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Why leave to chance and to
the decision of a probate court judge as to how you will
dispose of your "worldly goods" when it is your time to
cross that chilly, Jordan River?
The time it takes and the
costs it takes to make out a will is stunningly small
compared to the heartache and grief you can inflict on
family members when you chose to be selfish and not engage
in the process of an orderly disposition of your life's
efforts.
Two:
If you are a single male and
are running around with a "loose zipper" and thus flowering
the world with your living images, you need to man up and
marry the mother of your children and stop this common law
mess of having babies and not being responsible enough to
marry the mother.
Enough of fractured black
families and absent men or women who refuse to do the right
thing and marry and stay together and raise what you
planted. The family is the nucleus of the nation and your
failure to "zip it and marry" is a reproach against nature.
Man up and marry your baby's momma or get a vasectomy if you
want to play Don Juan!
Three:
If can not afford to buy
hamburger and buns, stop playing the Lotto and
give Johnny Walker Red his
divorce papers. In other words, make it a priority as to
what constitutes good spending habits and spend your money
on substance and not on foolishness. Why live in a house
with the lights off while you are busting your behind to
make payments on a seven-year old Cadillac that has
arthritis?
Four:
If you are a driver and have
a license, keep the license current! How many cases I see in
court wherein the defendant is before the judge on the
grounds that his license has expired (sometimes for years)
and he is driving on a suspended license! How ignorant is
that? Instead of paying court costs, a fine and attorney
fees, renew your license and get insurance. A real no
brainer.
Five:
But you can do better! Enough
of the rash of STNA jobs and jobs in hospitality at
hospitals (translation: working cleaning up rooms and making
meals in the cafeteria). Sit down, at whatever age you are
and plan to succeed and do not settle for less. Get
counseling from the local community colleges as to what
skills you have and what skills you need to acquire in order
to put yourself at another level of expertise and income.
Yes, you can!...but will you?
Six:
Snitches are heroes! That is
what I said. When you see crime in YOUR
community, you can
anonymously report it. Why coddle criminals because they are
black or you do not want to see them in jail! Believe me,
some people, black or white, belong in a jail. They are of
no service or benefit to the community but are takers and
exploiters and we know that such attitudes are not
beneficial
to the positive growth of any
neighborhood. Never associate Black Lives Matter!
with condoning criminality.
Seven:
Don't like it...do something
about it! Tired of going to a retail merchant and being
dissed and being offered inferior goods or services? Want a
simple remedy? Do not shop there anymore and tell your
friends and family to do the same. A word of caution: Do not
do this if you are the one causing the ruckus or making a
public fool of yourself when you shop at those stores. If
the merchants will not accord you basic respect for your
dollar, do not darken their doors again.
Respect yourself and your
hard earned dollar and do not continue your own economic
oppression.
Eight:
Vote, like your life depended
upon it! The black community should have one of the highest
voter turnouts of any people...bar none. Even in special
elections we should be shoulder to shoulder at the polls
(word of wisdom: register to vote first) and we should not
be discouraged due to rain, snow or being "tired". People
literally were lynched and burned at the stake so that you
could have a right to say what is what as to decisions
concerning your life and how your tax dollars are spent.
Honor your ancestors and elders and vote.
Vote early and vote often!
Nine:
Wear it out and then get
another one. Parents should be wearing out their library
cards for both themselves and their kids. Nothing is more
important than
people getting a free
education at a public library. Information is free but yet
too many people do not access the library as a vital part of
their educational growth.
Parents...be seen reading in
front of your kids and discussing local and world events.
Have your kids do reading projects that require going to
the library and learning how to research basic topics and
how to footnote their research so as to validate their
reading time. It is too bad that an urban legend has been
passed around by which it is said: "Do you know where to
hide money from black people?" Answer: "Hide it in a book,
especially a math or science book!"
So, in closing, if Black
Lives Matter! take the time and effort to incorporate some
or all of the above suggestions and you are a long way on
the road to not becoming a victim but a victor!
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
tolliver@juno.com
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