I attended my first bridal shower on Saturday. The bride-to-be didn’t want skrippas; however, a good time was had. My old roommate from college is the maid-of-honor and she asked me to help out with the planning. That chick is so creative…she will surely be planning my wedding (unbeknownst to her hehe) if when I get married. On Friday I went to dinner with an old friend (Don) from high school. Talking with him reminded me that Black men MUST go to college, trade school, or the military if they ever hope to be able to support themselves and/or a family. If not, they’d have to be genius, lucky, or know people who can get their foot in the door to get ahead. Black women are able to squeak by (as long as they are reasonably articulate) without education/training more often than Black men (but don’t try this at home kids).
Since high school graduation Don has struggled to get and keep jobs. The ones he does get don’t pay much nor do they offer decent benefits so he can’t afford to have his own place and reliable car, at the very least. I’m not one to kick people when they’re down so I didn’t say "when you had that opportunity to go to Virginia State on partial scholarship you should have taken it instead of staying around the neighborhood and fathering two kids." Fortunately I didn’t have to say it because he did.
My thinking is that it’s almost never too late to turn your life around, go back to school, get more training, etc., if that’s what your heart desires. We find a way to obtain the things that we TRULY want. If six years have passed and you have nothing to show for it, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and rework the plan. My advice is to continue living with his brother, work full-time (he does have 2 mouths to feed!), and go back to school part-time to be a contractor (maintenance/construction) because that’s what he has some experience and an interest in. He said he’d think about it so we’ll see.
