Raise on the Twos

Raise the children.

Raise the volume.

Raise funds.

Raise awareness.

Raise it for everyone; don’t be careless.

Raise the standards.

Raise ya hands up.

– LMNO & Kev Brown (Selective Hearing 2008)

When you teach for a living, it’s hard not to use teacher lenses all the time in discussing the future. Seems like all we do is offer “smellling salts” all day to kids who long for so much but expect so little. But then isn’t this the work of us all? I mean…most Americans have had an education experience in and out of a classroom. Even the dropout is exposed to a certain type of upload of information. The city block will educate you quick if you plan on surviving. Formalized education will do the same although students are forced to navigate myriad emotions, social framings and developmental realities inclusive of but not limited to misunderstandings and alienation. It’s almost as if staying WOKE is par for life’s course until the ability to have one’s awareness raised is suppressed.

I grew up in church. I grew up indoctrinated by a certain level of misogyny. I grew up making independent decisions about basic daily life as early as age 7. I grew up surrounded by powerful women and I grew up trying to understand how to be a black man in America.  Bruh! That last one ain’t no joke but the trouble with raising awareness is that while it’s as basic as breathing, I was kind of taught to operate by the maxim, “If people wanna know, they’ll ask. “Unfortunately curiosity isn’t our posture unless it’s directed toward tabloids.”  Ain’t nobody asking me a lot of questions and my questions are often met with violent retorts and excuse making. “Wow, Norman. Do you think the whole world is getting it wrong man? The church, Education, Sports, etc.? You got a problem with everything?” That’s what it feels like sometimes to inquire and work toward making conversations happen that aren’t. But this isn’t about picking on people. For me it’s about exposing the needs that press in on all sides. We’re sharing too much real estate to be content with our level of awareness.

To…

Raise awareness.

Raise it for everyone; don’t be careless.

live by a several basic principles.

1. Assume you know nothing about this world, that you’ve been in a bubble letting your containers control the access you have to the needs of others.
2. Bravely engage unfamiliar topics and people knowing that you will look and sound like an idiot. We must grow comfortable with being out of control of perception. Vulnerability leads us to learning in ways that acquaint us with the struggles surrounding us.
3. Care more instead of less. Assume you have NOT mastered what it means to be human. Let compassion and empathy live in you and direct it toward as many as touch your life. This will be the “grind” work because politics, past hurts and general disinterest cloud our ability to simplify our approaches to understanding and helping this world.
4. “Be Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to wrath (become angry).” (James 1:19). I was taught many things in school and at home but listening well wasn’t necessarily one of them. Most of us are told to listen but we know nothing of eye contact, silencing voices in our heads that are preparing to respond and reserving judgment while someone else attempts to encode a message. We’ve come to think that texting is sufficient to discuss all manner of things. Listening means paying attention, being intentional, meeting in person or even via video chat so you can see facial expressions and hear voice inflection.

Thank God for the ones and twos.

Be Strong!