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Conservatism, Reaction, and the Elder's Responsibility: A Message to My Age Grade

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Conservatism, Reaction, and the Elder's Responsibility: A Message to My Age Grade Great Day, Fam. This one right here? It’s not for everyone. If you’re not at or approaching Eldership—defined in our tribe as about 55 years old and up—you might not feel all of this. But if you’re curious, or if you’re one of those younger souls already walking with wisdom, you’re welcome to keep reading. This message is for the Elders. For those of us who should know better. And yes—I’m including myself. Let’s Start With the Mirror I’ve got to confess something. I’ve been guilty. Guilty of being reactionary. Guilty of falling into the trap of conservatism. Guilty of romanticizing the past. Guilty of looking at our young people and calling them “soft”—as if we were born warriors, as if we didn’t have to become who we are through fire, failure, and guidance. Many of us Elders are stuck in a loop. We remember only the highlights of our youth—the toughest times we survived, the boldest moments ...
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On The Other Side Of Kuumba

 Great Imani:

"Let us look at Imani through the lens of Kujichagulia"

Yesterday we spoke about the power of Kuumba and how it was unleashed when we were able to define our purpose. Now we are going to continue that conversation by traveling to the other side of Kuumba. Ladies and Gentlemen a present to you the principle of Imani. For us in Gye-Nyame Imani is the basis of the Nguzo Saba, which means that if we want to unleash the power of our principles we have to start with Imani.

"Imani means faith in self, family, community, and our people"

For today's post, I want to look at Imani through the lens of Kujichagulia, and ask what Imani is. Imani means faith, and in the Kwanzaa tradition it means to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Faith in general means a strong belief or trust. In the context of Kwanzaa, it means the belief that we can be self-determined, self-authored and self-affirming. Imani is about having deep faith in ourselves as individuals, as families and as communities. If you don't have faith in yourself as an individual or as a community member, how can you determine your own destiny? How can you author your own life? How do you affirm who you are? Faith is a key component that allows us to be authors of ourselves.

"Make Imnai a part of your daily life"

This has been a powerful week for us to grow into. We wrestled with Kujichagulia, and came out still breathing. Now it is time for us to move into "Umoja in motion", the marvelous principle of Ujima. I am looking forward to completing this Journey with you. As they use to say in the old days ``gird up your loins and prepare for battle" we haven't even reached the halfway mark for the seven week trial, but those of you on the 21 day challenge, you are almost home. Either way hang in there and we will see you tomorrow.



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