TALK TO THE DADDY

Hello. Come on in. The daddy writes about current events, literature, music and, once in a while, drops something on you from back in the day to make you pause and ponder, stop and stare, and begin to wonder. Who knows? You may start to pace the floor, shake your head from side to side, then fall down on bended knees in a praying position and cry, "Lawd, have mercy! What is this world coming to?" Check yourself! But this blog is NOT about the daddy. It's about you: your boos, your fam, your hood, your country...our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. So let's make a pact: the daddy will put it on the track if you'll chase it down and hit him back. Together, we can definitely take it to another level. Shall we?"

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Kwanzaa today is about self-determination

Kwanzaa Day 2: "Self Determination"

Today, the daddy is feeling the Kwanzaa holidays and Kujichagulia (koo-gee-cha-goo-LEE-ah), which means self-determination and is the second day of Kwanzaa.

On this day, the people who celebrate Kwanzaa and who try to practice its principles throughout the year:

*Pledge to define ourselves, to NAME ourselves, to create for ourselves, and to speak for ourselves, instead of being defined, named by, created for and spoken for by others. On this day we design for ourselves a positive future and then vow to make that prophecy -- that DREAM -- a self-fulfilling one.

What do you think about when you think of self-determination?

5 comments:

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

Mac, you're really making us think! Great.

The only thing I wish Karenga had done differently was use English as a heading rather than a subtitle for each day. This particular African dialect have words are hard to pronounce and impossible (for me) to remember. Otherwise his concept of Kwanzaa is an extremely valuable gift.

Day 2 - Self-determination. A major step in the psychological growth of attaining self-actualization and being true to one's self. Never easy, and poverty and lack of education in particular is an impediment.

To some degree it's not be possible for those who have negative influences to struggle with from their family, friends, community, nation and/or the world.

I had to live a long time before I came as far as I have in this area.

Revvy Rev said...

Self-determination is absolutely essential for us as a people. We have been named, defined, and determined by others for too long. In fact, we brought these principles to this country with us on slave ships and sorely need to reclaim them.

♥ CG ♥ said...

I'm totally feeling this, MacDaddy. My plan for the new year is to find myself again, so self-determination has been on my mind big time. I'm enjoying your lessons :-).

{{hugs}}

Jimmy said...

Great post McDaddy.

You do really give us something to think about.

Between you and the comments from the others, you guys just about have it covered.

I'm not even going to waste my breath trying to reword what has already been stated so well.

SagaciousHillbilly said...

Daddy, For me, self determination is taking the world by the balls instead of the world taking you by the balls. It's about defining one's future instead of having it defined for you. What a difficult task in this modern world where we are bombarded with the media telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing, what we ought to have and how we need to get it.
Peoples' options seem to be shrinking.