed I've met before. I can remember listening to Peter Boghossian talk about meeting a man and they both instantly realized they knew each other, but they had never met in this life.
I know the feeling of vague recognition. For lack of better words, it feels like one is repeating an experience. The experience triggers pattern recognition. I am aware of the sensation, force myself to think about the sensation, and then the sensation slips away to return one day unannounced. Sort of like the time loop in Star Trek. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cause_and_Effect_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
Years ago, I was strolling through the internet. I found a fun site that claimed it could determine one's previous life based upon data points from one's current life. I gave it a whirl and the result was interesting. According to the site and in my previous life, I was a Polynesian female teacher in the 1600s. Maybe, my visit to the Pacific tropical island last year stirred my creativity because I was returning to source after hundreds of years. Who knows/smile! https://twyman.substack.com/p/the-souls-of-black-folks
"It is normal to keep historic slavery in the past, not to live in the slave past." Great line. The people who are the most oppressed, and making sure everyone else feels oppressed, are the least oppressed. Al Sharpton, Ben Crump Joyless Reid, and the cackling hens on The View, enjoy spewing the vomit of Blackness is Oppression. Nothing else matters. "The words we consume define our mental state." Absolute truth.