Third in series on the 7 principles of Kwanzaa: Ujima means support when you need it!

I cannot reach fulfillment without "thou."
The self cannot be self without other selves.
Self-concern without other-concern is
like a tributary that has no outward
flow to the ocean.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Ujima (Collective work and responsibility). It is building and maintaining our community together and to make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together. (Official Kwanzaa Site).

I heard people recently saying things like: “I have enough problem of my own”. Another said, “They brought it on themselves”.

No this is not' drug addicts or criminals huddling over a piece of find and talking about self preservation. People with similar downfalls do have a tendency to help one another even if it’s in mischievous conditions.

No, the former words and phrases were prevalent in a adult Christian Sunday School class discussion. It would appear that Christians have had enough of wayward members of society, and, each other.

But something is wrong with that picture especially when we are taught early on in our family-based traditions to to ‘take care of one another’. Why does it seem that those who strive on ant-social behavior are more apt to help a fallen colleague than to others who claim to be headed to heaven?

Well, there’s never an easy answer when it comes to distorted values and frustration while living in today’s world. Even though selfishness, coldness, fear and apathy have been around since ‘Adam and Eve’ or the earth;’s creation, the intensity of these in the ‘last days’ have also been told. Confusion shall prevail.

It should be no surprise to see how the devil always works counter to the real thing. It would appear that ‘lost’ people care more about their own better than ‘found’ people. In their sullied conditions, they feed one another, and ofter shelter and the only expectation is for others to take care of them when they are sick as well.
That’s where the trick lies. Remember that the devil never gives you something for nothing. His giving is based on conditional giving. So if you are given a hit of cocaine, you are expected to return the a favor. Normally, if you fail to meet your side of the bargain, it can mean hurt or death to the physical body, but mostly, a damned soul.
Christians have yet to take the lead in unconditional love even as it remains the greatest and most important commandment from Jesus.
During these perilous times, the opportunities arise for loving people, no matter the religion, to
let one’s light shine. Even as homelessness, joblessness, poverty, shortage of food, high energy costs, lost mortgages, rampant corruption God driven people are called to arise to the occasion.
We should not be hearings things like “That’s their problem”—not in the Kwanzaa spirit found in the principle of UJIMA.
We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
My book gives a personal journey where humans must start doing the right thing before it's too late: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1672518334.. In a nut shell, I am on a mission to tell people that we are in the 'last days' as earthlings where everyone will meet up with their maker and meet-up with those who have already left us. Yet, the final destination may not be what you were expecting because you never prepared for your life journey after earth. Your 'bucket list' were only bound to the physical world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for opting to join the dialogue on important issues. Be respectable - and watch your language.

Archive

Montel Williams pushes payday loans

Image
The MoneyMutual site reads: Why does Montel Williams endorse MoneyMutual? Celebrated talk show host and Daytime Emmy Award winner Montel Williams associates himself only with products that help people live better physically, spiritually, financially and emotionally. He understands that people will find themselves with difficult to pay expenses due to lack of funds or credit and agrees that a cash advance can provide the needed quick assistance and help avoid more costly fees. In times where the welfare of many is being threatened by runaway bank charges, high interest rates, high unemployment, a spirited IRS, predator credit lending companies, the cost unjust wars and general corporate greed in general. It makes since that in our desperation we become victimized by Payday loan companies that have proliferated in the last decade in both the depressed inner-city communities over the Internet. It's simple. If you're already living from paycheck to paycheck, why not s
Read more

Being Different

"Being Different" IS NO WALK IN THE PARK. I reckon it depends on many factors, i.e., whether or not you will be received for being different or rejected for being different. In our society, today we celebrate diversity. Today, people are expected not to be prejudice or hurtful to another who might not be like them or might not belong to the same tribe as them. For centuries, this diversity aspect has been a simple color issue for the nation as a whole. If you were white you were privileged and if you where black you were not privileged. Being black meant that your rights and access to health and general welfare would be threatened. However, today that has changed. People are still prejudice, but they are not as blatant. They don't need to be. Because of the inequalities and iniquities of the past can be found in a system that does the talking. This means that white people (or people in charge) don't have to be openly racist anymore because the system will
Read more
Image
Small Things Matter:  Prolific and Thoughtful Advocacy for Elders Submitted by:  Jerel Shaw Let's face it, the world would be screwed without the expertise of lawyers helping people when they've been wronged.  Then of course, this reality (helping) is predicated on the a myriad of competing conflicting interests in our capitalist society - in others words, everybody has to get paid. From the guy who was just blindsided by an errant vehicle who is lucky to be alive to the child who just unfortunately didn't survive when a out-of-control vehicle came out of nowhere onto the sidewalk in both the the lawyers and the claimant or their survivals can be well compensated if the lawyer works his magic.  From stifling class action lawsuits to million dollar lawsuits, the likelihood of the inevitable occurrence of disagreements often are the supply that demand that lawyers are needed.  And, unfortunately if  there's  money (profit) then without that element one ca
Read more

The Colonial Fix: What group can help me?

Every since the reported first European colony hit the America shores in the 1400's, I have yet to read about the saving dynamic of colonial life.  Sure, we hear about how countries colonize the land of other countries and how they force their culture on the natives once they are in complete control.  We also heard of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 and the Manifest Destiny in 1545.   The latter proclaims that it is only its colony's right to spread their values and cultures on others, free or bonded and the former declares how the colony must claim as much as it can of other people's colonies. While this thought is said to receded, it hard to tel a the modern day neoconservative colonial thinkers have taken hold in most of today's geopolitical dramas. Both doctrines are good examples that by their mere definitions that they not only exhibit the potential perils of conquering other colonies, but both demonstrate the will and the sheer force of man to overtake other brothe
Read more

Inconvenient Truths: Impediments to Justice for all

"The truth is staring you in the face" was the words sometimes used by my high school tennis coach as he opined on the difference between a winner and a loser.  The winner always takes the bull by the horns and, by any means necessary, finds a way to win. The loser does the opposite, he's always running from the truth. If indeed there is some value in the Biblical words stating that the "truth shall set you free" than maybe society should take note of the facts on the ground and start winning the divers battles that help to determine a fair and just society as oppose to one that perpetually pits the haves against the have-nots.   . . . when will a Christian nation   get their heads out of the ground   and began to face dire facts that can and should be corrected? . . . How can a truly Christian society proclaim freedom when so many of their inhabitants are 'clinging to life' in the land of opportunity? What are the facts? Well I m
Read more

The 'Imperial Hubris' in Syria is the Real Culprit Nobody is Talking About

Don't want to sound like a broken record, but my prescience is validated many times over by further substantiations on the ground. Several examples include: Turkey has never been an ally of Iran, or Russia but a pure hegemonic driven troublemaker intent on double-dealings, and is using the Kurdish as an excuse has always been a cover for the aforementioned. '[The] inter-threaded imperial propensities'  of not only the U.S.,  Israel and friends (Saudi Arabia would like  to join the club),  but also Russia and Turkey;  all are indistinguishable members Hence their foray into occupying sovereign land (in my opinion, shouldn't be a surprise to anyone: 2. Russia's interests in Syria is not based on loving anybody, but purely for strategic interests. Hence, they can thrive in a Baltic reality (a divided Syria) as long as they get something out of it. These notions have been substantiated on several occasions including their (Russia) com
Read more

Taking Wooden Nickels: Man Cluelessness in Crisis can be final and fatal

Society has been proliferated with data coming from research that examines the real status of Americans.  But, no matter how profound and informative the data may be, humans have what one would call a 'selective perception' opting to believe a lie before the truth. Hence, hoping vs. reality seem to have clashed since the beginning of time. Currently, the government is supposedly determining the amount of direct funding that it would issue to its (some) citizens to help them overcome the ravages of a virus pandemic that has placed society in and obit of uncertainty.  And, while those in government are acting like they care it's arguable that our capitalistic system are revealing holes in human response.  To be perfectly clear, the banks, wall street, airlines are really the priority - just like before.  Every profit making entity supersedes human concerns for those most at risk, i.e., the elderly, disabled, and citizens in general.  Now people would like to hope that this
Read more

Forgetting: The first symptom of defeat

It had been over several years since I started the case of discrimination against my corporate employer.  The fight started at the workplace and worked itself up to the EEOC, before making the final move to sue in court.  All of the administrative remedies have been exhausted, and my employer was determined to use every deflection tools necessary in order to strain me and my supporters of the will to fight. Since the tools that Employers use (especially large employers) are not only varied, but are many and can be lethal,  I've made it my business to try and recognized the ones of stealth nature--hard to recognize.  Even with its stealth proportionality, and not easily recognizable, the large potential of devastating results are the same.  Of course many, just as I had, fail to discern the many and how these weapons are in infinite motion to destroy those who the enemy have deemed as being a threat to their order.  One could say that its a systematic fix. As any one who has tri
Read more

The Re-Cooptation of Us: The Power of Supremacy

The Re-Cooptation of Us:  The Power of Supremacy Where have all the flowers gone? Young girls have picked them everyone Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn? Song and Words from Music, Rights Folk Legend Peter  Seeger's As an Black American I feel rooted and grounded in my black culture.   My journey to other people lands and places, know matter how compellingly attractive, thanks to my upbringing by a strong black mother and father and yes, a segregated black community, I could never, and will never separate my self for not being able to state that "I Black and am Proud". Thank God for Jesus as well.  He taught me what it means when He stated "I will never leave or forsake you". This is my message today that I will continue to freely give, "I will never leave or forsake you". ...the point is that if you ever lived on my side of the track, I find it hard to accept other black people forsak
Read more