Authentic and Significant

I honestly have a dream of serving people.
The people that I want to serve over other people
are those that are exploited in the Americas.
First are Latin Americans because there is that connection
since I was born in Guatemala. Second are also those minorities
in ghettos in the USA. I was never from the ghetto (although my hometown city is
probably more dangerous to live than Compton) but I still sympathize with these people.

Not only serving these people but inspiring others to help.
Inspire others to aim higher and achieve a lot more.

I am currently reading Holler if You Here Me, a book on rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur by
Michael Eric Dyson. I am speechless when it comes to Tupac. He is a genius, a poet, a fountain of reality, a renegade, a messenger, a warrior, an intellectual, an actor.
Tupac is, in my book, one of the more enlightening and brightest people in the 20th century. Many will not share that opinion because he is a rapper, of the content of his rap, and his image. People need to see Tupac as a person and his influence on rap itself and many listners. I mean his name alone has so much history that reflects his character. From a famous Inca royalty revolting against the Spanish to the Black Panthers of the '60s. My point of this mentioning of the book is Pac's drive to be "real."

I have read about and deeply influenced, as I have previously mentioned, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Ernesto Che Guevara, and now Tupac. Those are the major ones. I also look at all aspects of the Chicano Movement, Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, the Civil Rights Movement, Nicky Cruz, Rigobero Menchu, Archbishop Romero and many more. All these influences have a common and shared aspect. All are "real."

My definition of real is to have a cause honest to one self and to fight and carry that cause and letting the whole world know what that cause is.

I want to be real.

So doing a lot of my thinking I have created a motto.

Authentic and Significant.

Authentic.
Be truthful, honest, and be yourself. Do not let anyone tell you who to be. Accept the ideas you CHOOSE to hold as your own. Using myself as an example, I will choose me being a Christian. Being a Christian I need to be aware of the depictions of Christ, secular or non-secular. As a Christian, I need to do what strengthens my belief in God, not weaken it. As a Christian, I should not lie to myself to justify an action which is out selfishness or against what I believe in. As a Christian, I do not let other currents and tides take me away from my stance. Authenticity can be applied to everything. Hold your own ideas.

Significant.
Whom ever you are, in whatever sport, creed, and as a person, be significant. Do not be average, do not do what everyone else is different. Do not stay in a comfort zone. Be significant. If I am a student I will be significant. study and do what ever it takes to accomplish my goal. In my employment, I should just do the bare minimum but maximize my effort. In any thing be outstanding, take that extra mile, keep going to your last breath.

Authentic and Significant.

There is a fear with this motto.
The fear of failure.
The fear of not being able to uphold this way of life.

I have the fear of not being able to accomplish my goal because I might simply forget it which means I am not authentic. I let outside means to believe otherwise. I have the fear that if I do whatever it take to fulfill my dream but do not, I fail once more. I fail because I am no longer significant. I gave up.

To take this as your motto, one must be fearless. If you fail, attempt again. If you stumble, get up one more time. If you fall short, find that last ounce of energy to finish it. This motto is for the fearless.

I recall Wilson's quote, "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond measure."

You are powerful beyond measure.
You can be authentic and signifcant.

So how serious am I about fulfilling this dream?
I am dead serious.
How am I go to succeed?
Being real.
How will I be defined once it is all done with?
Hopefully Authentic and Significant.

One Love Y'all

Don't Give Up

After a long journey...




Everyone is watching you...


It is you against the world...


In the midst of everything you are alone...


With the burden of representing a whole group...


With the burden of fulfilling something big...


Being judged in the shadow of a great...


You have one and only one desire...


So you fight for it...


You end up short...


You walk away defeated...


Do you give up?



No.


You get back up and do it again to go all the way.