Holding on to freedom

Holding on to Freedom I’m in the battle ring of life; Out numbered, out measured, out weighed and out matched back against the ropes And yet I refuse to give into no challenge and to no threat; I still and I will always believe as long as the battle is on, my own definition of victory is always at yonder; I’m the great, great, grandson of a slave derailed from his destiny to be a king; Grew through mental slavery free by emotional intelligence and lessons remembered from experiences; I’m African in every nature of the word, it’s not my physical features that defines me, nor my religion, nor my tradition, nor my political preference, nor my history but it is my contents of character right here right now; The price of my hard earned freedom handed down to me by my forefathers I could never repay; Freedom paid in full with misery, suffering, blood, sweat, tears, many lives of the brave and more; All I can do now, is to honor; show my respect and appreciation by holding on to that freedom and walking through those doors opened by that freedom; My freedom, my freedom of speech, my freedom to chose, to come, go, act and react. My freedom to live as I believe accordingly to my faith, hope, self motivation, self determination and self dedication to achieve my ideal dream life; My freedom to be more than I believe I can be; And blame my short comings on no man but me; To be a man I can be proud of, to determine to choose my own spiritual wealth and well-being; For the longest time, I long to comprehend the sensation projected by my sentimental self’s interpretation of my forefather’s war stories; The anger, the frustration, the eager to travel in time and lend a hand, a voice, strength in numbers, dept of faith, hope and belief; But here we are reaping the fruits of their struggle and ultimate sacrifices, democratic freedom, freedom of diversities, freedom of speech, freedom to be, freedom to come and go; I know now what I wondered then the meaning of it all the struggle, the hate, the confusion, the degradation, the apartheid, the “right fight”, maintaining the traditional roots and sense of self, animosity between races and the meaning of an individual in a group. The struggle to be the one, be unique, to have specific, personal ideal vividly clear dream life, to have a higher meaning in life a personal stamp on history; Holding on to the privilege to love, be loved, believed upon and be appreciated, and admired, trusted and relied upon and have a full measure of life; The privilege to be on a level of emotional intelligence where I’m able to have an open opinion, personal perception to evaluate between my rules and codes and preconceived theories of the group and those I live by; I am who I am an emotionally intelligent, proud, good looking, intrepid God’s son, a threat to every competition and most importantly fully in charge of my own one God given life, for God’s Will wills it so. Here I am in yesterday’s tomorrow, free. Collin Mama