|
"Individual investment
decisions will always produce winners and losers - those who bought
Microsoft early and those who bought Enron late. What would the
Ownership Society do with the losers? Unless we are willing to see seniors
starve on the street, we're going to have to cover their retirement
expenses one way or another - and since we don't know in advance which of
us will be losers, it makes sense for all of us to chip in to a pool that
gives us at least some guaranteed income in our golden years."
_ BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope
BURY ME IN A FREE LAND
Make me a grave where'er you will,
In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill,
Make it among earth's humblest graves,
But not in a land where men are slaves.
I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might
Can rob no man of his dearest right;
My rest shall be in any grave
Where none can call his brother a slave.
I ask no monument, proud and high,
To arrest the gaze of the
passers-by;
All that my yearning spirit
craves,
Is bury me not in a land of
slaves.
Written by Frances E. Harper, born in 1825, one of
the early African American writers.
America
America, it is to thee,
Thou boasted land of
liberty,-
It is to to thee I raise
my song,
Thou land of blood, and
crime, and wrong,
It is to thee my native
land,
From which has issued
many a band
To tear the black man
from his soil,
And force him to delve
and toil;
Chained on your
blood-bemoistened sod,
Cringing beneath a
tyrant's rod,
Stripped of those rights
which Nature's God
Bequeathed to all the
human race,
Bound to a petty tyrant's
nod,
Because he wears a paler
face.
Was it for this that
freedom's fires
Were kindled by your
patriot sires?
Was it for this they shed
their blood,
On hill and plain, on
field and flood?
Was it for this that
wealth and life
Were staked upon that
desperate strife,
Which drenched this land
for seven long years
With blood of men, and
women's tears?
When black and white
fought side by side.....
Written by James M. Whitfield, one of
the early African American writers, from the 19th century.
Reposition Yourself
People who persevere to succeed in life pay as much
attention to their mistakes as they do to their accomplishments. They
learn from their failed attempts and either try harder the next time or
readjust their energies toward a more passionate goal.
Like the skyrocketing bounces of a Super Ball, you must
rebound higher and farther than the place where you started. You must
embrace the fact that failing is a part of life, part of your life, and a
greater part of a successful person's life.
It seems ironic, but I believe the truly successful are
more sensitive in that they pay greater attention and observe more
carefully. Interestingly enough, as sensitive as they may be to
their losses and botched experiments, they do not take them personally.
- T.D JAKES
I Am A Black Woman
I
am a black woman
tall as a cypress
strong
beyond all definition still
defying place
and time
and circumstance
assailed
impervious
indestructible
Look on me and be renewed
By Mari Evans
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long.
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
You do not hear
My inner cry
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing
You do not know
I die.
By Langston Hughes
|
USA
