humanity
For better or for worse, relationships reveal the core of the human condition.
In the Midst
Growing up I always had an interesting relationship with my blackness. I never necessarily thought about it as a hindrance or something disadvantageous. I obviously knew I looked different from most of my classmates, rightfully so growing up in a predominately white suburb. Then going through catholic, and private school systems only made that distinction more apparent and noticeable.
By Brandon Lee6 years ago in Humans
My Black life matters.
I wonder what life would look like if Black lives TRULY mattered. Growing up Black, I was made aware from early on that the color of my skin was a threat to humanity. Before you start talking about “why would your parents teach you that?”, please understand that they didn’t teach me their feelings about White people. My parents taught me the TRUTHS of the country I live in.
By Janaé Brianna Wonsley6 years ago in Humans
Life after death....
It all happened while on Sarah's new journey in life after becoming a widow, began....she was living a life of emotional and soulful freedom and her guard was completely down..she trusted openly...well that is what happens when you are emotionally vulnerable.
By Jacqueline Payne6 years ago in Humans
Walking Away
"Love Shouldn't Hurt." A simple phrase that has taken me what seems like a lifetime to understand. First my Father, then myself, and finally my husband. This story is only going to discuss the last part, my husband. The love of my life. The man that made my heart skip a beat every time he bit his lip ever so gently or smiled his sexy little smile. Every women who knows love, knows the man I am talking about. He has been my rock when I needed him most and my hero when I didn't even kn ow I needed him. Every one who meets him tells me how good looking he is and how kind he is. They say, "You are so lucky to have him." What they don't know is the man I love, and they adore lives a lie. My man may have been my rock when I needed him. But, his fist hurt like iron slabs when I didn't. His words pierced my heart like daggers when all I needed was love and comfort. My love became my worse nightmare. I feared every time he would walk in the door. I didn't know if I would receive Dr. Jekyl or Mr. Hyde. I am not ready to discuss the details of the abuse. But, I will say for the last 5 years of my life I have lived in hell. Sure everything may have appeared normal on the outside. A nice house, nice car, nice things but, what does all that really matter when your falling apart from the inside out? What does it matter when you have become just an empty shell of the person you once were? What does it all matter when you hate everything about yourself? What does it all matter when all you want to do is just......DIE?
By KittyVixen6 years ago in Humans
Bullies Beget Bullies
We are all hypocrites! We are a mainstream culture that celebrates narcissism, egoism and instant self gratification. We are a society that finds humor and pleasure in photographing and video recording unsuspecting people without their consent and posting it to social media outlets for our own humor and the humor of our "friends" without regard to the feelings of the person. We are a society that would much rather use our hands to hold our phones and record a person in danger than extend our hand to help that person, or at the least to call for help. We are a society that finds pleasure in and celebrates our good deeds by filming people at their lowest points in life so that our "Good deeds" are validated by the world.
By Veronica Thompson6 years ago in Humans
How to be an Ally
On May 25th, 2020, a white police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd for nearly 9 minutes. On May 26th, the video taken by a 17 year-old bystander, Darnella Frazier, came up on my Facebook feed. I watched, at first confused as to what I was seeing. It was almost as if what I was seeing was so horrific that my brain was trying to protect me. When the truth, and horror finally landed, a deep well of sadness for this stranger hit me. But under that, was rage. A white hot rage that someone would so cavalierly take another person’s life. I didn’t care about his race. I didn’t care that he was someone I’d never met and had he lived to 100 years and died in his bed, I still wouldn’t have been likely to meet. I cared about his life because he’s a person. He had a family who still needed him. And this chicken shit cop killed him like it was nothing.
By R. E. Dacted6 years ago in Humans
Why Being An Adult Sucks Sometimes
Don't get me wrong, being one of these fully-grown-adults can be fairly amazing at times. You get to vote, you get to travel without your parents breathing down your neck, you get to do pretty much anything you want at any time, and you get to drink alcohol (no underage drinking here, please). But there are times when I'll openly admit that I would rather jump into the ol' time machine and go back a decade or so to...simpler times.
By Laura Watt6 years ago in Humans
The misunderstanding of white privilege
When we each consider our lives as a whole, our existence, what we have achieved, where we have failed, it can be measured, or rather scaled, against a spectrum of our happiness. At one end we can put our happiest moment, our greatest triumph, and at the other end, we can place our darkest moment - the lowest to which we have ever been. To quote the most unlikely of sources, Richard Nixon analogised this idea in another way when leaving the Whitehouse when he said, "only when you have been in the deepest valley can you understand the magnificence of standing on the highest mountain."
By Leo Dis Vinci6 years ago in Humans
It is still possible to connect with others, even with a MASK!
My jobs in the film/tv industry were effectively shut down on March 13th. On March 12th, I was working as one of ten dancers on an episode for season 2 “The Other Two”. The choreographer was trying to get more energy from us on a cold, damp day, and shouted, “dance like this is your last job!”. On March 13th, I showed up at my ongoing gig at Steiner Studios. We got into uniform, hair, makeup, and then about an hour later we were told, “we were wrapped”. Email after email came in stating that the jobs that I was scheduled for were also canceling until further notice. On March 16th, my last and other income source, teaching at the gym, called a company phone meeting to let us know that we have been “fired” so that we can collect unemployment.
By Kama Linden6 years ago in Humans
