SKY “HIGH"

 I've flown across the country to California and toured the greatest cities of Europe. I've witnessed the tropical beauty of the West Indies and the terribly cold winds of New England. Each trip has changed my perspective on life, but that change always seems to first take place in the sky.

It’s something about being in the air, window seat and staring out into the clouds that empowers me to be the best me. Being in the sky, away from the world for a few hours, gives me such a clear, optimistic vision of my past and present.  After an hour, my ears remain stuffy and the clouds become thicker, but I become even more confidently connected with what seems to be the unknown journey ahead. Although I can’t physically see my destination, I know that this path is somehow leading me down to another side of the earth. When the clouds become cracked, the city visible and the pilot announces for everyone to turn off all electronic devices, I know that I’m not too far from completing the first half of my journey. This is my entire outlook on life.

From the time that it takes to accomplish my goals, to the turbulence and dense clouds that comes with experience, I am learning to enjoy the ride and the path that life takes me.  As I always say, what fun would life be if it weren’t filled with varied experiences?  What story would I have to share if everything I wanted was handed to me on a platter?

After my many unwanted experiences of waiting in airports for hours because of layovers, I once cringed at the thought of having to do it again. I thought "what a waste of time"! Well, after realizing some things are out of my control, I one day decided to take advantage of my extended stops. Now I take tours of the airport, may try a new bakery and almost always people watch, admiring the diversity that airports bring. Life should be lived just like this! Forget complaining about the lengthy, once undesired pauses in life that are out of your control, use it to your advantage. My younger cousin didn’t make the basketball team his first year of high school and wondered how he would be able to wait an entire season before the next try-outs. Initially he felt down and even considered giving up basketball completely. However, his love for basketball and dreams of one day playing in college motivated him to use his layover time to practice as much as he could. The next year he tried out and stood out more than any other sophomore who went out. He not only made the team, but he became one of the key players on the squad. His "layover" allowed him time to develop into the star player that he knew he could be. If we all used wisely the layovers that life throws at us, we can approach opportunities even stronger and better prepared than we had envisioned.

If you ask me, an entire travel experience is so symbolic of the way we should live our lives.

- Folasade Omogun

*photo courtesy of Google

How Bad Do You WANT Change?

Who wouldn’t “want” to see positive change in their neighborhoods? I find it safe to assume that most families wouldn’t mind living in a community free of drug and human trafficking, violence and poverty. Who wouldn’t want to live in a community that continues to aid the youth in higher education and provides programs for diverse learning? How often will you run into a person that will say, “I enjoy living amongst high numbers of criminal activity” “I enjoy watching drugs tear apart my community”? I’ll cast a wide net, generalize and say that there aren’t very many people with such an attitude.  

Quite often I sit back and wonder what it will take for families in the inner city to seriously stand up together to restructure, reprogram and revitalize their communities.  Folks have become completely disillusioned with the steady decline of their communities BUT most haven’t taken the necessary steps to challenge the direction in which their communities are going. I often hear people say “my community will always be the same” or “crime rate has always been a problem here”. My follow up question always remains, what have you done to change this situation?

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier

There are so many small tasks that we MUST do to revitalize our communities. Small efforts that often times are overlooked. Parents participating in parent teacher meetings, older siblings telling their younger siblings the importance of education and pastors regularly house visiting their members who are struggling with drug addictions.  These are just a few things that MUST continue to happen regularly to reprogram our attitudes of complacency. I truly believe these small efforts can and will result in huge victories for our communities. Some kids drop out of school simply because no one was there to tell them the importance of staying in.

As an organizer, every day, I talk to citizens about standing up for their rights, the power in collective action and most importantly the obvious, “if you want change you have to be the one to take the necessary steps to create it.”  Growing up in the inner city and coming from an unstable single parent household, I do realize there are pot holes along the way.  Often times there are economic disadvantages amongst other handicaps that hinder the lifestyle restructuring of families. However, if pot holes are continuously used as a reason for not trying, then many communities and families will in fact remain in that disadvantaged position. Furthermore, there are politicians who must be held accountable and it is up to the families in those communities to do so!

Folasade Omogun