Still Here

Introduction Still Here, Still Growing the first 50 years In an effort to give you an opportunity to think about your own reality first, the book is split into two parts. The first half shares the Lesson. The second half shares insights behind the lesson. I did it this way so you the reader can put your own spin to the lessons. I call it all my lessons so far. My experiences and observations have been emptied out of my head and heart onto these pages to share my half-century understanding of this thing we call life. You may have been blessed with biological sisters and brothers to hopefully communicate with. For me, I had to find that communication release in quiet solo observation and writing. The real Truth as I have experienced it, is that all human life is connected regardless of religious dogma, skin color, language, personal drama or whom one sleeps with. A look back at Birchdale in Cleveland, Ohio, (0-12 years) has continued to confirm daily that it really does take a village community to raise a child. What a blessing it was to know all the neighbors by name, not have locked doors and feel welcomed anywhere. What a tragedy that Urban Removal (a.k.a Renewal) which forced working class home owners to relocate under the guise of progress, destroyed all that. Things have yet to stabilize. Unfortunately, the new millennium dawns when many of our villages have become dysfunctional, and lack the ability to create environments where toddlers do not have to live with adult worries. Finding your mind and voice in these times of Opinions and Fads Du Jour is a hard thing. Everything tends to be influenced by other things that are influenced by still more things such as time of day, climate, location, race, politics, religion, education level and even your job type. Sometimes at the end of the day you are more confused by what you do know than what you don’t know. Now I realize that There is either a purpose for every single life or no purpose for anybody’s life. Finding purpose and meaning is part of the individual human journey. While on the journey life presents many opportunities to learn. Even with all the people you meet and are surrounded by, for whatever reason, many have to make all or some of the journey alone. The Real Joy comes from traveling to a point when you know that you Ain’t got to prove nothing to nobody No Mo’, except yourself maybe and that’s Okay! Then you realize that you can never really be alone. The greatest lesson for me has been learning how to find laughter in as many situations as possible. The old Maurice White line comes to mind, If there ain’t no beauty You got to make some beauty... Nona Hendryx put it best in these words "I'm alright while this whole political world has gone insane!" Here’s to You, Your Life, and discovery of Life’s Deeper Meaning. Thank You for not Giving up. Live On! Read On ###################################### Blood Relations Real Family & Blood Relations Are Two (2) Different Things! Biology does not make Real family. Biology only makes Blood Relations. Real Family does not always share the same blood... and sometimes (even though there’s the old saying that blood thicker than water) Blood Relations can be your own worse enemy. If you are lucky and the Biological relations actually become family then you have already experienced Heaven on Earth. Being a foster parent and an adoptive parent, an educator, plus being personally adopted and fostered parented by so many who have no connected blood lines has given me a unique understanding of the concept of family. We’re all a part of one color Inside of you and me Is one another... Kemaja # # # We Kill The Messenger Because The Message Makes Us Responsible John Henrik Clarke The late John Henrik Clarke, a personal mentor and great world historian once told an audience of educators, We kill the messenger because the message makes us responsible. I have learned that History continues to leave a record of those who have been killed, discredited, and harassed down through the years because those in power simply did not agree with the message. Their reply in my own words was simple. We don’t want to be held responsible and if you insist on showing us up, You Gots To Go. In my experience, the fearful then change the message to protect their lives only to find themselves compromising everything and becoming a part of the real living dead. So in the words of Kerry Kennedy Cuomo’s book title, some still must learn to “Speak Truth To Power.” ” … People of great valor and heart, committed to noble purpose, with long records of personal sacrifice, walk among us in every country of the world.” Kerry Kennedy Cuomo