"That's Just The Way It Is..."

On my Facebook page, I got a message from Kerry Washington. Yes, the Kerry Washington.

I’ve been lusting over her for quite some time now, so naturally, I’d be a little more than shocked.
It read the following:

I’m not going to go into detail about how I found you. 
I am going to make this very simple for you. 
I will be in Virginia for the week, and I am more than interested in you: 
one night only. 
My number is ***-***-****, text if you are interested, DO NOT CALL. 
$$$ will be involved if you need “encouragement”. 
Offer stands for three days.

Of course, I danced back and forth, but I had dreamed of this for years. But…I was still a little suspect.

So I told my girlfriend. I forwarded her the message. This was her response:

Lol, what do you think that means? And money too? 

Shoot, if you don’t, I’ll do it…maybe I can join? 
Seriously tho…let me know ;)



I may be living a fantasy tonight.

Now, obviously, I’m full of crap.

Ask any man who has actually had a situation like this present itself, posting it on any social network could be collectively agreed upon as Not A Good Look, regardless of its moral questionability.

But, if this were my ideal world? This may actually happen.

I would get approached by a lust-worthy starlet, it would be approved by my ladyfriend.

And there would be money in my pocket as a result.

Unfortunately, it is not. Chances are, it won’t happen.

Nor any of the standards and situations that would make this world an ideal one.

·       

• Racism would be abolished. There would be no unspoken reinforced stereotypes, no accepted discrimination, and no more lame “You-know-how-us-black-people-are” jokes.
• Reese’s would be the one healthy food group.
• College debt would be forgiven after the completion of Graduate School and 5 years of employ in the respective field of study.
• R. Kelly would be banned from making music.
• Children under 18 would have no active interest in sexually related activities, and be completely content with Saturday Morning cartoons and hopscotch on the pavement.
• There would be a universal musical standard, with demands like real-life application and 10-word obscenity limit per album.
• People would leave Obama the heck alone.
• Bill O’Reilly/Glenn Beck would shut the heck up.

Those suggestions and more would probably turn this world into a utopia for me.

But…this is not the case.

Bill O’Reilly is still running his mouth, and Conservatives and Liberals are still at odds and ends. I’ll probably be in debt until my 50s. 50 Cent has a new album out that will be hailed as another “gem” in today’s “music” scene, and Obama has the planet watching, hating and scrutinizing his every move. Forget slavery, racism is still alive and well, existing in the most violent of ways. An ideal world, this is not.

So what do we do with this?

There is a saying that states that if something isn’t malfunctioning in some way, why attempt to fix it. And in some contexts, that applies beautifully (If I got a 99% on a paper, I will not hurt myself trying to get that last 1%).

In other cases, I am inclined to wonder…why not?

Discrimination and racial tension is like a wine stain on the fabric of our existence in the country; it is here. And realistically speaking, there is nothing that can be done about it in this generation’s lifetime.

The Center for Disease Control reports that “1/3 of girls get pregnant before the age of 20…750,000 teen pregnancies annually…eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended and 81% are to unmarried teens…”

Despite being 2008’s most popular, most controversial, most recognized, most symbolic of hope and change, President Obama’s disapproval rating is at 48.3%, while his approval rating is at 47.8%, a steady drop since last January.

And the facts go on and on and on, more than anyone of us can change.

And we live with this. We operate our lives, making room and Segways around it, Kanye-shrugging through, en route to our own comfort zones.

My question is this: What about change? What rule is there that says that we have to live with these culturally accepted, but generally unpopular and questionable laws?

Why live in a racist society, coming up with reasons why it exists and jokes that further propagate the stigma?


Why provide clean needles, strong condoms and Planned Parenthood sites around the country, assisting and appeasing the problem?


I’m not suggesting that we make one man’s rant everyone’s rule. But…we are not idiots. We have a God-given mind that we have the option to use…why not use it? Why sit in a dung-heap and not find a way out?

I guess I’m just tired of hearing about how “that’s just the way it is…”. I believe that it doesn’t have to be this way.


Sure, it makes for a great Katt Williams routine, but…we are thisclose to sitting in our own filth, adjusting to the smell. There is something that we can do, something that can be done. Voting is one thing, but…are we not a community/village?


At the end of the day, I will probably never have a night full of explorative escapades with Kerry Washington. My children will still be seen skin first, Obama or not. But I am attempting to make moves, in my life, to design my life around the constant hope and Greater Good Known as Jesus the Christ to do something, act outside of “that’s just the way it is”, and to make a place where Heaven scrapes the pavement.