Monday, June 9, 2014

WHAT ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS???

TRANSPARENCY WEEK (this is long, but it is a GREAT story) 

I am a better MAN and a better FRIEND because of one of my BEST FRIENDS in the UNIVERSE..Derrick Worsley. Little did he know, he taught me one of the most valuable lessons in my life and outside of my FATHER, he's influenced my life in ways he couldn't possibly know until NOW.

Derrick and I have been friends since 1990. He's ALWAYS been a GREAT FRIEND to me; however, there was a time that I was NOT a GREAT FRIEND to him. I was dating a girl in college that I was in love with head over heels. She really had me by the nose (among other things) <<grow up...I'm being transparent>>. 
Well, little did I know, she was cheating on me. I was so in love I was too blind to see that it was happening. Primarily because I didn't want to see it. Well, Derrick, saw it and questioned it. He questioned HER about it. He then came and told me his suspicions and his concern for my well being.

Do you wanna know what I did?? I got mad.......AT HIM. Not only did I get mad at him, I didn't tell him directly to his face, but to our mutual friends. I eventually had a conversation with him about the situation and told him how I felt about his accusations and that he was my boy but just stay out of it. What happened next shocked me and shook me.

Derrick ENDED our friendship. RIGHT THERE ON THE SPOT. He told me point blank that we were NOT friends. I ask why????? He said because as a friend, why would he come and tell me something KNOWING it would hurt me just for the sake of hurting me. What kind of friend would do that?? He expressed to me that he was being a friend by trying to protect me and I didn't appreciate it so I must not appreciate his friendship and JUST LIKE THAT....our friendship was over.

He wouldn't speak to me, answer the phone...nothing. Mind you he was dating one of my best friends (who eventually became his wife) so all of my interaction with him after that was extremely strained and awkward. I was devastated. I was angry. I was like "this is just a misunderstanding, it doesn't have to be like this". But it WAS like this and there was NOTHING I could do about it. I had just lost one of THE BEST FRIENDS I had EVER had.

Well, a month later, I did indeed find out that she was cheating on me....BIG TIME. The relationship ended and I had nothing to show for it. I didn't have the girl and I had lost my best friend. We didn't really speak for over 2 years. It was awful, but it was also ALL MY FAULT. I had no one to blame but myself.

Well, eventually we did talk and he CHOSE (notice the word I used) to forgive me. I carried around the pain of that guilt for years and it has never left me. I was HORRIBLE to one of the people that I KNEW AND HAD PROVEN TIME AND TIME AGAIN that had my back and look at what I did.

Well, his forgiveness and his friendship HELPED MAKE ME INTO THE MAN I AM TODAY. Had he NOT point blank just ended our friendship, I would still be thinking it's okay to treat people like this and think it's okay and that things just go back to normal. It took YEARS before things went back to normal. TO THIS DAY, I use this example in MY CLASSES that I teach on Ethics. Derrick doesn't even know that he's been an example to my students on what NOT to do to your friends. And YES DERRICK, I have talked about this situation A LOT over the last 4 years of me being a professor. THAT'S HOW MUCH THAT AND YOU HAVE IMPACTED MY LIFE!!

I want to PUBLICLY thank Derrick for teaching me that lesson about what a REAL FRIEND IS. I want to thank him for being my friend when I didn't deserve it. I want to thank him for accepting my friendship when he didn't have to. I want to thank him for being one of my absolute BEST friends to this day. I want to tell him that I love you brother with my whole heart and that you are the SALT OF THE EARTH to EVERYONE THAT KNOWS YOU. You didn't deserve what I did to you!! There are not too many people on Earth that are as genuine and as authentic as Derrick. That is the TRUTH. Anyone that is reading this that knows him KNOWS THIS. You have been a great friend to me and you are STILL a great friend. BUT what's more.....you are a GREAT PERSON. THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME GROW UP. THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN YOU SAY SOMEONE IS YOUR FRIEND AND YOU TRULY LOVE THEM....YOU ACT THAT WAY ALL THE TIME...NOT JUST WHEN IT'S CONVENIENT FOR YOU OR WHEN IT FEELS RIGHT.

Here's to you Derrick! Your brother Alvin loves you man!! And I DO HAVE YOUR BACK NOW AND FOREVER. YOU and YOU ALONE taught me how to be a REAL friend. I will FOREVER be that to YOU and anyone else I call "friend". I will forever be a better friend to YOU and to OTHERS than I was to you at that time in our lives. THAT I PROMISE!!

Until Next Time
I am The Sharp One


Sharpen your Edge and your life will never be Dull!

RUDE AWAKENING....I AM NOT IN CONTROL....OF ANYTHING!!!

MOMENT OF TRANSPARENCY
Rude awakening yesterday to make me realize that LIFE can change so suddenly. Former student of mine dies suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 29. SMH
That thing shook me to my core. This was a guy that was in great health (seemingly). One thing that was NOT seemingly was the fact that he was just an OUTSTANDING young man!! Truly authentic and genuine to EVERYONE. Had the type of personality that just drew people to him like moths to a flame. His presence will indeed be missed. His death caused me to think about my life.
At this moment in my life, I have lost communication with 2 people I care deeply about; my oldest godson and my eldest son. Both of them have made choices to stop communication with me and have cut me out of their everyday lives. It was when I made it clear that I wasn't going to tolerate being dealt with or talked to in a manner that is not befitting to me as a Godfather and a Father that I got iced out. I have been blocked and unfriended. I have been shunned and ignored. My calls and texts are not returned or acknowledged.
Did it hurt? Damn right it did!! LIKE HELL!!! I can't tell you how much sleep I lost, how much agony I felt, how many tears I shed. I can't begin to describe the deep anguish that I felt. There is no word that can describe the anguish associated with having your child stop dealing with you. NO WORD OR WORDS! It is a pain that is completely devoid of explanation. However, the only thing that could be WORSE is losing that child.
I almost lost my son in 2010 a few months after my Daddy passed away. It was 2 of the worst weeks of my entire life. He lay in bed with tubes and bags and machines doing all the work for him. It was just awful. God saw fit to bring him out and bring him back to us. I am THANKFUL to God everyday for my son and whether he feels it or not, I ALWAYS have his back because he's my baby. But he's made his choices. He knows full well just like I do that life can change in an instant, but it's his choice.
My Godson (my first and oldest godchild) just decided that he just didn't care about his life or what others felt about his life. He crapped on and manipulated everyone that has tried to help him. As a result, he's homeless and is also destitute. When I tried to talk to him about his issues, it almost resulted in a physical altercation. THAT TOO is a feeling that is indescribable. How is the person that you raised and loved and nurtured now standing looking you in the eye daring you to fight him??? It was just too much to bear. He is possibly looking at incarceration for his actions. These are his choices.
Mind you this is not ancient history. All of this happened to me LAST MONTH with both my son and my godson. Why am I sharing this with you? Well, because yesterday this rude awakening with my former student's death helped to realize just how short, precious and UNPREDICTABLE life can be and is. I will NEVER turn my back on the people I love EVER, but I won't keep putting myself in positions to be hurt or manipulated by those same people. All I can do is be the BEST I can be DAILY. I can't control when people talk to me or if they ever will talk to me again. I had to realize that they know that life is short just like I do, but they've made their choices. They are grown men now. I can't send them to their rooms. I can't put them on punishment. I just have to take what I get....BUT I DON'T HAVE TO ACCEPT WHAT I GET!!! THEY have to live their lives, make their own mistakes, learn their own lessons and walk their own paths. So do I. OUR relationship is not solely MY RESPONSIBILITY!! IT TAKES TWO TO MAKE A THING GO RIGHT!!
I have every confidence in the world that relationship will be restored with my babies, but as it stands right now, that will not happen and the choice is theirs. I have accepted that truly. I have moved forward. They've shown me where I stand and where I stand...is where I'll stay. Life is for the living and not only do they have to live, but I do too.
I don't know why I was led to share this but I truly hope it helped someone. Don't feel the need to quote to me or anything. I appreciate it truly I do, but God has given me peace with this. As the father with the prodigal son, I just live and wait....but I LIVE!

Until next time!
Sharpen your Edge and your LIFE will never be DULL!

I am
The Sharp One

Thursday, January 30, 2014

WELCOME TO MY LIGHT....MY LIFE...MY TESTIMONY

I been reflecting over my life this morning. I have things I want to accomplish this year. In ONE MONTH I have made drastic and tangible changes to my life in all facets of my life. I am so proud of myself. I am so thankful to GOD for allowing me the time to make these changes and to attempt to be the best version of me that I can be.

I grew up believing I was not good enough, that I was ugly, that I was unattractive, that I was unworthy, that I was unlovable. Those ideas and bad seeds (lies) were planted in my head from MANY sources. They all germinated to create one huge STINK WEED called "my existence".

It wasn't until 2010 that I went from "existing" and I started "living". IRONICALLY, it took the passing of my Daddy on July 1, 2010 to make me really look at ME. That journey took me on a road of self discovery. It helped me build a reliance on God in a way I hadn't before; but it also made ME rely on ME. I realized I had something to offer the world. I realized I had been cheating MYSELF out of getting to know and love me and because of that I wasn't gonna let anyone else really get to know and love me. I was keeping people emotionally at bay and they didn't even know I was doing it. I WAS MY OWN STUMBLING BLOCK.

What a difference 4 years makes!! Once I was suffering in silence putting on a face that I thought people wanted to see but on the inside was slowly deteriorating. I had to find ME. It's funny that people can sometimes see the gift in you BEING YOU before YOU can even see it. It was hard to hear that I was "special" when deep down I truly didn't believe it.

Well now, I DO BELIEVE IT. I embrace it. I embrace me. I love me and I love the God in me and the God that saw fit to make me...ME. ALL of my challenges, struggles and pains have brought me to this very moment. This moment of walking IN THE LIGHT. Walking with LIGHT! Walking INTO THE LIGHT! Basking in THE LIGHT.

I am TRANSPARENT TO YOU most of the time VERY MUCH ON PURPOSE. I know exactly what I am doing and now I understand why I do it. I do it because I want YOU to understand that if I CAN...YOU CAN. I don't mind being transparent if it means it will help someone else. I KNOW that I am not the only one that has thought they were ugly or unworthy, but I MAY BE the only person willing to admit it. I CAN ADMIT IT because it may help YOU ADMIT your true feelings.

My health suffered BECAUSE I wouldn't unmask my pain. In 2013, I gained 25 pounds in 2 months!! I stayed out of the public eye. I isolated myself from everyone. I didn't want to deal with anything anymore. I wasn't suicidal, but I was BROKEN. I went on a Healing Journey in 2013 and what I got from the journey is that YOU can't HEAL if you won't admit to YOURSELF that YOU are HURT, have BEEN HURT or are HURTING. That journey was a setup by GOD HIMSELF!! It was painful, gut wrenching; yet EYE OPENING AND LIBERATING.
Once I did that...I was put on the right path!! I stand now as a HEALING WORK IN PROGRESS. There is ALWAYS progress to be made. I dropped the weight, I came from darkness and TOOK ME BACK!! I TOOK FULL OWNERSHIP OF MY LIFE. So here I stand!!

I am a MAN!! A MAN that is also a HU-MAN!! I have all the emotions that GOD gave me and all the tools HE gave me do what it is that HE has purposed for me. NO LONGER will I EVER feel that I am ugly, unworthy or any other "UN". I will no longer look down! No longer will I run from being the caring, sensitive, compassionate and empathetic man that God called me to be. I am a Father. I am a Son. I am an Uncle. I am a Brother. I am a Friend. One day I hope to be a Husband; but most importantly, I AM ME! I will always look UP! I will embrace my gifts of communication, of music, of creativity to bring MY LIGHT to the world and let MY LIGHT shine. I will NO LONGER dim my light so that a DIMMER LIGHT around me can seem brighter. I will SHINE! I will LIVE! I will LOVE!

This is my STORY. This is my LIFE!

To be continued... (you'll get that double entendre on the way home)
TIRED OF HOLDING MY HEAD DOWN!!!