Giving Thanks

God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great law. Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.”

Marcus Garvey Found myself at an impasse as to what to write today when something I remembered my little cousin saying jumped up in my head, shouting "pick me".  Turns out that she, being only about two years older than my oldest, is preparing herself to depart for Africa on an internship at the conclusion of her studies.  I was so profoundly moved at the sound of this.  Of course I'm pretty darn proud of my family in general, but I think this was the earliest age I can remember any of us making such a declaration. The years it took me to reconcile my past and what will subsequently follow, were filled with a lot more partying and a lot less meditating on Africa in general, let alone actually going there.  My Caribbean parents never made our cultural and national identities any more important than that of the family.  They were "Jamaican" so I guess we were all raised with that simple but plain truth.  We were "Jamaican" children who just so happened to have been born in America.  To this day much like when I was an adolescent, while recognizing that I do hold American citizenship, I am insulted when called an American.  Not from any perspective of disdain or malice though.  It simply doesn't tell my story. Like I said, it was quite a rocky road before I understood what it really meant, that my fore-family arrived in the west, likely as bonded men and women.  Before that was more than something I was taught as part of the school curriculum once a year.  I lived "Black" as most of us do in one way or another, but I can't say I was living "African".  When the earth shook, and I was so moved, those two realities became more clear, and much more different. What is "living" African?  I'm quite sure it will have as many different definitions as there are people in the entire Diaspora.  For me it was partly in my own declaration, dropping my colonial ties, the ones that once attempted to silence my fathers' spirit.  It was also in daily furthering my meditations and intentions into Africa.  Who knew under which State or traditions I would feel most comfortable and welcome.  It would be amazing to be able to trace exactly where my family hails from, down to the very village or even the house were birthed from creation.  But then people aren't goods to be itemized, cataloged and warehoused like cars and cattle, are they? It has been in recognizing my fathers and mothers, my brothers, sisters, cousins from every elsewhere in the Diaspora.  With deliberate intention to see one People. I'm not exactly sure how deeply the roots of my cousins convictions are.  Maybe those issues are the furthest from her meditation right now.  Maybe my aunt, uncle and cousins who raised her placed a higher value on knowing her root.  Maybe she's just more curious and inquisitive.  Or maybe, there is some truth in the axiom that young women mature faster.  No matter, to return her spirit, her soul, to the lands that bore the seeds of our creation, is the very essence of a miracle. Whatever the cause, I must let her know once more just how proud I am of her.  And just how impressed I am.  I know that the following was true, at least it was during my teenage years, but I don't recall very many adults, who weren't also family and friends, acknowledging how proud they were of me and my friends.  Or how thankful they were for the energies we manifested and their positive use thereof.  They were at best few and far between. So for all of those who might look to me as an Elder, thank you.  Thank you for having the courage to do the things some of us have wrestled with.  For doing the works many have long ago intentioned and some got side tracked from.  Thank you for learning to love for more than mere romance, before it gets too late.  Thank you for supporting your family around the world even when they are not in desperate need, but especially when they are.  Many of us are very proud of you and really should tell you more often.  It leaves me with good hope that the world may still have a small chance after all.