Youthful Life: X

Truth - Diversity is nothing more than the recognition of difference. It's a word that has lot the entirety of its meaning which wasn't much to begin with. What people often don't realize is that difference works both ways. It's problematic and subversive to label some people as diverse, different, or other but to leave the caller as an unnamed norm. People are not just some variations on a standard version, they are inherently valid in and of themselves. What happens when diversity goes from appreciation to appropriation and somewhere even darker? What if slavery never went away but rather evolved and took on new forms? What if we're still buying, trading, and selling people on the black market.   " Racism oppresses its victims, but also binds the oppressors, who sear their consciences with more and more lies until they become prisoners of those lies. They cannot face the truth of human equality because it reveals the horror of the injustices they commit....

Truth - Life is a journey. It may sound cliché but it truly is. Who would ever imagine themselves to be who they are today? We go through things, meet different people, and find ourselves in so many locales, all of which serve to make us who we are. As we strive, endure, and thrive each and everyday we move away from and towards different versions of ourselves. Sometimes you have to get lost to find your way. Sometimes you realize you always knew your way the entire time. Sometimes you just go along for the adventure. This is expedition. "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C.S. Lewis One of the things in my newfound quasi-adulthood I have come to enjoy is going on adventures. While my inner homebody despises uncertainty and randomness, the small part of me that craves excitement, and independence wins out from time to time. Sometimes I look up a place to go, or something unique to do and just go ahead and do ...

Truth - Faith is often articulated to be a belief in things beyond belief. Faith however can also be explained to be a certainty in something or someone that you know to be true. Faith surpasses doubt and pushes you further just hope and wishes. Faith is a confirmation of strength and fortitude in something bigger than you. Faith fundamentally about trust not only in yourself but in others, and the world around you. When you act in good faith it is the implication of sincerity of intention.   " Different people, in good faith, can look at the same fact and interpret it differently. But that's where an interesting conversation begins." Eric Schlosser   Trust issues are common for good reason. There have been so many times where I have found myself questioning the authenticity of who people present themselves to me as or their intent in befriending me. Mistrust is a learned behavior. It manifests itself after repeated instances of having your trust being taken for g...

Truth - Clouds convey messages that we often ignore. Maybe it's because they are just up there existing that we don't pay much attention to them. They foreshadow, figuratively and literally, what potential dangers of the natural world lie ahead for us. Their absence just as much as presence signifies something unique. Their color, the ways they travel, and their coverage all drop hints as to what is to come. When they deposit rain, snow, or the infamous hail combined with lightning, gusts of wind, all hell can break loose. Just as easily as they admonish us of upcoming perils, they also are harbingers of goodness to come. Perfect shade, fanciful shapes, and even skywriting are all because of clouds.   " Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same." Ralph Waldo Emerson   Clouds have long been my favorite natural occurrence. I often find myself lackadaisically gazing at the infatuating puffs, whisps, and clumps of clouds that linger above me. I ...

Truth - People are never who we imagine them to be; they are so much more. All our predictions of how each and every person will turn out are nothing more than romanticized fantasies There's no way to know what the each person holds inside them or how things will go until you get to know them. Why then do we spend so much making things up instead of being in the here and now with them? Why do we settle for cheap imitations when we can have the real thing? Why take the fool's gold when you can have genuine gold?   "We are treasure chests with more jewels inside than we can imagine.” Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha The great outdoors have never been something that I have been too fond of but there have been times where I've truly enjoyed it. One of those times was my in my childhood when I'd want to explore a forest or near a streaming creek. I'd get down in the mud and make little trenches for the water to flow in. I could spend hours redirecting the flo...

Truth - Sometimes we get lost trying to find our way home. We need someone else to be the voice that calls out to us. We need others to show us the way and illuminate the waymarkers that guide us where we're supposed to be. We require assistance from those around us and may or may not be aware of their influence and impact on us. Just as there are those that move us forward in profound ways, it's imperative to understand that we also have the capacity to and are obligated to do the same, if not for them, then others. Lighthouses shine their light and guide you to dock. "A lighthouse is not interested in who gets its light! It just gives without thinking! Giving light is its nature!" Mehmet Murat Ildan   The entire concept of a lighthouse has always fascinated me. They cannot give light to themselves but cast their light far out. The area around them may always be steeped in darkness but they drive forth light. Back in the day, it used to be a sea-faring l...

Truth - Darkness is only the absence of light. Think about it. Inherently, wherever there is light, there can never be darkness but also the inverse stands true. Light and dark are mutually exclusive ways of being and seeing. Take your shadow for example, it's just us blocking a light source (usually the sun)  right before it hits the ground. Mind you, that light has travelled lightyears only to be thwarted by our clumsiness but that's besides the point. There is absolute importance in carrying your light with you wherever you go, if not others but also yourself. This the dark side of the moon. " Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other." Sojourner Truth The world was infatuated this week with a blood red Supermoon and simultaneous eclipse. Space is something that will both fascinates and scares me. Ther...