Showing posts with label heroes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heroes. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Emergency

I saw my first black firefighter the other day. As I was walking down that oh-so familiar street of rebellion, past the corner of thought and frustration, towards home, I heard the sound. Upon hearing this sound, I knew that an emergency was amidst. That somewhere, unknown to my presence, someone was in distress, discontent, and disorientation ;and needed to be saved from either themselves or from an aspect of their environment. The sound approached from the back but I had no interest in looking back because I knew what approached. First I recognized the front of the vehicle and knew that it was a red engine firetruck. For a moment time stood still and my mind reverted to a memory of my childhood.
When I was in kindergarten, I was sick the day the class went to the fire station. Therefore, I had not seen a red engine fire truck when the rest of the class did. Needless to say, the rest of the class did see a red engine firetruck. The day I returned to school, I distinctly remember playing on the third rung of the jungle gym. The same sound that was entering my ears in my conscience mind was playing, the fire truck engine siren. I looked in amazement in hope to see the red engine fire truck that I had not seen before. As soon as the red of the truck could be processed in my 5 year old mind, the little boy next to me said, "Oh that's no big deal, we saw those yesterday." And all the other kids continued back to their games of tag and other childish follies. From that point on, red engine fire trucks never amazed me.
So in non-amazement I watched the front of the red engine fire truck pass by, but as the red engine fire truck passed, something caught my eye. And until that moment I never realized that I had not seen one. Hanging from the back of the truck was a black fireman. To others he just looked like another black man, but to me he was a superhero. To me he was the real life John Henry. A black man that was often overlooked because of his skin complexion, but would do his damnedest until his heart gave out. And I stood on the sidewalk like a 5 year old kid in awe of my childhood hero that I met 14 years late. I say all that to say, do not let society make you forget that black heroes are more than people on T.V. that where suits and give speeches. My heroes are those with wisdom, not knowledge.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Villiain

What makes me different from most people is a sense of ruthless aggression towards a given passion. I will die over something that I am strongly passionate about. There lies the inquisitive ultimatum. If I am to have this ruthless aggression for something I think is right and society thinks is right then that makes me a hero. I would be on the lines Superman, Batman, The Hulk, Spiderman, The Fantastic four, or even Aquaman. BUT, if I were to fight for something that is right to me and wrong to society, then that would make me a villain. I would be in the league with Lex Luthor, The Joker, The Abomination, The Green Goblin, Dr. Doom, or the Black Manta. I am at a crossroads of my life. I have always felt that with my hands and my mind, I have the power to change the world. The thing that frightens me a little is the oh so important decision between heroism and villain.
Now looking at the two different classifications from a narrow mind, I can see the vast difference between the two. One does good and one does evil. But is evil not an aid to good. I'm no devil worshiper, but Satan brings a lot of people into the light of The Lord. Think about it, people of the church blame all bad things on the devil and the temptations that the devil offers. In response to those temptations, they turn to The Lord. I am a proud Christian. I know that whenever the devil tempts us, we turn to God. So is there really an evil or a socially unaccepted or an unattractive hero? With evil, good would seem unimportant.
What bothers me is my ignorance of what society says. That makes me more of a villain. Honestly, I'll take being a villain towards ignorance. A mere mortal powered by the creator of the yellow sun. Sent from the heavens to rid this world of its problems. Future is unknown, present is apparent, past is an instructional manual. Brown. Damn it feels good to be unattractive.