Never As Good As The First Time

 There’s nothing quite as good as your view from the front porch. There are many views today as there are viewpoints however, anyone’s viewpoint is from their own perspective, experiences and exposures in life. What I have come to find out is how limiting our experiences can be just by the conversations that I’ve encountered over the last year. There are some conversations that are quite troubling when I look out from my porch and wonder where we’re going from here. I’ve made the attempt to be open minded about some of the stories I have heard but it has been a challenge even with all of the experiences I have had in my lifetime.

There have been some stories that have been so narrow minded thinking that I just have to shake my head and say wow! Most of the people that I communicate with are aware that my family is multicultural and you would think that would open our conversation much deeper when it comes to the realities of what we’re dealing with in our current climate. However, that has not always been the case because I am quiet open about people “keeping it real” with me. One of the things that I have learned very quickly over this year is to not assume anything about anyone, how they process or what their viewpoints may be. 

A lot of people just seem to want things to go back to the way they were is what they tell me. I’m wondering while they’re telling me that... how was the things the way they were in their mind? I try not to be assuming how they’re thinking because of knowing that they know me and I’m pretty clear about the way I think all the time! Sometimes I really don’t want them to clarify because of concern about what they may say. When I cross examine their answer with my probing conversation I hope that it will open their mind a little bit wider while including me and my family into that world they’re talking about. Sometimes we get in a corner situation where they feel intimidated because they don’t think that their opinions apply to me and mine. I have to open them up to understand but it does.

It can be very challenging to see the view from someone else’s front porch. That is why it’s so hard sometimes to get others to understand how what they think does not apply to you in they’re mind because they see you differently, does and they are wrong. It really is just that simple but it can be so hard for people to accept simple! When you have thought something for a very long time it becomes yours and just like children being very adolescent, we just don’t like to throw away things that don’t work anymore. 

Like my friend Steve Harvey, I’m really just exhausted, sick and tired of all the dirty laundry that people have pulled out of their closets for the whole world to see. We come from a generation where everybody knew that everyone had dirty laundry in their closets but in the privacy of their own homes when they chose to take their laundry out and clean it, when they hung it out on the line for the world to see , it was all bright, fresh and looked brand new. We didn’t really focus on stains that maybe they couldn’t have gotten out but the fact that they washed all the bulk of the funk off was greatly appreciated. As Sade would say...” nothing is as good as the first time”!!

So for all those folks that wish it could go back to the way it was, there’s a lot of your brothers and sisters out here that just want to move forward. I really don’t care about going back to the way that it was because...”it’s never as good as the first time”... Let’s Move On and make it better for our next generation!