I want to make this piece available to everyone and come back from outside the firewall this morning. While I hope you’ll consider the piece below that I have titled “The Forgotten Ones,” allow me first to have a bit of a confession here. We don’t talk about mental health enough. It has too much stigma and is impolite and sometimes seems self-serving. In my usual spirit of transparency and oversharing, let me talk about mine.
I'm so sorry about your aunt and your not being able to attend her funeral. Rejoice in your fond memories of her.
I often wondered how you managed to keep all these balls in the air. I see you're not. You're human, please take care of yourself. I often wish I had been gifted with an intelligence equal to my curiosity. The positive side of that reality is I'm well aware of my limitations.
Really smart people have the capacity to accomplish much. And because of that extra "head room" many of them push the envelope. This is good and bad. The bad is what you're experiencing, exhaustion. Take care of yourself Erick. We value your opinions but your family really needs you.
Hope you have a great sleeping vacation. Re the email from the middle class black guy. I can't even imagine the frustration he faces. Sadly, recent experiences online lead me to believe that the best thing I can do is not say a word--apparently, no matter what is said, it will be the wrong thing to someone. I've thought more and more about the verse in 1 Thess. that tells us to "live a quiet life and attend to your own business." If the black community can't even agree on the solution, then how can I possibly have anything to add? But the Bible also teaches us to never ignore injustice. So my conclusion is that I need to bring up my 5 children to love all men equally, to look around their community and do what they can to help the broken, to seek out ways to serve in God's name. It is the only thing I know for sure can make a difference.
I pray daily for you and your wife. I highly value your principled Christian fact-oriented voice. You help me stay sane in the midst of the chaos, so please do what it takes to stay sane yourself. Glad you are taking a break, please incorporate more of that into your schedule going forward!
Take a break Erick. The world will spin around without you. It is good for the soul. It might help make up for the SC vacation you missed earlier this year.
There are a lot of problems in the black community. But fixing broken families would help solve at least some of them. So would everybody admitting there are a number of major problems that if fixed would go a long way to making life better for very many blacks:
1) If blacks want to police themselves, then perhaps the best structure is to have only black police officers assigned to black neighborhoods. I am not saying this for racist reasons, but because there certainly is an attitude in the black community that white policemen are the problem, and there is evidence that blacks do get treated differently. But I think it is also true that an underlying problem is a high level of black-on-black violence and/or high levels of drug abuse in black communities. If having only black policemen can garner more support in black communities, then perhaps it will create a safer environment with less gunshots dominating the night.
2) I believe there is an attitude of hopelessness in black communities that needs to be changed for major progress to be made. For example, Ben Carson and Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell all grew up in fatherless homes and despite that disadvantage they are well educated and arguably three of the brightest people on the planet. It is easy for all us to blame our problems on somebody else. But the problem with doing that is it normally doesn't fix anything even if the blame is justifiable. Lots of people have overcome tremendous disadvantages with an "I think I can attitude." It is not a panacea that fixes anything and everything. But it is likely to work a lot better than blaming somebody else.
The messed up election is only the 2nd most interesting electoral story in Georgia. Just follow the thread on Mark Jones, DA candidate for Muscogee County.
This is good stuff. I read the BLM website the other day and was horrified. Sins of commission and sins of omission. Embrace only progressive Black lives, and to hell with straight Black men and Black babies in the womb.
Go rest. We all need you to be a voice of reason, but you must be healthy to meet all your obligations. God first. Then family. The rest of us will wait.
I'm glad you are going to rest. I did the same last week. But before I left, my sister and I decided to vote early. We went to the Garden Hills school, it was rainy that day, but it was seamless and easy! PLENTY of voting machines with no problems. They were even offering free Covid testing which we took advantage of and have already received our results , which were negative by the way. I did hear from other people that did not vote early that several precincts had been combined and lines were long and frustrating. Hopefully we have time to rectify the situation before November, but please encourage people to vote early! Normally I am one who prefers voting on actual Election Day but to avoid similar issues this year, it is a good idea to aniticipate those problems.
I will continue to pray for you & your family--especially your ability to gain rest and perspective. I'm thankful the Lord has provided you the wisdom to understand the situation clearly. Blessings.
I'm so sorry about your aunt and your not being able to attend her funeral. Rejoice in your fond memories of her.
I often wondered how you managed to keep all these balls in the air. I see you're not. You're human, please take care of yourself. I often wish I had been gifted with an intelligence equal to my curiosity. The positive side of that reality is I'm well aware of my limitations.
Really smart people have the capacity to accomplish much. And because of that extra "head room" many of them push the envelope. This is good and bad. The bad is what you're experiencing, exhaustion. Take care of yourself Erick. We value your opinions but your family really needs you.
I am very sorry for your loss and that you cant go to her funeral. ...💙
Thank you....and I'm happy you are going to get some rest. I hope you will also get to the beach soon, too. You have more then earned it. Sleep well😊
Hope you have a great sleeping vacation. Re the email from the middle class black guy. I can't even imagine the frustration he faces. Sadly, recent experiences online lead me to believe that the best thing I can do is not say a word--apparently, no matter what is said, it will be the wrong thing to someone. I've thought more and more about the verse in 1 Thess. that tells us to "live a quiet life and attend to your own business." If the black community can't even agree on the solution, then how can I possibly have anything to add? But the Bible also teaches us to never ignore injustice. So my conclusion is that I need to bring up my 5 children to love all men equally, to look around their community and do what they can to help the broken, to seek out ways to serve in God's name. It is the only thing I know for sure can make a difference.
I pray daily for you and your wife. I highly value your principled Christian fact-oriented voice. You help me stay sane in the midst of the chaos, so please do what it takes to stay sane yourself. Glad you are taking a break, please incorporate more of that into your schedule going forward!
Take a break Erick. The world will spin around without you. It is good for the soul. It might help make up for the SC vacation you missed earlier this year.
There are a lot of problems in the black community. But fixing broken families would help solve at least some of them. So would everybody admitting there are a number of major problems that if fixed would go a long way to making life better for very many blacks:
1) If blacks want to police themselves, then perhaps the best structure is to have only black police officers assigned to black neighborhoods. I am not saying this for racist reasons, but because there certainly is an attitude in the black community that white policemen are the problem, and there is evidence that blacks do get treated differently. But I think it is also true that an underlying problem is a high level of black-on-black violence and/or high levels of drug abuse in black communities. If having only black policemen can garner more support in black communities, then perhaps it will create a safer environment with less gunshots dominating the night.
2) I believe there is an attitude of hopelessness in black communities that needs to be changed for major progress to be made. For example, Ben Carson and Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell all grew up in fatherless homes and despite that disadvantage they are well educated and arguably three of the brightest people on the planet. It is easy for all us to blame our problems on somebody else. But the problem with doing that is it normally doesn't fix anything even if the blame is justifiable. Lots of people have overcome tremendous disadvantages with an "I think I can attitude." It is not a panacea that fixes anything and everything. But it is likely to work a lot better than blaming somebody else.
Get rested!!!
Get some rest my friend. Will miss you while you are away but we ALL need to get away now and then. We will survive.
The messed up election is only the 2nd most interesting electoral story in Georgia. Just follow the thread on Mark Jones, DA candidate for Muscogee County.
https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/1270841046268813315
By all means, get some rest, Erick. It's another five months 'til election day.
There are other who harder than you, please stop whinning and make better choices.
This is good stuff. I read the BLM website the other day and was horrified. Sins of commission and sins of omission. Embrace only progressive Black lives, and to hell with straight Black men and Black babies in the womb.
Go rest. We all need you to be a voice of reason, but you must be healthy to meet all your obligations. God first. Then family. The rest of us will wait.
Rest up!
Many prayers for a restful and rejuvenating week. God bless.
I am sorry for your loss. May God bless you, and keep you, and grant you peace. Shalom.
I'm glad you are going to rest. I did the same last week. But before I left, my sister and I decided to vote early. We went to the Garden Hills school, it was rainy that day, but it was seamless and easy! PLENTY of voting machines with no problems. They were even offering free Covid testing which we took advantage of and have already received our results , which were negative by the way. I did hear from other people that did not vote early that several precincts had been combined and lines were long and frustrating. Hopefully we have time to rectify the situation before November, but please encourage people to vote early! Normally I am one who prefers voting on actual Election Day but to avoid similar issues this year, it is a good idea to aniticipate those problems.
I will continue to pray for you & your family--especially your ability to gain rest and perspective. I'm thankful the Lord has provided you the wisdom to understand the situation clearly. Blessings.