Hey you..cut the CRAP!!!!

As I sit here basking in the glow of my computer screen, I'm reminded of something that one of my favorite poets said during her visit to TSU:

"I (didn't) want to be trapped in a house I don't want, with children I don't like, and (living with) a man I don't understand."

Nikki Giovanni said that. At the time, I was fighting my own battle with a man I thought I understood. Nikki's words cut through me like a hot knife through butter. I was ashamed of the fact that I had been trying to make something work that I knew was shattered beyond mending. But I was in love with him...or so I thought. I realized that although I may have loved him, I was never in love with him. It's impossible to be in love with a person you can't fully trust.

A few months later, I parted ways with that man. I made up in my mind that I would never again put my heart on the line for love. A silly resolution I know, but it made perfect sense at the time. Training my mind to see all men as disposable was easy. It's not that I perceived all men as dogs or anything like that...I'm totally against male bashing and how it deters women from seeing the good men all around them. No, I simply set the standards for my 'dream man' so incredibly high that no one, living or dead, would ever be able to achieve them...ever...or so I thought.

Now, I'm not going to get all mushy and gushy and go into a rant about how I met some super incredible guy who swept me off my feet and changed my outlook on love forever. Although I did...and he most definitely did;)

I'll just say that in order for us to receive the gift of love that God has packaged for us, we have to get all this other CRAP out of our hands:

- Mentally and emotionally Crippled people who solely rely on you for moving them beyond their present state

- People who express their supposed love for you through fits of Rage and acts of intimidation

- Apathetic people who already don't care about themselves and care even less about you & your feelings

- Pretentious jerks who are comfortable projecting their insecurities on you, making you feel less than

This wasn't written to incite a movement or start a revolution. I simply wish to remind you that you are destined for greater things. If you keep finding yourself looking at your life and saying "This is a bunch of CRAP!!", well...maybe it is. But realize the only one who can get rid of it is you. The only difference between a person who chose not to settle and one who did is the choice that they made.

Choose wisely. My girl Nikki did, and went on to be one of the most influential voices in African American history.

And just as a lil' somethin' somethin' to get you ready to kick the CRAP out of your life...Nikki Giovanni's "Ego Trippin' (there may be a reason why)"...