Problems I Just Cannot Ignore

[Chapter 1]

By: Jordan Kilson

There are a myriad

There are a myriad of issues that black men face in the United States, and many vendettas the rest of the world has against us, that for the most part, is out of our control. But then there are a lot of problems we can face and change ourselves. I have come to the realization, that what a large percentage of us young black men lack is compassion. Sadly, we are confused and too prideful to ask for guidance. Without compassion, we see and feel no wrong in killing or stealing from the same person we look upon in the mirror. This carelessness is so detrimental to our progression. Lack of compassion for one another has led us to act as if there is no value in a black person’s life, and this Anglo-savage thinking has poisoned the mindsets of many black communities. Without compassion, this stagnant progression will recycle and young black men will continue to be killed, incarcerated, and confused.

Our generation have been deemed lost because we have glorified the life of the gangster and made fun of the compassionate. We have glorified the life of the “thug” and made fun of the gentle man. We have glorified ignorance and have brought light to situations of mass importance. It is sickening. We have foolishly been subdued into thinking compassion is synonymous with weakness; when in truth, it is the complete opposite. Compassion takes strength and maturity. Strength and maturity to uplift your brother and sister without checking the receipt to see what you got in return. Strength and maturity to invest in your people for communal growth and not for personal gain. Peers and colleagues have preached to me how they are too busy ‘trying to become successful’ to spend their time giving back. Only if they knew that the ability to feel for others and act on those feelings is such an empowering trait that allows you to become the most successful. Seeing success through my lens might look a little different than how you view it now. Success to me is not measured by how much money you have at the end of the day or how many things you own but rather measured by how many lives you have impacted positively. Compassion makes success so easy.

So instead of glorifying the bad let us glorify our self-worth, our family, our community and God. With having compassion, comes having God in your heart and allowing him to be in your corner. Compassion is knowing God is real, knowing that all things are possible through him and knowing that karma and coincidences do not exist. Giving God credit, where credit is due. We  would not do half of the things that we do now if we had certainty in our faith that God is real. Instead we have confusion which only produces doubt. Compassion is acting as if God is always watching and doing good for people just because you know God has blessed you with the power and position to do so. We should not leave it up to God to tend to everyone on his own; because that is why he created us. Through compassion we accept our roles as God’s Soldiers. We are given blessings, not to profit from and run with, but rather to give back to others who are less fortunate. His work is never finished. God is in us all and we all are capable of this goodness, I refer to as compassion.

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