#BGSPEAKS
“Where have you been, I haven’t seen you out here in awhile?” My usual answer to that
is that I’ve been upstate and the backward thinking of many was that a young African American man like me was somewhere locked up when in reality I was actually in college obtaining a certification that states I have a Bachelors of…. Well you know the rest of the story. Sometimes I do think maybe I was upstate in prison, and that taught is there because of the treatment that one faces when they are back in an environment that you originally left behind for something better. You see leaving for college I was leaving a lot of hardships behind, and I am not saying this to say that college wasn’t hard because it was and that was where I had to force myself into manhood from the ground up. But leaving home was leaving hardship because at that time period my single parent home which consisted of my mother and three siblings resided in the shelters in the gritty South Bronx. Living in the shelters can be a really cold place and even more cold when you don’t quite know who you are as a youngster. Being there with your family and knowing there is but so much you can do can truly harm you if you don’t seek the guidance necessary to prevail, and that leads me to the time where I picked up sports and overall fitness as a journey for me where I could express my anger, frustration, and anxieties in a place where it can be used for the better good. During my first year of college I chose to attend a community college because my family still resided in poverty and as a young man I didn’t feel as though it was right to leave them in such atrocities. While I stayed local I picked up the habit of running every morning that summer before I started community college. I would take the train to Yankee Stadium because at that time it was a newly built football/track field and that was an escape from my everyday reality. It gave me the opportunity to free my mind and see something different, at first I would play pick
up basketball with some older folks, and I really liked it because like the nerd that I am I always loved good ol fashion wisdom. For some reason I have always been blessed to be around people that were willing to share their wisdom with me. Moving forward I wanted to build my stamina so I got on the track and to be honest the universe works in mysterious ways because as I was running I ran into a man that actually was a professional track runner. I know I said the universe works in mysterious ways but we as mortals must help the ground we walk on so I stopped him in the middle of his stretch to ask him questions, and he answered graciously. From there on I will come to the park everyday and see this man and we will stretch and run together, and the amount of wisdom that he dropped on me enhanced my way of living. It helped me connect my mind to my body at a very young age and helped me understand the importance of stamina as I grew older. This man will always tell me the importance of college and if I ever had the opportunity to go away I should do so because it will build both my character and my will power. Life is misunderstood when you do not understand the importance of manifestation and
mere thought. All I asked the universe for was some guidance, and the universe provided
graciously. First it started with the blessing of patience because you must be patient to listen and act upon. Then it was will power and that was very important because when you are raised in poverty so many things can go wrong and the negative influence can truly run your life if you

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